Santiao Bridge

Santiao Bridge spans the stream at the border of Zhoulong Township and Yangxi Township. It takes its name from the original crossing formed by three huge tree trunks laid across the river. First erected on the 13th day of the ninth lunar month in the 7th year of the Shaoxing reign of the Song Dynasty (1137), it was reconstructed in the 23rd year of the Daoguang reign of the Qing Dynasty (1843). Classified as a multi-layer braced wooden arch covered bridge, it measures 26.63 metres in length, 4 metres in width, and stands 10 metres above the water surface. Eleven bays of covered corridor shelter the crossing; the central bay adopts a five-post beam frame, with bracket bases shaped like butterfly and lotus petals atop each column head.

This bridge boasts an extremely early origin. According to Records of the Territorial Divisions of Taishun, ancient tiles dating back to the Zhenguan reign of the Tang Dynasty were unearthed during its Daoguang-era reconstruction, making it the oldest documented bridge in the county. Exquisitely shaped and steeped in history, Santiao Bridge is included in Ancient Chinese Scientific and Technological Achievements and featured in a series of one hundred patriotic education books, showcasing the ingenuity of Taishun’s working people and the splendid accomplishments of ancient bridge construction. It was designated one of the First Batch of Cultural Relics Protection Units of Taishun County in 1982.

Wooden arch covered bridges occupy a prominent position in the history of Chinese bridge engineering. Together with Anji Bridge in Zhaoxian County, Hebei Province, Wan’an Bridge in Quanzhou, and Guangji Bridge in Haiyang County, Chaozhou, they are hailed as China’s Four Great Ancient Bridges. A puzzling fact is that the other three bridges still survive to this day, while the original Rainbow Bridge (Hongqiao) has vanished without a trace. Only its graceful silhouette was captured by the Northern Song painter Zhang Zeduan in his world-famous masterpiece Along the River During the Qingming Festival, leaving the ancient covered arch bridge as a faded memory sealed by history.

Nine hundred years later, in the 20th century, the Rainbow Bridge prototype hidden deep in the remote mountains of Taishun gradually lifted its veil and revealed itself to the world. This raises a critical question: Are Taishun’s wooden arch bridges identical to the Rainbow Bridge that once crossed the Bian River in the Northern Song capital? Do they share an inherent technical lineage? Xia Suixiang, former curator of Taishun Cultural Relics Museum, discovered records in Records of the Territorial Divisions of Taishun decades ago mentioning Tang-dynasty tiles found during Santiao Bridge’s Qing-dynasty restoration. Later, she also identified tiles inscribed with the Shaoxing reign mark of the Song Dynasty beneath the bridge’s eaves. The written record of Tang tiles and physical Song tiles provide tangible evidence for researching the bridge’s evolution. If Santiao Bridge can be confirmed to date back to the Tang Dynasty, another perplexing question remains: Was the early Tang version of the crossing already a wooden arch bridge?

A ci poem titled Rouged Lips is inscribed on the wind and rain wooden planks of Santiao Bridge: “I often recall the fifth lunar month, when we laughed and lingered side by side. Mountains green, waters clear — where has your gentle face gone? My heart brims with tender longing; I stand murmuring by the stream. Countless strands of unspoken affection the current cannot bear away, Let them drift endlessly eastward.”

Faced with the unsolved mysteries surrounding the evolution of wooden arch covered bridges, can we only turn to the flowing brook beneath the bridge for answers?

Scholars have laid a more crucial research foundation at the ruins of an ancient bridge upstream of Santiao Bridge. Zhang Jun, incumbent curator of Taishun Cultural Relics Museum, holds a completely different stance from the theory that southern wooden arch bridge technology was introduced from northern China. Drawing on years of field research on wooden arch bridges, he established an innovative theoretical framework tracing the development of Taishun’s Rainbow Bridges: The local wooden arch bridge craft originated in the Tang and Song dynasties, reached full maturity by the mid-Ming Dynasty, and evolved through continuous regional improvements as an independent indigenous technical system.