On Luoyang Bridge

Luoyang Bridge, formerly known as "Wan 'an Bridge", is located on Luoyang River in the eastern suburb of Quanzhou. It, together with Lugou Bridge in Beijing, Zhao Zhouqiao Bridge in Hebei and Guangji Bridge in Guangdong, is called the four famous bridges in ancient China. Luoyang Bridge is the earliest existing cross-sea beam bridge in China and the beginning of the raft foundation of bridges in the world. National key cultural relics protection units. The bridge is 73 1 .29m long, 4.5m wide and 7.3m high, with 44 piers, 645 handrails, 104 stone lions,1stone pavilion and 7 stone pagodas.

Historical records of Luoyang bridge legend

Luoyang Bridge, also known as Wan 'an Bridge, is located at the intersection of Luoyang River at the junction of Hui 'an and Luojiang in Fujian. Before the Wan 'an Bridge was built, people came and went to cross the river by boat. When she was in Song Zhenzong, a pregnant woman from Fuqing County, Fujian Province crossed the river by boat, only to find the boat in the middle stream. Suddenly, when the ship was being swallowed up, the god suddenly shouted to her: "Cai Jinshi is on board, and the ghost king must not be rude." As soon as the words fell, the storm disappeared. The passengers on the ship inquired about each other and didn't see anyone named Cai. Only the husband of the pregnant woman is surnamed Cai, so everyone congratulates her. " If there is a man in his belly, he will be a scholar one day and be ordered to build Luoyang Bridge. "The woman was congratulated by everyone, and she made such an oath unconsciously. A few months after Luoyang River escaped from danger, a pregnant woman named Cai gave birth to a baby boy named Xiang. Cai was a scholar in the heyday of the Song Dynasty. His mother told the story of Luoyang River getting out of trouble and told him to work hard to build the bridge as soon as possible and fulfill his oath. Cai Xiang is a dutiful son. Since he became the magistrate in Quanzhou, he has never forgotten his mother's long-cherished wish-to build a bridge and enjoy the tour. However, the waves in Luoyang River are surging day and night, and the surging waves are beating against the shore. No matter how hard he tried, the stone foundation of the bridge could not be filled in. When he couldn't think of a good plan, he begged the gods. After Cai Xiang wrote a paper to the Dragon King, he went to the hall and asked the officials, "Which one of you went to sea? There happened to be an alcoholic named Xia among the officers, named Dehai. While he was asleep, he suddenly heard the official calling his name, and quickly knelt down and said, "The villain is Xia Dehai. I don't know what the adults sent. " Cai Xiang nodded unconsciously and said, "Since you are in the sea, you have three days to give this document to the Dragon King of the East China Sea, or you will be rewarded with 300 boards." "Say dropped the book, then announced the idea. Poor Xia Dehai was terrified out of her wits, crying for help, having nowhere to call, and came home in frustration, crying for her fate, cursing Cai Xiang's absurd idea. However, to no avail. Xia Dehai emptied all the money in his bag, sold the wine, drank it alone, and ran to the Luoyang River to drown himself. Don't want to be a sea breeze blowing, alcohol upwelling, Xia Dehai was drunk on the beach, until the brilliant red sun in Rosty Yi has emerged from the east, was awakened by the crowing around. Opening his sleepy eyes, he found himself lying on the beach. Take out the file in your arms again, only to find that it is completely different from what Cai Xiang gave yesterday. Knowing the miracle, he ran back to the yamen with joy and reported the situation last night. Cai Xiang hurriedly opened the file and saw the word "vinegar" written on it. After thinking for a while, he realized that the Dragon King told him to fill the foundation at No.21,so he quickly prepared all the stones for application. On the day when the Bodhisattva, the Eight Immortals and the Monks all showed their magical powers to fill the foundation, eight strange workers came together. They said that they would work voluntarily and would not accept payment. Cai Xiang only thought that they were good citizens who were enthusiastic about public welfare and didn't care. I didn't know that more than half of this huge project left over from ancient times came from these eight people! With the approach of 2 1 day, the tide in the river gradually recedes. The workers were busy preparing everything, and the eight men, instead of working, played chess in pairs on the ground. Someone asked them to work, but I didn't know that they got such a response: "It's a piece of cake, there's no need to make a hullabaloo about, and it's not fashionable yet!" "Soon, it was time, and the river was really completely gone. But in the place where eight workers were playing chess, a few strong winds suddenly blew, flying sand and stones, and the sun and the moon were dull, blowing the workers' eyes hard. When the wind and sand stopped, the stone foundation was safely filled. And the eight chess players, but there is no trace. At this time, everyone realized that it was the clothing workers of the Eight Immortals who came to help. The stone foundation has been filled in, but the stone piers, slates, railings and other items have not yet started, and the processors have to step up the construction before they can be completed as soon as possible. At that time, there were about fifteen people who were enthusiastic about helping Cai Xiang build the bridge, and one of them, monk Yibo, even tried his best to plan and guide it. Therefore, Wan 'an Bridge has now become a Buddhist building with the reputation of "eternal rainbow". There is also a magical power of monk Ibo, that is, during the construction of the bridge, due to the large number of workers, firewood for cooking is often in short supply. Whenever this happens, the monk will put his foot into the stove instead of firewood, but when the fire burns brightly, the rice will be cooked in a few minutes, and the workers can immediately fill their stomachs and continue their work. In order to complete the arduous task of building the bridge as soon as possible, Cai Xiang donated all his property and collected money from enthusiastic people. At the same time, Guanyin Bodhisattva turned into a beautiful boatswain, rocking an oar by the river and making people throw silver at her. If she is hit, marry her, and the money falling from the boat will be used as the fund for building the bridge. A teenager selling fruit was in full bloom when he was hit, but he was so happy to see the boat and the boatswain in the river disappear without a trace! Guanyin bodhisattva will turn the broken silver that falls into the river into countless small fish, which will be used as workers' food. After the completion of Wan 'an Bridge, people praised Cai Xiang's achievements. In the north of Luoyang Bridge today, there is Caigong Temple, in which there is a statue of Cai Xiang, holding a document with the word "vinegar" in his hand, and the bridge has its own inscription. On the other hand, a wave of monks ascended to heaven at the end of the bridge, and people shaped his body into a portrait. Up to now, there is also a "Zhenshen Temple" in the north of the bridge dedicated to the Eber monk. Today, a white slender fish is produced in the middle of Luoyang River. The villagers there called it "Silverfish", echoing the legend that Guanyin Bodhisattva turned silver into a small fish.

