Dongweiqiao site

Dongweiqiao site

Dongwei bridge site is a national key cultural relic protection unit. It is located 2.6km away from the South Bank of Weihe River in baijiazui village, Geng Town, Gaoling County, Shaanxi Province. It connects Weibei River in the north and Changan River in the south. It is one of the three bridges of Weihe River in Tang Dynasty. It is an important channel from Changan City, the capital of Tang Dynasty (618-907) to Weibei river.

Time of discovery

In 1967, local people found a remnant stele named Dongwei bridge when digging for sand. According to the stele, Dongwei bridge was built in 721, the ninth year of Kaiyuan reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty, and was built by Jing Zhaoyin.

In 1978 and 1980, Shaanxi Provincial Council for cultural administration and Gaoling County Cultural Center investigated the site twice. From September 1981 to October 1982, they jointly drilled and excavated the site. There were 24 exploration sites and 2 exploration pits in the north, middle and south of the bridge site, with an excavation area of 7834 square meters.

Historical records

According to drilling data, the site of Dongwei bridge in Tang Dynasty extends to baijiazui village in the East, to the junction of Suanliu village and baijiazui village in the west, to Mafang village in the South and to Geng town highway in the north, with a total area of about 20000 square meters. According to field excavation data, the existing site is 548.8 meters long and 11 meters wide. At the south end of the bridge site, a stone paved road is explored. The residual length of the road is about 160 meters and the residual width is 12-20 meters.

In the north, middle and south of the bridge site, there are 22 rows of 418 wooden piles and four water diversion walls. The bridge foundation is built with bluestone strips, which are generally 1 m long, 0.5 m wide and 0.2 m thick, connected by iron bolt plates.

At the same time, there are wooden piles, iron bolt plates, iron nails, ink jade pieces, Kaiyuan Tongbao and other cultural relics unearthed. Among them, Moyu is the most precious. Now it is a national level 3 cultural relic, which is collected in Gaoling County Cultural Center.

Relic scale

Dongwei bridge has a large scale and complex structure, which is a new milestone in the history of ancient bridge architecture in China. It is a link connecting the two sides of the Weihe River and the throat leading to Chang'an City, which has an important strategic position.

In the Tang Dynasty (780-805 AD), Zhu Wei rebelled and occupied Chang'an. Dezong fled to Fengtian (now Qianxian County, Shaanxi Province) to take refuge. Li Sheng, the king of Xiping, once stationed troops here, joined forces with Hun troops, and conquered Chang'an.

In December 880, the peasant uprising army led by Huang Chao invaded Chang'an. General Zhu Wenye stationed troops at Dongwei bridge. In 881 A.D., Wang chucun, the Jiedu envoy of Yichang army, Li Xiaochang, the Jiedu envoy of Minyan army, Tuoba Sigong, the Jiedu envoy of xiazhou army, attacked the uprising army and stationed troops here. The gain and loss of Dongwei bridge is related to the safety of Chang'an City in Tang Dynasty, so it is a must for military strategists.

Experience

Yuanren, a famous Japanese monk in the Heian era, entered Chang'an City from Dongwei bridge with his 18th envoy to Tang Dynasty. Yuanren recorded Dongwei bridge in detail in his book the pilgrimage to Tang Dynasty.

In 1989, "Chang'an ancient bridge exchange cultural relics exhibition" was exhibited in Japan, and the unearthed cultural relics of Dongwei bridge (Dongwei bridge records, wooden piles) were also exhibited, which attracted great attention of Japanese experts and scholars. In recent years, Japanese friends have come to visit us in an endless stream. As a symbol of friendly exchanges between China and Japan, Dongwei bridge has been recorded in history.

Research value

Weihe River runs through 800 Li Qinchuan. It was the cultural birthplace of Zhou, Qin, Han and Tang Dynasties. Chang'an in Han and Tang Dynasties was located in the south of Weihe River. Dongwei bridge, a bridge connecting the north and south of Weihe River, undoubtedly has important scientific research value.

Dongwei bridge is five li away from the Weihe River, which shows that the Weihe River moved northward less than 1300 years from Kaiyuan period of Tang Dynasty, which is of certain practical significance for studying the changes of Weihe River and harnessing Weihe River.

Cultural relics protection

On June 25, 2001, the dongweiqiao site of the Tang Dynasty was announced as the fifth batch of national key cultural relics protection units.

Address: 2.6km South Bank of Weihe River, baijiazui village, Geng Town, Gaoling District, Xi'an City

Longitude: 109.11900220642

Latitude: 34.436641945918

Chinese PinYin : Dong Wei Qiao Yi Zhi