Sanli Bridge

Sanli Bridge

Sanli Bridge is a cultural heritage site protected by the Suzhou Municipal Government.

Sanli Bridge is located outside the north gate of Wujiang City, spanning the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.

It was first built in the first year of the Yuan Dynasty's Taiding era (1324), and rebuilt in the sixth year of the Ming Dynasty's Tianshun era (1462), the second year of the Qing Dynasty's Jiaqing era (1797), and the first year of the Guangxu era (1875). In February of the eleventh year of Guangxu (1885), it was renovated under the supervision of the Jiangsu Provincial Water Resources Bureau along with local officials and residents from Wujiang and Zhenze counties. During the Qing Dynasty, a military outpost known as yingxun (military sentry post) was stationed at Sanli Bridge, which included eight sentry rooms. A gate barrier was installed beneath the bridge and operated on a schedule; if damaged, the county magistrates of Wujiang and Zhenze (remerged into Wujiang County in the first year of the Republic of China) would donate funds for repairs. In the past, it served as a passageway from Wujiang County to towns east of the canal. In 1978, part of the towpath stone was damaged when struck by the corner of a passing steel-hulled boat, and was later repaired with concrete in 1984. On July 1, 1986, it was designated as a cultural heritage site protected by Wujiang County. After the cutting of the Jiangnan Canal’s corner section, the bridge came to lie within the triangular zone between the old and new canals. In 2003, after the construction of the Sanli Bridge Ecological Park, the ancient bridge became the park’s entrance. On May 23, 2007, the National Cultural Heritage Administration explicitly referred to Sanli Bridge as a “cultural relic related to the ancient Grand Canal” in the “Notice on Issuing the Introduction to the Sixth Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units.”

It is a granite single-arch bridge oriented from east to west. The bridge is 50.4 meters long, 4.65 meters wide, has a height of 12.5 meters, and a span of 16 meters. It is the tallest ancient stone bridge in Wujiang City, allowing boats with sails to pass directly beneath it. To reduce the inconvenience for boat trackers having to go ashore and detour, a special towpath stone was built inside the eastern bridge abutment, connecting with the towpath. The towpath stone is 0.8 meters wide on the north and south sides of the bridge pier, and 1.15 meters wide at the front of the arch’s base. Boat trackers could pass under the bridge. On the east side is a stone bridge abutment. The steps on the bridge are unequal on the east and west sides, with 44 and 48 steps respectively at the east and west ends (according to the “Record of the Renovation of Sanli Bridge” stele from the eleventh year of Guangxu). The arch is constructed using the method of vertical jointing and segmented parallel placement. Currently, all the bridge railing stones are intact, and the bridge deck stones feature Buddhist “samsara” patterns. These patterns radiate outward from a central point in six directions, eventually forming the shape of a wheel. The ancient carving of “samsara” patterns on bridges reflects the Buddhist concept of “karma,” reminding people who cross the bridge to often see these patterns and remember to always do good and avoid evil, thereby accumulating merit.

Source: Wujiang Archives Bureau