Wanshou Bridge

Wanshou Bridge

Wanshou bridge, also known as Jiefang Bridge, was built by wangfa in 1303. It is a big stone bridge located in Minjiang River.

Historical overview

In the second year of Chongning (1103), Wang Zudao learned Fuzhou for the second time. He set up 41 hectares of land and 72 mu of land for bridge construction. Yuandade seven years (1303) Wanshou temple Toutuo Wang fazhu presided over the construction. It took 19 years and was completed in 1322. It is the first big stone bridge across Minjiang River. Ma Zuchang, a Bachelor of Yuan Hanlin, wrote a record. The bridge is of stone structure, flat beam bridge, boat pier, 28 pier, 29 hole, unequal span, 170 Zhang long. There are stone railings on both sides of the bridge, and one stone lion is carved on each pillar. One Pavilion will be built in the South and one Pavilion in the north. In the 17th year of Chenghua (1481), eunuch Chen Dao was rebuilt again. In 1930, it was changed to concrete bridge deck. In 1971, it was renamed "Jiefang Bridge". In 1971, the bridge deck was increased again. In 1992, it was announced as a municipal cultural relics protection unit.

Detailed changes

It was originally a ferry, with a vast river and three miles between the two banks. The north bank is today's xiahang Road, and the south bank is today's guanjing road. At the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, the quicksand silted up and formed many islands. Among them, lengyanzhou (today's Zhongting Street) was just a ferry channel, which could not be transited when the tide was small. In the eighth year of song Yuanyou (1093), Wang Zudao, the prefect of Fuzhou, mobilized migrant workers to build boats across the south of the Yangtze River. Taking lengyanzhou as the center, the south bridge was 2500 feet long, with 100 boats; the north bridge was 500 feet long, with 20 boats; it was fixed on 18 stone pillars in the river with thick ropes. The boats were covered with boards and railings on both sides. The two pontoons, 3000 feet long (about one kilometer), took one year and were completed in October of the first year of Shaosheng (1094). In the next 10 years, a sandbank (today's Zhongzhou) appeared in the south of the river, dividing the south of the Yangtze River into three branches and adjusting the floating bridges into three parts: North, middle and south. There were 16 boats for the North Bridge, 73 boats for the middle bridge and 13 boats for the South Bridge. Because the river is wide and the current is fast, the wind is strong and the waves are high, the floating bridge is often washed down. In 1103, when Wang Zudao was the magistrate of Fuzhou again, he built a stone bridge, which was built with stone strips and stood in the middle of the river. There was no guardrail on the left and right. The river was wide and deep, and the bridge was long and narrow, which made it inconvenient for pedestrians. In 1303, Wang fazhu, a monk of Wanshou temple, who was in charge of the management of the floating bridge in the seventh year of Dade reign of the Yuan Dynasty, saw that pedestrians were extremely unsafe, so he decided to build the stone bridge. After hearing about the emperor, he was ordered to raise money to build it. In the middle of the project, fazhu died and was followed by his apprentice. Due to the large scale of the project, after 20 years, it was completed in 1322, with a total length of 391 meters and a width of 4.5 meters. There are 37 channels under the bridge. The pier is 5 meters high and dry built with feldspar bars. The upper and lower ends of the pier form a triangular water head, and the triangular part is slightly upward, just like a boat. The bridge deck is made of stone piers and beams. Two large stone beams with a length of 9-10 meters, a square of 1 meter and a weight of 40 tons are overlapped between each hole. They are placed on the left and right sides with a spacing of 3-4 meters. The middle part is paved with stone slabs with a thickness of 20-30 cm. On both sides of the bridge with stone barriers, carved with lions of different attitudes. After the completion of the bridge, it was named Wanshou bridge in memory of Wang FA's contribution to the construction of the bridge. Ma Zuchang, a scholar of the Yuan Dynasty, inscribed "Wanshou bridge" on the bridge. After the completion of Wanshou bridge, the south end of the river has built a 9-hole mixed structure bridge with 5-hole stone beam and 4-hole wood beam, named Jiangnan bridge. In 1751, the Jiangnan bridge was destroyed by the flood. The stone bridge was built by the brothers he Jixuan and he Jixuan. It was completed in November of the next year with a length of 105 meters. From the period of the Republic of China to 1949, it was built many times. In 1992, it was listed as a cultural relic protection unit in Fuzhou. In 1994, due to the long history, the riverbed erosion intensified, and the piers collapsed one after another. In 1995, the reconstruction was carried out, and now it is no longer the same.

Address: Dawu ancient town

Longitude: 110.42726638794

Latitude: 25.192868097636

Chinese PinYin : Wan Shou Qiao