Visiting Bridges in Liantang
Over a decade ago, on a July 1st Party activity, I visited Chen Yun's Former Residence in Liantang Town, Qingpu District, Shanghai. An ancient stone arch bridge beside it and the water-town scenery left a deep impression on me. Because it was a group activity, we came and went in a hurry, and I had no time to walk on the ancient bridge or to take another look at the waterside market town view. I left with the group. All these years, I've wanted to return to Liantang to savor the water-town old-town scenery in detail. On February 17, 2021, the last day of the Spring Festival holiday, I made a special long trip to Liantang.
From Liantang Jinze Bus Station, I walked south along Old Zhufeng Road for about ten minutes to reach the bank of Sanlitang, the town river of Liantang. The old street of Liantang ancient town lies on both sides of this river, with two flagstone streets facing each other across the water. The north bank is Shangtang Street, the south bank is Xiatang Street. Shangtang Street mostly has continuous two-story buildings, with shop fronts facing the street, formerly mostly stores; behind the buildings is the water, and rooftop terraces were built for stacking goods and enjoying the view and cool air. Xiatang Street has more residential courtyards, with round-headed gable walls, whitewashed walls and black tiles, and front doors along the river. "Tall houses, narrow lanes, buildings facing the street; small bridges, flowing water, homes by the stream" make up the water-town old-town landscape of Liantang.
A road bridge on Old Zhufeng Road that spans Sanlitang split a stone bridge called "Liufang Bridge" into two identical parts, an east bridge and a west bridge. Liufang Bridge was originally built during the Xianfeng period of the Qing Dynasty and was a stone bridge without railings. When the highway bridge was built, it was divided in two, moved and rebuilt on either side of the highway bridge, with side rails added. The rebuilt Liufang Bridge is tidy and looks new, but its ancient, weather-beaten charm is gone.
Passing through the highway bridge opening, I went east along Shangtang Street and found that this section of Shangtang Street also has the name "Dongfeng Street", apparently a revolutionary street name changed in the late 1960s. The houses on both sides have layered ridges and high eaves, but the former shops have mostly become residences now.
Casually, I saw an ancient stone arch bridge on the opposite bank on Xiatang Street, so I turned back to Liufang Bridge, crossed it to Xiatang Street, and went east until I came to this ancient stone arch bridge named "Lihuagang Bridge". Lihuagang must be the name of the small creek that meets Sanlitang here. At the bridge, I saw on its header the inscriptions "Rebuilt Yongxing Bridge" and "Qianlong Bingshen", so it seems Yongxing Bridge is the original name of this stone arch bridge.
Yongxing Bridge is a single-arch stone bridge, spanning east-west across the junction of Lihua Creek and the town river Sanlitang. It is the only east-west stone bridge among the ancient bridges I walked in Liantang; all the other stone bridges run north-south across Sanlitang.
Yongxing Bridge was first built in the Ming Dynasty and rebuilt in the 41st year of the Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty (1776). It is made of granite, with a length of 18.3 meters, width of 2.1 meters, height of 4 meters, arch span of 6.1 meters, and arch rise of 3.4 meters.
The heart stone of Yongxing Bridge has been worn over time, its pattern no longer discernible.
Yongxing Bridge has couplets carved, but some characters are too blurred to read, and some have been covered by soil.
Leaving Yongxing Bridge, I continued on and saw Zhanfang Bridge, which crosses Sanlitang north-south. This stone beam bridge has obviously been renovated. It is said to have originally been a single-span beam bridge with stone piers and a wooden deck, called "East Wooden Bridge". It was later converted into a concrete flat bridge using the stone abutments and steps, and then changed back to a stone beam bridge. However, like Liufang Bridge, it is so neat that it looks newly built, and its ancient, weathered charm is lost; it is no longer an ancient bridge.
Standing at the south approach of Zhanfang Bridge and looking east, the rustic and tranquil water-town market scenery on both banks of Sanlitang made me stop and linger.
I crossed Zhanfang Bridge to Shangtang Street (Dongfeng Street) on the north bank, walked east a short way to reach the east end of the town and saw an ancient stone arch bridge called "Yixue Bridge".
Yixue Bridge, commonly known as Huishi'an Bridge, was first built during the Tianqi period of the Ming Dynasty and rebuilt in the 17th year of the Daoguang reign of the Qing Dynasty (1837). It is a single-arch stone bridge of granite, with the arch rings constructed using the longitudinal interlocking segmental method. The bridge is 16.4 meters long, 3 meters wide, 4.2 meters high, with an arch span of 5.7 meters and arch rise of 3.1 meters.
