Xinchang Yingxian Bridge

Xinchang Yingxian Bridge

Xinchang Yingxian Bridge is a cultural tourism attraction, a classic red tourism site, and a patriotic education base.

Yingxian Bridge is located on the Chouchang Stream near Liumenwu in Taoyuan Township (now Nanming Subdistrict), Xinchang County, Zhejiang Province. It is the first ancient stone arch bridge in China discovered to feature a design resembling a catenary arch. As such, it is the oldest known catenary arch stone bridge in the country.

The bridge is 29 meters long, 4.6 meters wide, and has a clear span of 15.6 meters. The catenary arch design was an advanced bridge engineering technology invented abroad in the 1960s. Yingxian Bridge utilized this bridge type long before its adoption overseas.

The bridge is recorded in the Xinchang County Annals from the Ming Dynasty's Wanli era and was renovated during the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty. Its name originates from a local legend. It is said that during the Eastern Han Dynasty, two young men from Wuxian—Liu Chen and Ruan Zhao—got lost while gathering herbs in Mount Tiantai. They met two fairy maidens near Liumenwu, married them, and lived happily. Soon after, they returned home only to find that seven generations had passed. The bridge was thus named after their encounter with the fairies. Located at the gateway to Mount Tiantai along the "Tang Poetry Road" pioneered by the Liu Song Dynasty poet Xie Lingyun, the bridge has withstood centuries of commercial and military traffic, remaining intact to this day—a testament to the scientific soundness of its structure.

Nanming Subdistrict: Xinchang is located in the eastern part of Zhejiang Province and is under the jurisdiction of Shaoxing City. Established in 908 AD, the county has a history of over 1,100 years. Covering an area of 1,213 square kilometers, it governs 16 towns and subdistricts, 415 administrative villages, and 13 communities, with a total population of 436,000. The terrain is characterized as “eight parts mountain, half part water, and half part farmland,” making it a typical mountainous county. Since the 1980s, we have seized the opportunities brought by reform and opening up, relying on institutional and technological innovation to successfully transform from one of the province’s less-developed counties to one of the nation’s top 100 counties. Significant changes have taken place in both urban and rural areas, including... More details about Nanming Subdistrict++

Further Reading:

· Fourth Batch of Zhejiang Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units