Xinfeng Bridge

Xinfeng Bridge spans the section of Nanjin Street on the old downtown road of Lichuan County and the northern entrance of Huangzhu Village on the southern outskirts of the county seat.

It was originally a simple wooden bridge. In the mid-Hongzhi reign of the Ming Dynasty (around 1497), it was rebuilt into a long covered corridor bridge with five stone piers and six arches. The bridge adopted wooden beams supported by timber frames, paved with flagstones and topped with tiled roofed corridors. The whole structure stretches more than 90 metres in length and about 5 metres in width, flanked by bridge towers at both ends. A small shrine dedicated to the River God once stood on one side of the middle section. On either side of the shrine gate hung a couplet: Green hills far and near form an inkless painting;

Gurgling flowing water composes a melodious poem.

As a vital thoroughfare connecting Lichuan County seat with towns in the southern and southwestern countryside, as well as several counties in Fujian Province, the bridge witnessed heavy traffic and accumulated profound cultural heritage through the ages. Li Gou, a renowned Confucian scholar of the Northern Song Dynasty, lived and gave lectures at Chian not far from the southern end of the bridge for many years, crossing this bridge nearly every day to go downtown. Zhu Xi, the great Neo-Confucian philosopher and educator of the Southern Song Dynasty, together with his disciples Huang Gan, Cai Shen and Huang Zhong, delivered lectures at Wuyi Hall in Shuanglin Temple on Fushan Mountain within Sheping Township. Xu Xiake, the Ming geographer, travelled extensively to Huixian Peak and other scenic spots in Lichuan, and this bridge was an indispensable passage on his route. Zhang Henshui, a master of modern Chinese novels, spent his childhood in a small building right next to the northern end of the bridge, often coming here to play.

In the spring of 1931, Yuan Guoping, then Director of the Political Department of the Third Red Army Corps, was dispatched by Corps Commander Peng Dehuai to carry out underground revolutionary work in Lichuan disguised as a calligraphy and painting peddler. By day, he set up a stall selling paintings and calligraphy on Xinfeng Bridge. By night, he visited poor workers, peasants and progressive gentry household by household. He publicized the policies of the Communist Party of China and the Red Army, collected intelligence on local political, economic and military deployments, and drew military maps to prepare for the Red Army’s first capture of Lichuan County.

In November 1932, the General Headquarters of the Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army was stationed in Huangzhu Village at the southern end of Xinfeng Bridge. The 1st, 3rd and 5th Army Corps under the headquarters, together with the MinGan provincial leading organs, were scattered on both river banks. Many senior leaders frequently crossed the bridge, including Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, Wang Jiaxiang, Peng Dehuai, Liu Bocheng, Lin Biao, Luo Ronghuan, Nie Rongzhen, Ye Jianying, Teng Daiyuan, Su Yu, Luo Ruiqing, Huang Kecheng, Tan Zheng, Dong Zhentang, Zhao Bosheng, Gu Zuolin, Shao Shiping and Xiao Jinguang.

Xinfeng Bridge suffered repeated collapses and reconstructions throughout history. The latest restoration strictly followed the architectural style from the reconstruction during the Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty. The horizontal stone inscription above the gate retains the handwriting of Fang Zhichun, who once served as Secretary of the CPC Lichuan County Committee in the Soviet period and later as Governor of Jiangxi Province. He inscribed the name when the renovation was completed in 1986.

Today, Xinfeng Bridge, together with Henggang Stone Arch Bridge facing it diagonally at the southern end, as well as the adjoining downtown square and riverside park, forms the Twin Bridges Scenic Area, where a great number of poems, calligraphy and paintings are displayed