On the header of Yixue Bridge are carved the characters "17th year of Daoguang" and "Rebuilt Yixue Bridge".
Yixue Bridge has couplets: the east couplet reads, "May Heaven always give birth to good people; may people always do good deeds." The west couplet reads, "Moon shines on the Western River, green lotus lies drunk; rainbow locks the East Village, Sima leaves an inscription."
North of Yixue Bridge, there is an old house with two gateways. The east gate header reads "Eastern District Fire Brigade" and the west gate header reads "Second Branch of Qingpu County Public Security Bureau". The fire brigade was a spontaneously organized, self-help firefighting unit in Jiangnan water-town market towns before liberation. Later, at the west end of Liantang, I saw an old house with a gate header inscribed "Western District Fire Brigade", which shows that back then Liantang had two folk fire brigades.
Crossing Yixue Bridge, I came to the east end of Xiatang Street on the south bank, walked south over a concrete bridge, and east out of the town area.
Looking back towards Yixue Bridge at the east end of Liantang ancient town, the charm of a water village and rural landscape was right before my eyes.
I returned to Xiatang Street and walked west. Along the way, I passed the doors of old houses such as Yan'an Primary School, where Chen Yun once left his footprints.
Letting my eyes roam over the water-town market scenery on both banks of Sanlitang, I lingered and strolled, enchanted.
Crossing Yongxing Bridge again, I continued west and came to Wanshan Bridge, which spans north-south across Sanlitang.
Wanshan Bridge is a single-arch stone bridge, also known as Huntangbang Bridge, first built in the Qing Dynasty. Its fate was the same as Zhanfang Bridge; it was once turned into a concrete bridge and only converted back to a stone arch bridge in recent years, so it is no longer an ancient bridge. The beautifully patterned heart stone on the bridge surface may not be the original.
I crossed Wanshan Bridge to Shangtang Street on the north bank, where there is another new street name, "Qianjin Street". Dongfeng Street and Qianjin Street are trendy names given to Shangtang Street in the 1960s and 70s.
Walking west along Shangtang Street a short way, I came to the Sheng Tang at the center of Liantang ancient town.
Sheng Tang was originally the Yinzhen Daoist Temple of the Song Dynasty. It was rebuilt in the 19th year of the Jiaqing reign of the Qing Dynasty (1814) and renamed Sheng Tang. It faces south, and is said to have been a three-courtyard brick-and-wood structure, but now only one courtyard remains. The main gate was closed, so I could only view the exterior from the street. It has three bays, a veranda under the front eaves, a gable roof with small tiles, and a pair of bluestone drum stones flanking the wall gate.
In front of Sheng Tang is a screen wall, and beyond it lies Chaozhen Bridge.
Chaozhen Bridge in front of Sheng Tang is commonly known as Shengtang Bridge. It runs north-south across Sanlitang and is a single-arch stone bridge. Its first construction date is unknown, but it is recorded as rebuilt in the 34th year of the Jiajing reign of the Ming Dynasty (1555), rebuilt again in the 34th year of the Kangxi reign of the Qing Dynasty (1695), and restored in 2000.
Chaozhen Bridge is built of a mix of bluestone and granite; the bluestone is likely from the Ming Dynasty, and the granite added during the Qing Dynasty renovation. The bridge is 18 meters long, 3.5 meters wide, with an arch span of 6.8 meters and arch rise of 3.7 meters. The arch rings use the longitudinal interlocking segmental construction method.
The north approach of Chaozhen Bridge has split landing steps: an upper flight of 15 steps and a lower flight of 10 steps. The south approach has a straight flight of 25 steps.
On the east side of the south approach of Chaozhen Bridge stands an ancient pomegranate tree that has accompanied the ancient bridge for over a hundred years. Unfortunately, it was late winter early spring, so I couldn't see the lush foliage.
Chaozhen Bridge is the ancient stone arch bridge I noticed when visiting Chen Yun's Former Residence in Liantang all those years ago. I made this special trip to get a closer look at this ancient bridge from my memory, and I lingered for a long time by the bridge to capture a photo of Chaozhen Bridge in ideal light.
On the west side of the south approach of Chaozhen Bridge is Chen Yun's Former Residence, a small building with a narrow front, which was actually the home of Chen Yun's maternal uncle.
