Tanglaiqu Qushang Bridge

Tanglaiqu, also known as Tangqu, was built in the Wu Ze period of the Tang Dynasty. This is an old bridge with a history of more than 2000 years. Tanglai Canal starts at Qingtongxia, flows out from Qingtongxia, passes through Yongning County, Yinchuan City and Helan County, and ends at Pingluo County. Tanglai Canal is 322 kilometers long. There are more than 500 large and small canals in Tanglai Canal, which irrigates 900,000 mu of farmland, ranking first among Yinchuan Plain 14 large canals. Tanglaiqu Bridge was originally an ancient wooden bridge for people and vehicles, also called Ximen Bridge, just like a wooden bridge on a branch canal of a rural river. Ximenqiao Bridge is about 20 meters long and 4 meters wide. In case of passing cars, only one car can pass by, and the other car will wait at the west or east of the bridge. The bridge piles are supported by wood, and the bridge deck is paved with wooden boards. The board is covered with straw, and the straw is made of lime, clay and sand.

Tanglaiqu Bridge was originally an ancient wooden bridge for people and vehicles, also called Ximen Bridge, just like a wooden bridge on a branch canal of a rural river. Ximenqiao Bridge is about 20 meters long and 4 meters wide. In case of passing cars, only one car can pass by, and the other car will wait at the west or east of the bridge. The bridge piles are supported by wood, and the bridge deck is paved with wooden boards. The board is covered with straw, and the straw is covered with lime, clay and sand, commonly known as "three soils" This not only protects the boards, but also stabilizes the road surface and increases the number of people and vehicles in the past. But when the rain stops, the "concrete" on the bridge deck of Ximen passes through the rain bubble, and the tiny sand will flow into the Tanglai Canal with the rain. If it rains, wash it several times in a row, the boards on Ximen Bridge will be exposed, and people and cars will tremble when they pass by. After a long time, the condition of the bridge deck is getting worse and worse. When carriages and cars pass by, the bridge deck will shake from side to side, and there will be a "creaking" collision between wooden stakes and the bridge deck from time to time. People crossing the bridge can also see the canal water flowing under the bridge from the kiln sill and cracks. At that time, there were few people, fewer cars and less traffic, so there were few traffic jams and bridge collapses. Therefore, for thousands of years, Ximen Bridge has been safe and sound, and it has always been the only important traffic artery connecting the old city of Yinchuan with the new city.

1in the spring of 953, the Yinchuan municipal government treated the Tanglai Canal to prevent it from bursting. In the past, there were too many bends in the 1000-meter-long canal from Fu Bao Bridge in Tanglai Canal to Shanghai Road, which affected the irrigation of farmland on both sides of Tanglai Canal, and sometimes there were small crevasses. Therefore, Yinchuan municipal government organized more than 1000 laborers to cut corners and straighten this section of Tanglaiqu, thus preventing the occurrence of floods.

1In the autumn of 956, in order to improve the backwardness of Ximen Bridge, Yinchuan Special Zone decided to demolish the old wooden bridge and build a new one with reinforced concrete structure. The design of this new bridge was undertaken by the architect of Yinchuan, Men Guangting.

At that time, there was a placard on the bridge construction site, which read eight big characters: "A century-long plan, quality first". In order to ensure the quality of bridge engineering, the bridge builders took pains to clean up the fine sand and fine stones pulled down from Helan Mountain and mix them with cement to form concrete. The different types of steel bars used should be polished with wire brushes, and the piers and bridge decks should be poured with cement concrete.

After more than half a year's efforts, a brand-new Ximen Bridge has been fully completed, and the deck is much wider than in the past, allowing two cars to pass side by side. In order to make the Ximen Bridge more beautiful, the engineers of Mengguangting specially designed four cement lamp posts at both ends of the bridge deck. Every night, the cement lampposts are brightly lit, which makes the Millennium Ximen Bridge dazzling.

Now, more than half a century has passed. After several renovations, the deck of Ximen Bridge has become eight lanes, but the piers are still as strong as ever. It can be seen that Meng Guangting's engineers had a forward-looking vision when designing the bearing standard of the pier of Ximen Bridge.

In 2000, the Yinchuan Municipal Government invested 654.38+74 billion yuan, which lasted for more than four years, and comprehensively improved the environment of Tanglai District, turning this Tanglai District, which has the style of the south of the Yangtze River and is full of ancient irrigation culture, into a diversified living water area that is "water-loving and green-loving", further highlighting the charming characteristics of the water town in Saishang.