Jingfu Bridge

Jingfu Bridge

Jingfu Bridge is a cultural heritage site protected at the municipal level in Suzhou.

Jingfu Bridge is located in the middle section of Zhengyi Old Street, spanning the Weitang River. Originally named Zhongxin Bridge or Zhongjin Bridge. "Jingfu Bridge" nurtures people, a source of benevolence flows long.

The *Kun-Xin Two Counties Continued and Revised Combined Gazetteer* from the Guangxu era contains records about Jingfu Bridge. The bridge was originally made of wood. In the 46th year of the Kangxi reign during the Qing Dynasty (1707), a local resident named Zhu Guangyuan rebuilt it as a stone bridge, and Xu Angfa once composed a fundraising appeal for its construction. The bridge runs east–west and is a single-arch granite structure with a longitudinally jointed and horizontally layered masonry construction technique. At the top center of the arch stones on both sides are five raised regular script characters reading “Ding Jian Jing Fu Qiao” (鼎建景福桥), meaning “Constructed Jingfu Bridge.” The term “Ding Jian” refers to the act of building. The bridge is 24.4 meters long, 2.42 meters wide, has a clear span of 7.4 meters, and an arch rise of 4.25 meters. Both the northern and southern sides of the bridge are inscribed with couplets. Only one couplet remains clearly legible, parts of another can be partially identified, while a third has been obscured by a later-built wall.

On August 5, 2009, Jingfu Bridge was designated as a cultural heritage site protected at the county level in Kunshan.