Articles about bridges

The ancient traces of Liudong Bridge are hard to find

From near the Guiyang Customs Building to the north entrance of Boai Road, there is an alley called Liudong Bridge Street. If you want to ask about the origin of the street name, old Guiyang people will tell you: because there were originally six stone bridges (holes) here, the street was named after the bridge, so it was called Liudong Bridge Street. But if we ask more deeply: why do we need to build 6 bridges on a river section of less than 200 meters? I'm afraid not many people can tell clearly.

It turns out that the Liudong Bridge is located in the lower reaches of the Guancheng River and flows into the Nanming River through the water pass near the former Guiyang No. 1 Middle School. Until the Qing Dynasty, the Guancheng River was still a natural river with clear water, fish swimming on the shallow bottom, singing songs and willow waves, and pleasant scenery. The line between Dusi Bridge and Liudong Bridge on Dusi Road is an open environment. Between the post and telecommunications building and Chaoyang Bridge, there is a hillside more than 10 meters high along the Nanming River. The trees on the mountain are verdant, and the bottom of the mountain is as level as a mirror. It is the symbol of the old city of Guiyang. central area. Dusi Street, Yaowang Street, Damacao Lane, Shuangtu Lane, etc. are all concentrated nearby, with dense population and heavy traffic. But even from today's perspective, Dusi Bridge and Huiling Bridge are enough to travel between both sides of the river. Why is it necessary to build a bridge every 30 meters? Moreover, why are there not 4 bridges, nor 5 bridges, but 6 bridges? It turns out that "six" is a very important number in Chinese folk customs and religions. It is called the number of "Lao Yin" in the "Book of Changes". Due to the homophonic relationship, people associate with the "six positions" of Yin Yao and the "salary positions", "six six dashes", "six Ding prosperous", etc. Buddhism also has concepts such as "six such" and "six sects", so There are many things with "six" as the unit. For example, on the West Lake in Hangzhou, there are six bridges built under the leadership of Su Dongpo. "The six bridges stretch across Tianhan, and the Beishan begins to connect with Nanping." These six bridges are mentioned. Besides, in ancient times, people did not necessarily build bridges for practical purposes. There was no need to go through planning and argumentation. Starting from the purpose of "building the next life", building bridges and paving roads was a very common behavior at that time. The lower reaches of the Guancheng River are an area with a very dense concentration of Buddhist and Taoist temples. Bridges built here are easy to be understood by "gods and Buddhas" and the masses. If the predecessors are prosperous, the descendants will follow, and naturally more bridges will be built.

The Liudong Bridge has a general name in the (Kangxi) "Guizhou General Chronicles": "Yuedian Hongqiao", (Daoguang) "Guiyang Prefecture" records: "The original name of the Liudong Bridge is 'Yuedian Hongtun" ', there are six bridges. ""Tuen" means gathering together. Neither chronicle records the names of each bridge.

After liberation, due to river renovation, urban construction and other reasons, 4 of the six-hole bridges were demolished, and the remaining two were replaced with reinforced concrete bridges. Nowadays, the two bridges are also submerged in the rows of high-rise buildings around them. No one will notice that there were many bridges here in the past.

An analysis of the name of Guanzhu Bridge

On the west bank of the Guancheng River opposite the Grand Cross Jinjiang Flower Hotel, there was originally an alley connecting Shixi Road and Shifu Road. It's called "Guanzhu Lane". The alley no longer exists. Its original site became a street square with many small shops. The river channel is also hidden under a thick concrete cover. Guanzhu Lane is also named after the original "Guanzhu Bridge" here.

Guanzhu Bridge is a stone arch bridge. In the early days of liberation, there was a small bridge with steel beams and wooden decks next to it, which had the flavor of a miniature European bridge. It was also collectively known as the Guanzhu Bridge. During the "Cultural Revolution", according to the principle of "digging holes deeply and accumulating grain widely, In line with the idea of ??"not seeking hegemony", when the Municipal Revolutionary Committee built the Guancheng River into a simple air defense facility, both bridges were demolished.

Before liberation, there were many shops in this area, and the famous Daxing Temple was also here, so Guanzhu Bridge played an important role in facilitating people's travel. There are two main types of legends about the bridge. One is the legend of the Miao compatriots, who believe that the bridge is mainly used for officials who hang beads to pass, so it is called Guanzhu Bridge. The Han people have another story: During the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty, a fire broke out in Sanpaifang, and the fire burned to a bridge in the northern section of today's Zhonghua South Road. If the fire crosses the bridge and continues to spread to the west, the entire commercial district and the Guiyang Mansion's official residence will be burned to the ground. The prefect brought people to fight the fire, but failed to stop the fire, so he had to ask the gods for help, but it still didn't work.

The prefect thought that if the fire continued to burn, he would not be able to escape his guilt. In desperation, he took off his beads and threw them into the fire, praying to heaven: "If the fire does not go out, I will throw myself into it and die in the line of duty!" Strangely enough, the fire gradually weakened. , eventually extinguished. To commemorate this incident, the citizens renamed the bridge "Guanzhu Bridge".

In fact, both of these statements are false. The original meaning of "Guanzhu" is to connect the pearls into a string. Literati often use it to describe the beauty of singing and music. The ancient book "Book of Rites and Music" says, "The top of the singer is like a resistance, the bottom is like a team (falling), the twists and turns are like twists and turns,...the stack is like a string of beads." This is what it means. It is not difficult for us to imagine: Back then, the Guancheng River was still a clear water river with sufficient water. When the moon was late and people were quiet, the water flow hit the bridge piers and the stone rifts on both sides. , how could it not arise spontaneously? This is the true origin of the name Guanzhu Bridge!