The horizontal iron cables of Luding Bridge are cold

1 Luding Bridge. Photography/Feng Rongguang

2 Dancing on Luding Bridge.

The Dadu River, which rushes from the high mountain canyon of Hengduan Mountain, has rough waves and passes by Luding County. Luding Bridge, an iron cable bridge with a history of more than 300 years, spans the Dadu River on the west side of the county.

In autumn, I stood at the head of Luding Bridge and saw the iron cables on the bridge shining with a cold light under the autumn sun, and trembling and swaying in the biting river wind.

In the square behind me, there is a monument to Emperor Kangxi. The text on the monument introduces the historical background of the birth of Luding Bridge. Before setting foot on the Luding Bridge, in order to clearly clarify its historical context, in order to deeply feel its physical condition, and in order to prepare thoughts that would free my mood, I stood in front of the monument and read the historical imprints solidified on it.

1 "Luding Bridge" stele in Kangxi's handwriting. Photography/Feng Rongguang

2 Enjoy the Luding Bridge up close.

Luding is the gateway to the Han-Tibetan tea and horse trade in Southwest China and an important distribution center for border trade materials. As early as 1696, Emperor Kangxi issued an edict: "Tea trade in Dajianlu City and Fanren City is permitted." Dajianlu is the ancient name of the current Kangding area. The general idea of ??the edict is that merchants are allowed to transport tea, cloth, grain, oil, rice, noodles and other daily necessities from Sichuan to Kangding, and then export them to South Asia.

As a result, a large number of Tibetan and Han supplies of all kinds were gathered on the banks of the Dadu River in Luding County, and it was simply a drop in the bucket to transfer them by ferry or zipline. Due to the inability to cross the river in time, during the hot summer, fresh game and vegetables that could have been sold at a good price were thrown into the river due to rot. What's even more terrible is that the mobilization of military personnel and baggage has also been greatly affected by this.

In order to unify the country and stabilize the political power, as well as to prosper border trade and promote economic development, Emperor Kangxi issued an edict in 1705, ordering the governor of Sichuan to preside over the construction of a bridge on the Dadu River. After more than a year of construction, it was successfully completed. Kangxi was overjoyed when he heard the news. He took the meaning of "Lushui" and "Pingding" and wrote the words "Luding Bridge" in his own handwriting, and erected an imperial monument at the head of Luding Bridge.

Walking onto the Luding Bridge, the weight of history comes to you.

The abutment built with large stones at the head of the bridge is nearly 20 meters high from the river, shaped like a permanent bunker. A deep well was dug in the bunker, and 1 horizontal horizontal dragon pile and 7 vertical ground dragon piles were cast at the bottom of the well with a total of more than 20 tons of iron, and then 13 iron chains used as bridges were riveted on them.

There are 13 iron chains across the river more than 100 meters wide. Each chain is as thick as the mouth of a bowl, and is interlocked by more than 900 iron rings. It weighs about 2.5 tons and seems to be able to carry a thousand pounds. How heavy! Among them, 4 iron chains are the left and right handrails, 9 iron chains are the bridge deck, and the bridge deck is paved with wooden boards.

Walking onto the bridge, you can see that the iron chains still retain the handwriting engraved by the bridge builders at that time. This was an important part of the total quality management at that time. If there is a problem with any part of the iron chain in the future use , causing the bridge to break and people to die, the craftsman will be held accountable based on the handwriting on the iron chain of the accident.

Luding Bridge has impeccable technical problems, but people also endow it with impregnable power from the perspective of spirituality and belief. An iron bull and an iron centipede are cast at both ends of the bridge, expressing people's best wishes to subdue the water demon and make the iron bridge permanent.

I was walking on the slightly rickety cable bridge, looking through the gaps in the wooden boards of the bridge deck. The fast-flowing and unfathomable water of the Dadu River was a bit frightening. What followed was uncontrollable emotion and admiration from the heart.

Most bridges built in ancient times were adapted to local conditions. There were strong and durable beam bridges, arch bridges with elegant shapes, and simple and convenient cable bridges. At that time, it was almost impossible to build a bridge in a remote mountainous area with such dangerous geological and hydrological conditions, and to build a bridge that was a century-old project and a thousand-year plan. However, the ancients with infinite wisdom and courage created a shocking miracle here.

The management staff told me that it was a huge difficulty just to transport the iron rope to the other side. Each chain weighs about 2.5 tons, and it is impossible to transport the other end to the other side using conventional methods. During this period, they tried to use sheepskin rafts or boats to transport them, but they were unsuccessful several times and almost resulted in fatal accidents. Finally, the construction workers collectively came up with a clever idea: first tie thick bamboo ropes to both sides, put a number of short bamboo tubes on each bamboo rope, then tie the iron chain to the bamboo tubes, and finally pull the bamboo ropes from the opposite bank, thereby affecting the bamboo tube iron Chain across the river to the shore.

The Guanyin Pavilion, located at Xiqiaotou, is a temple with a bit of history, and is now also known as the "Red Army Tower".

Here, there is the imperial pen banner of Emperor Kangxi "Unifying the Rivers and Mountains". To make such bold words, only he has the courage and qualifications.

From this, we can also imagine how much weight this cable bridge, which connected the mainland and Tibet, and even the East and the West, had in the mind of Emperor Kangxi!

However, wisdom and sage are not the same. One historical fact that needs to be explained is that the Dadu River was named "Moshui", and Emperor Kangxi mistakenly called it "Lushui", and "ding" refers to the suppression of the Junggar rebellion.

The side of Guanyin Pavilion facing the river was a machine gun position used by the Red Army to provide fire cover for the 22 warriors who flew to seize the Luding Bridge. I stopped here, looking up at the high mountains and ridges of the Dadu River, overlooking the roaring waves of the Dadu River. The historical picture of more than 80 years ago could not help but emerge in my mind.

On May 29, 1935, the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army passed through here on its Long March. A commando team composed of 22 warriors braved the enemy's bullets and crawled on the iron cable bridge with the wooden planks removed, wiping out the enemy forces on the bridgehead in one fell swoop. , thus opening up a path of victory for the Red Army to move north. The cold iron cables of the Luding Bridge and the towering cliffs of the Dadu River bear witness to the heroic spirit and courage of the hero. For this reason, Mao Zedong happily wrote a poem: "The golden sand and water beat against the clouds and the cliffs are warm, while the iron cables across the Dadu Bridge are cold."

Today, the Luding Bridge is more than 300 years old, although it has undergone many minor repairs. Supplementary, but still resting peacefully on the Dadu River. Luding Bridge is not only a famous red tourist attraction, but also the crystallization of the wisdom of the ancient working people.

TIPS

Transportation: Starting from Chengdu, along the Beijing-Kunming Expressway to Ya'an, from Ya'an along the Yakang Expressway to Luding Bridge in Luding County, the whole journey is 231 kilometers and takes 3 hours.

Surrounding scenic spots: Hailuogou Scenic Area, Moxi Ancient Town

Featured food: Moxi old bacon, crispy fat duck, morel stewed native chicken