【Guess the Scenic Spot by the Sea River】A stone bridge has lain there for a thousand years in the southeast; its name is known to come from the Central Plains

There are 46 bridge piers; the bridge is 360 zhang long and 1.5 zhang wide. There are 500 columns on each side of the bridge. There are stone carvings in all of them, used to protect pedestrians. Nine stone pagodas were built on either side of the bridge to suppress the wind, and seven stone pavilions were constructed on the bridge for the riders to rest in. The bridge structure and its accompanying buildings feature many artistic stone fortifications with beautiful designs; there are stone lions standing tall, as well as lion statues holding stone balls in their mouths. The entire bridge is massive in scale and aesthetically pleasing in design.

This post was last edited by Desert Fish on 2017-3-2 09:23. It marks the beginning of the raft foundation design for bridges in the world, and it is a national key cultural relic under protection. The construction of this bridge represents a significant contribution to the world of bridge engineering. Over 900 years ago, a large stone bridge for ports was built first – 360 zhang in length and 1.5 zhang in width, ranking first of its kind across the country – and it has remained intact to this day.

This post was last edited by Desert Fish on 2017-3-1 at 13:44. The Luoyang Bridge, originally named Wan’an Bridge, is located on the Luoyang River in the eastern suburbs of Quanzhou. It is considered one of the four great ancient bridges in China, along with the Lugou Bridge in Beijing, the Zhaozhou Bridge in Hebei, and the Guangji Bridge in Guangdong. The Luoyang Bridge is the earliest existing stone bridge of its kind that spans a sea in China; it also marked the beginning of the use of raft foundations for bridges worldwide. The construction of this bridge was supervised by Cai Xiang, who was from Putian and served as the governor of Quanzhou during the Northern Song Dynasty. The construction took seven years, from the fifth year of the Huangyou era to the fourth year of the Jiayou era, and cost 14 million taels of silver to complete this large stone bridge that spans the river and connects to the sea. According to historical records, when it was first built, the bridge was 360 zhang long and 1.5 zhang wide, with warrior statues standing on either side. Bridge construction projects are of enormous scale, feature advanced structural and technical methods, and are renowned worldwide. Near the central pavilion of the bridge, there are numerous inscriptions from various dynasties, including rock carvings from the Song Dynasty such as those bearing the inscription “Eternal Peace” ； To the north of the bridge are the remains of the Shōkei Temple and the Shinshin An ； To the south of the bridge lies the Cai Xiang Temple, where the famous Song Dynasty stele depicting Cai Xiang’s \"Inscription on Wan’an Bridge\" is located; it is regarded as a masterpiece in calligraphy, inscription writing, and carving. In Quanzhou, the saying \"standing upright it resembles the East and West Pagodas, lying down it resembles the Luoyang Bridge\" has been passed down from generation to generation and has even spread overseas.

14 million taels of silver spent – this figure seems a bit exaggerated; maybe there’s an extra ten thousand in there. The Qing Dynasty’s treasury revenue for an entire year was only around 20 million taels in silver

It took six years to build, front and back, at a cost of 14 million – not much at all

I think 1,400 taels is a more appropriate amount