Nanjing Tianshengqiao

Nanjing Tianshengqiao

Nanjing Tianshengqiao is a national AAA-level tourist attraction.

Nanjing Tianshengqiao

Nanjing Tianshengqiao is located on the Yanzi River in Lishui County, about 48 kilometers from Nanjing. The bridge is 34 meters long, 36 meters high, and 9 meters thick and wide. It is steep, serene, and majestic in presence.

After Zhu Yuanzhang, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, established the capital in Nanjing, to solve the issue of water transport, in the year 1393 (the 26th year of the Hongwu reign), he sent Marquis Chongshan Li Xin to Lishui to “oversee the excavation of the Yanzi River.” When Li Xin arrived in Lishui to dig the Yanzi River, there was a massive natural rock blocking the middle of the river channel, obstructing the way. He then chiseled more than ten zhang (approximately 33 meters) of holes through the rock to allow boats to pass, and the bridge formed naturally from this, hence the name “Tiansheng” (meaning “naturally formed”).

At that time, Li Xin organized tens of thousands of laborers from two provinces. They used iron chisels to cut grooves in the rocks, inserted tung oil-soaked hemp ropes, set them on fire, then poured cold water to crack the rocks. The cracked rocks were then pried loose and removed. This process was repeated over more than two years, resulting in the deaths of over ten thousand workers, and the excavation of a fifteen-li-long (approximately 7.5 km) canal, connecting to Taihu Lake upstream and the Qinhuai River downstream.

Leaving a rock as a bridge on an artificial canal was truly an innovative feat by the craftsmen of that time. Unfortunately, the southern bridge collapsed as early as 1528, leaving only the northern bridge. A naturally formed bridge created by leaving a massive rock on an artificial canal is unique in China and even the world.