Dongxin Bridge

Dongxin Bridge

Dongxin Bridge

It is situated at the eastern end of the newly filled land, spanning the Dong and Chengzi polders, at the northwest corner of the Chengzi polder, about half a li east of Dongxi Bridge. There had long been no bridge here, with only ferry boats making the crossing. After the Republic of China was established, commerce and industry gradually developed in the western part of the Chengzi polder. Successive establishments such as an electrical company, kerosene company, telephone and telegraph office, and the rice industry union emerged, making the construction of a bridge to spur the market imperative. In the 16th year of the Republic of China (1927), Xue Ganfu, one of the shareholders of Xingye Electric Company, organized a public welfare society and initiated fundraising efforts to build the bridge. The southern end of the bridge site was chosen along the bank at the northwest corner of the Chengzi polder, while the northern end was located in an open space behind the back door of a dye workshop owned by the Yang family in the middle section of the newly filled land. The bridge adopted a trapezoidal wooden beam structure, with railings on both sides of the stairway made of two slender iron pipes aligned vertically and riveted tightly to iron posts extending from south to north. The wooden bridge rose above the ground, matching the heights of Dongxi Bridge to the east and Tailai Bridge to the west, and its arch allowed the passage of barges carrying loads of up to a hundred tons of rice sacks. Once completed, the bridge provided great convenience to pedestrians and brought delight to merchants, and it came to be simply referred to as the “New Bridge.” Due to its beam-style wooden construction and strategic location in the urban area, in the late 1930s, the bridge’s piles began to shake, the iron railings bent, and the planks fell off, creating numerous hazards. In the 37th year of the Republic of China (1948), merchants and factory owners on both banks raised funds to rebuild it as a beam-style stone bridge, which has been in use ever since. In 2008, it was listed as a newly discovered cultural relic during the third national cultural relics survey and placed under protection.