Dahan Mountain Bridge

Dahan Mountain Bridge

Dahan Mountain Bridge is a cultural heritage site protected by Yinzhou District.

Dahan Mountain Bridge is located in Jiangshang Village, Dongwu Town, Yinzhou District. On April 5, 2005, it was designated as a district-level cultural heritage site.

Dahan Mountain Bridge is situated between Jiangshang and Cao villages in Yinzhou District, spanning the confluence of the Dongwu River, Xiaobai River, Dahan Mountain Harbor, and Houtang River. Connected to Dahan Mountain, the bridge derives its name from the mountain.

The area features crisscrossing waterways, with river surfaces up to 50 meters wide and depths exceeding 2.5 meters, making it one of the deepest sections in the eastern region. The waters remain unfrozen even during prolonged droughts and are known for their clarity and sweet taste. Dahan Mountain Bridge is built at the meeting point of five water channels, where the surrounding mountains, water, and bridge create a picturesque scene, giving visitors a feeling of being in a hidden paradise. Nearby lies Shijia Bay Village, nestled among serene mountains and dense forests—a secluded and tranquil spot. In the early Southern Song Dynasty, Shi Zhao, a renowned scholar-official of Yin County known as the “Eight Virtues Gentleman,” took refuge here. His descendants later produced the famously known “Three Prime Ministers from One Family” during the Southern Song era.

Originally constructed during the Tang Dynasty, Dahan Mountain Bridge was renovated during the Ming Dynasty’s Wanli era, and again in the Qing Dynasty’s Daoguang and Xuantong periods. It is a three-arch, two-pier (upright) stone flat bridge. The central railing panel bears the inscription “Dahan Mountain Bridge,” with the bottom engraved with the date “Wanli Year of the Dog (1589), Auspicious Day.” The bridge is 13.9 meters long and 2.28 meters wide, with each of the side arches spanning 3 meters, and the central arch measuring 5 meters. Most remarkably, the piers consist of five vertical slabs of long stone arranged upright, topped with massive horizontal stone beams that connect to the piers and bridge deck via mortise-and-tenon joints. The ends of the horizontal beams extending beyond the piers are carved with a pair of animal heads, serving as guardian figures on either side of the bridge. The bridge deck is slightly arched with a gentle slope, and each end has an 11-step stone stairway.

Having stood for over a thousand years and undergone restoration some 400 years ago, Dahan Mountain Bridge was built over a wide, fast-flowing section of water known as the “Tiger and Wolf Pass,” where five channels converge. To this day, it remains firmly anchored at the harbor, solid as a rock—an engineering marvel in bridge construction history. Research indicates that the bridge’s upright piers, being thin yet featuring mortise-and-tenon structures, and their slightly narrow, single-faced design angled against the current, serve to reduce the force of the water flow while accelerating drainage. This design has enabled the bridge, which spans a vast expanse of water amid rapid currents, to withstand centuries of fierce water impact and remain stable as ever.

According to scientific analysis, the thickness of bridge piers must be appropriately matched to the speed of water flow—too thin risks structural failure, too thick increases hydraulic pressure. It's also crucial to balance the impact of regular flow with sudden flood surges. The theory behind constructing such unidirectional thrust piers was not published by French bridge experts until the 19th century, yet Dahan Mountain Bridge applied this principle a millennium ago. This remarkable feat was achieved by the ancient craftsmen of Yinzhou District.