"Three Musts" on Luoyang Bridge

After the completion of Luoyang Bridge, people summed up three wonderful characteristics for it, which were called "three wonders". First, the project is arduous and huge; Second, the story of Wan 'anqiao is concise; Third, monuments and monuments are all carved by art. Luoyang Bridge, built entirely of hard granite, is a famous beam-type stone bridge in ancient China. It is not only the first time to build a pier with raft foundation, but also it is scientific and economical to plant oysters to strengthen the pier according to local conditions. This is an important invention of bridge dispatching engineering in ancient China. In the construction, the "floating method" using tidal transport beam bridge is still in use today. Luoyang Bridge has 46 piers, 360 feet long and 1.5 feet wide. There are 500 pillars on both sides of the bridge. There are stone carvings to protect pedestrians. During the two surveys of the bridge, nine stone pagodas were built to calm the wind, and seven stone pavilions were built on the bridge for riding and resting. There are many artistic stone pagodas in the bridge and its affiliated buildings, which are beautifully shaped-there are stone lions with their heads held high, and there are also ball lions with stone balls in their mouths. The whole bridge is large in scale and beautiful in appearance, costing more than two taels of silver14,000, all of which were donated by the people. Cai Xiang also sold his home 160 mu of land and donated Luoyang Bridge. The full text of Wan 'an Bridge written by Cai Xiang is only 153, and the inscription is extremely concise. This paper describes the time, significance, source of funds, main personnel and completion time of the bridge, the joy of the county people and the beauty of the inscription. This is a wonderful word. Inscription Day: Quanzhou Wanandou Stone Bridge was built in April of the fifth year of Hu Di, and completed in December of the fourth year of Jia Hu. Tired toes in the yuan, water is forty-seven, and the beam is empty. It is 3600 feet long and 5 feet wide, and its wings are supported by railings. If it is the same as its length, it will cost14 million, so please donate. Cross the ocean and go aboard as an apprentice. Easy to live in danger, bad people, their duties are: Lu, Li, Li, Fu, Bei, etc. Established, Cai Xiang, the magistrate of Puyang, fell for it. The following autumn, he was recalled to Beijing, and his way out was outside. Because of his discipline, he stayed on the shore. The full text is concise and cadence, which fully embodies the characteristics of Cai Xiang's writing style. The inscription is engraved on two stone tablets, each of which is 2.98m high,1.64m wide and 0.30m thick. There are six lines in the inscription, except one line 13, and each word is 1.5× 1.8 square inch. When Cai Xiang wrote the inscription, he showed a very modest character, and the inscription was not worried about his contribution at all. The inscription is exquisite calligraphy. Cai Xiang is one of the four great calligraphers in Song Dynasty. This inscription is his outstanding work. His calligraphy is vigorous and vigorous, and his carving is exquisite and vivid. Exquisite craftsmanship, the crown is temporarily weak. The evaluation in history is extremely high.

Ancillary cultural relics

There are many cultural relics attached to Luoyang Bridge, including 2 pagodas, 2 pavilions, 3 temples, 4 warrior statues and 20 square inscriptions. Among them, the most striking is the "Cai Zhong Huigong Temple" built in the Northern Song Dynasty to commemorate Cai Xiang's contribution. There are two large stone tablets in the temple, engraved with the "Wan 'an Bridge" inscribed by the great calligrapher Cai Xiang, describing the process of building the bridge. This monument is known as the "three wonders" because of its refined articles, beautiful calligraphy and vivid sculpture. "Luoyang Tide Sound" has always been one of the ten scenic spots in Quanzhou. Tourists stand on the bridge and watch "the tide rises with thousands of snows and the sunset with rainbow" under the pine shade, which makes them feel interesting. After liberation, Luoyang Bridge was listed as a national cultural relics protection unit. In order to protect the old bridge, a new bridge was built on the west side of the old bridge in the 1960 s for motor vehicles to pass, so as to reduce the pressure on the old bridge. In recent years, the government has allocated huge sums of money to rebuild Luoyang Bridge, which is extraordinary in style. Nowadays, the old and new bridges ride side by side on the river, and together with the newly-built railway bridge, the mountains and peaks are beautiful and spectacular. Now we have reached the bridge of Luoyang River. The one in front of us