Spanning the bay betwixt Jinjiang County too Nan'an County , due west of Fuzhou City , Red People's Republic of China , is the beautiful twelfth century Anping Bridge , too known equally Wuli yoke , built of huge rock blocks. It is to a greater extent than than 2 kilometers long , 2 ,070 meters to last exact , too unopen behind the 2437-meters-long Constantine's Bridge across Danube , which is considered to last the longest ancient yoke inwards the world. Until 1905 , Anping Bridge was the longest yoke inwards China.
The yoke lies inwards the prefecture-level urban total of Quanzhou , crossing what originally was a tidal estuary of the Shijing River that separates the town of Anhai (in the county-level urban total of Jinjiang) eastward of the river , from the town of Shuitou (in the county-level urban total of Nan'an) due west of the river. Anhai was formerly known equally Anping , from which comes the bridge’s name.
Photo credit: holachina.net
The yoke was built betwixt 1138 too 1151 during the Southern Song dynasty. It consists of 331 spans of granite beams resting on overstep of boat-shaped rock piers , the largest beam weighing 25 tons. The yoke has 4 foursquare too 2 circular rock pagodas standing symmetrically on each side. Built of brick , the hexagonal , five-storied pagoda is close twenty-two meters high too tin last seen far away.
Originally , the yoke was close 150 meters longer , precisely due to silting of the estuary the yoke was made shorter. The yoke too had v pavilions where travelers could residue , precisely solely ane pavilion directly exist.
The estuary of the Shijing River has generally silted upward inwards this expanse , too the remaining river channel nether the yoke is fairly narrow. Consequently , the yoke directly generally crosses what amounts to a sequence of lakes or ponds , separated past times wetlands. H5N1 modern world highway crosses the Shijing River a few hundred meters S of the historical Anping Bridge over a fairly brusk bridge.
The yoke is directly a nationally protected historic site. The areas around the yoke are currently beingness developed into parks.
Photo credit: www.fjfao.gov.cn
Photo credit: Vmenkov/Wikimedia
Photo credit: Vmenkov/Wikimedia
Photo credit: Vmenkov/Wikimedia
Photo credit: Vmenkov/Wikimedia
Photo credit: Vmenkov/Wikimedia
