Benshan Bridge

Benshan Bridge

Benshan Bridge is a protected cultural heritage site of Jiangsu Province.

Benshan Bridge is located in Qingfu Village, Jincheng Town, Jintan City, Changzhou, Jiangsu Province. Spanning the Qingfu River, it was originally built in 1158 during the Shaoxing era of the Southern Song Dynasty. In 1253, during the first year of the Baoyou reign, Zhou Xiu (1222–1262), a local scholar who lived in the area, invited Wu Jin, a craftsman from Panmen, Suzhou, to renovate the bridge. It was also repaired during the Ming, Qing, and Republican periods.

The bridge is constructed from bluestone in a segmented parallel arch style, featuring a single arch with a clear span of 8 meters and an arch rise of 4.7 meters. The arch is divided into eleven segments, with the stones on the lower sections symmetrically arranged. The bottom three segments are each 1.75 meters wide, the next one up is 0.85 meters, then 0.35 meters, and the top segment is 0.30 meters, designed to form a circular arch. The width of the arch tapers from the bottom (3.22 meters) to the top (3 meters). The arch stones vary in width from 0.40 to 0.94 meters, with each arch segment composed of five stones laid side by side. The central keystone at the top is carved with a lotus pattern. The joints between the upper and lower stones are staggered and sealed with a mortar made of lime and glutinous rice. The lateral arch stones are 4.37 meters long, 0.60 meters wide, and 0.60 meters high. The total length of the bridge deck is 30.18 meters, with a width of 3 meters at the top and 3.75 meters at the abutments. A single-wheel cart lane, 0.35 meters wide, is set in the middle of the bridge deck, flanked by 14 pedestrian steps, each 1 meter wide. Rail post foundations are installed along both sides, with six balusters, five rail panels, and two end blocks on each side. The outer side of the central rail panel is inscribed with the three regular-script characters “Ben Shan Qiao” (Benshan Bridge). The eastern wall of the arch bears an inscription in ten lines of thirteen characters each, authored by Zhou Xiu and calligraphed by his nephew. In the lower right corner outside the frame are the words “Wu Jin, craftsman from Panmen, Suzhou.”

In January 1986, Benshan Bridge was designated as one of the first batch of cultural heritage protection units of Jintan City by the municipal government. In 1995, it was listed as part of the fourth batch of protected cultural heritage sites of Jiangsu Province by the Jiangsu Provincial People's Government.

Further Reading:

· Fourth Batch of Protected Cultural Heritage Sites of Jiangsu Province