To see the interior of the former residence again, I made a detour to the Chen Yun Memorial Hall and entered the residence from there. Outside the former residence on Xiatang Street, several photography enthusiasts had set up their cameras to shoot the exterior and were discussing composition techniques with each other.
Several wooden tourist boats were moored at the river quay facing the street. Ancient bridge, flowing water, old houses, wooden boats—this is the quintessential charm of a water-town ancient town. The reflections of the bridge, boats, houses, and people rippled on the gentle waves, displaying the authentic beauty of life in a water-town ancient town.
Leaving Chaozhen Bridge, I continued west along Shangtang Street and came to Zhonghong Bridge, which spans north-south across Sanlitang.
Zhonghong Bridge was once called "Central Wooden Bridge", originally an ancient wooden bridge. It was rebuilt as a stone arch bridge in 2000, so it is no longer considered an ancient bridge.
Crossing Zhonghong Bridge, I walked west along Shangtang Street. The street and river turned southwest, and not far ahead was a shikumen-style building, the Fukang Sauce and Pickle Shop.
It is said this shop was built in 1919 and was once the largest store in Liantang Town. The front was a shop and the back was a workshop for brewing wine, making soy sauce, maltose, and pickles; now it is a residence.
In the open space to the southwest outside, many empty jars were placed. These were probably collected and placed to complement the sauce shop scenery, rather than being original to the shop.
An old house to the west of the Fukang Sauce Shop has a gate header inscribed "Western District Fire Brigade". The two folk self-help fire brigades in old Liantang Town, east and west, must have contributed to the fire safety of the market town.
Continuing on, I arrived at the most ancient bridge in Liantang, Shunde Bridge.
At the west end of Liantang ancient town, Shunde Bridge spans north-south across Sanlitang. It is a three-span row-column stone beam bridge. The piers are formed by three stone slabs set upright as columns. The middle span is the navigation channel, while the two side spans are for flood discharge. Shunde Bridge was first built in the 3rd year of the Zhizheng reign of the Yuan Dynasty (1343), and repaired during the Shunzhi period (1644-1661), the 58th year of Kangxi (1719), and the 49th year of Qianlong (1784) of the Qing Dynasty. It is built of mixed bluestone and granite. The bridge is 17.5 meters long, 2.4 meters wide, and 4.1 meters high, with the middle span 5.5 meters, north span 5.03 meters, and south span 4.6 meters.
Shunde Bridge has a deck of long granite slabs, with railings integrated with the drum stones.
The bridge piers are mostly bluestone column piers from the Yuan Dynasty. On the west side of the north pier, a bluestone column is carved with a lotus pedestal, lotus leaf cap, and inscription panel. It is said that the characters "Yuan Zhizheng third year" can still be seen. Standing at the south approach, the carved lotus pedestal and leaf cap on the bluestone column are clearly visible, but the characters inside the panel are not clear; I would probably need to take a boat close to the pier to read them.
On the granite stringer stones on either side of Shunde Bridge are carved the characters "Shunde Bridge" and "Rebuilt Shunde Bridge", with coin and ruyi motifs beside the characters. These were likely carved during the Qianlong 49th year restoration.
According to legend, Liantang got its name from a pond said to have been used by the Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period to train naval forces. Another story says it was because Zhang Junxiu, the prefect of Gao Prefecture in the Five Dynasties, and his wife, Lady Lian, once lived here. In any case, Liantang likely has over a thousand years of history. Liantang ancient town is small, with the old town area concentrated along both banks of Sanlitang. Shangtang Street and Xiatang Street have no dazzling array of shops and boutiques, nor are they crowded with tourists. It is a very quiet little town. If not for the Chen Yun Memorial Hall and his former residence, it might be little known. But precisely because of this, Liantang, like Jinze, has preserved that precious, leisurely, and authentic waterside market town landscape of Jiangnan.
Strolling through Liantang ancient town, pausing at the four ancient stone bridges—Shunde, Chaozhen, Yongxing, and Yixue—especially Chaozhen Bridge at the town center, watching the market streets on both banks of Sanlitang with their whitewashed walls and black tiles, flagstone-paved streets, and small wooden boats occasionally gliding gently across the town river, I felt as if I were inside a painting, and the painting entered my heart. It seemed I myself had merged into this elegant scroll of Jiangnan water-town customs.
