Luoyang Bridge in Quanzhou History Is it interesting to introduce Luoyang Bridge in Quanzhou?

Luoyang Bridge in Quanzhou is an ancient historical building full of humanistic colors. Here, you can feel the rich flavor of China's ancient historical features, which is also a large-scale building built during the Han people's southward migration. Here, I will share with you the specific tour guide.

When you hear this name, you will think that this bridge is located in Luoyang, but far away in Fujian.

It is called Luoyang Bridge because during the Jin Dynasty, numerous gentry from the Central Plains came to Quanzhou all the way to escape the war. When they saw beautiful mountains and rivers, lush vegetation and Luoyang style, they named Luoyang. Later, this stone bridge was also called Luoyang Bridge.

I know Luoyang very well, so I took a look around here and found it is very similar to Luohe in Luoyang. The river is open and the vegetation is dense, which really easily evokes homesickness.

Luoyang Bridge was built in 1053. At that time, Quanzhou's overseas commerce gradually rose, its economic strength improved, and people's requirements for transportation became higher and higher. Before Luoyang Bridge, people used to cross the river by boat. The waves and winds were strong and dangerous, and they accidentally fell into the river.

Cai Xiang, the magistrate of Quanzhou at that time, was determined to build a bridge because he could not bear the sufferings of the citizens. However, it took six years to build the bridge.

The completed Luoyang Bridge, with a total length of 1.200m and a width of more than 5m, has 46 piers, 7 pavilions and 9 towers for pedestrians to rest. It is also the first large-scale cross-sea stone bridge in China.

Luoyang Bridge is also one of the four famous bridges in ancient China. Is an old-timer in the bridge industry, known as "North Zhaozhou, South Luoyang".

The construction of this bridge is extremely difficult. Cai Xiang listened to many craftsmen's suggestions and finally adopted two methods: raft foundation and oyster cultivation.

Raft foundation is to make the pier into a raft to resist the impact of water flow. At that time, there were more than 300 stones used for bridge construction, each stone was 12 meter long and weighed 8 tons. Because manpower can't finish it, it is carried by raft and placed between piers until the tide recedes, saving a lot of manpower.

It is absolutely a genius to plant oysters as a solid foundation, because the stones are rough and the cracks are big or small, which is difficult to deal with. Over time, it will become a hidden danger, so Cai Xiang came up with a way to fill them with oysters.

Oysters are common soft shells on the seashore. Its shell can be attached to rocks or other oyster shells, and its reproductive ability is extremely strong. It is by using these two principles that Cai Xiang introduced oysters into the stone and let them reproduce themselves to fill the gaps in the stone.

This method is called biological solid foundation, and Luoyang Bridge has become the first precedent in the world to apply biology to bridge construction.

How much effect does this method have on the fixation of bridges? I'm not an architect, so I can't say for sure. According to the literature, Luoyang Bridge has only been overhauled three times and 16 times in 900 years, so it can't be said that there is no credit for oysters.

At first glance, Luoyang Bridge is much more spectacular than I expected. The white bridge body spreads far away, the water waves ripple under the bridge, and the vegetation on the shore is clear, quiet and peaceful.

There are really no tourists here, only electric cars coming and going. In order to protect the bridge, cars are not allowed to pass. At the bridge, there are two stone pagodas with classical architectural style. The pagoda is engraved with the relief of the Buddha. It seems that after a long time, a stone lion stood on the bridge and looked at the distance uniformly.

The stones at the foot are distributed in columns, and five stone heads are put together to form the width of the bridge. Looking down, there are rows of boat-shaped stone piers. The stone pier is still black. Carefully, there are many oysters at the junction with the water. They are attached to the pier and arranged closely.

Stone bridge and oyster have been interdependent and supported each other for thousands of years, which has become a much-told story.

All the way to the center of the bridge, there is a granite pavilion with the inscription of "Xichuan Ganyu" in Wanli period of Ming Dynasty.

This inscription comes from a legend. During the Ming Dynasty, there was a drought in Quanzhou. At that time, the prefect made a special trip here to beg for rain, and he was so tired that he slept on a stone. Dreaming of meeting a rain god, the satrap begged, and the rain god decided to drop the rain in Xichuan to Quanzhou.

After the satrap woke up, it really rained heavily, so he set up "Xichuan Ganlu" here to thank Xichuan for the rain.

There is a small museum next to the pavilion, which contains inscriptions of past dynasties, all written by dignitaries or famous artists, thus showing the status of Luoyang Bridge.

Changhong lies on the waves, and the four continents of Fujian and Hainan become thoroughfares.

The establishment of Luoyang Bridge has solved the traffic on both sides of the river and made commercial trade more prosperous. Even though the function of the ancient bridge is gone, it is still the "first bridge in the world" in Quanzhou people's minds.

Luoyang Bridge Travel Guide Address: Tumen Street, Licheng District, Quanzhou, free of charge.

Transportation: Take bus No.4, No.6 and No.7 and get off at Guandi Temple Station.