Rainbow Archway

Rainbow Archway

Rainbow Archway

Rainbow Archway, also known as the Rainbow Memorial Archway, is situated at No. 129 North Rainbow Road. The area was originally a river, which was filled in and turned into a road in the late 1970s due to urban expansion. There used to be a bridge here called Rainbow Bridge, adjacent to the Xuanyuan Temple. According to legend, the wife of the Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan invented the art of weaving colorful clothing for people, which is why the bridge was named Rainbow Bridge. Before liberation, this area was densely populated with tailor shops and had a tailors' guild. The Rainbow Archway stands at the entrance of the Wu Family Ancestral Hall by the river and was built in the 2nd or 3rd year of the Jiaqing reign during the Qing Dynasty (1881), erected by the imperial court to honor the chaste and filial woman Madam Bao. According to the old system, only an imperial decree could authorize the construction of such an archway. Madam Bao’s husband, Wu Minghao, a low-ranking official, passed away at a young age, yet she remained steadfastly chaste and unmarried, dedicating herself to raising their son, Han. Later, her descendants excelled in scholarly pursuits, entered officialdom, and amassed great wealth. To repay their mother for her virtuous upbringing, the Han generation made an offering to the imperial court, which caught the attention of the emperor. By imperial decree, this archway was constructed at the entrance of the Wu Family Ancestral Hall.

The archway features four pillars and three bays with three stories, adorned with high-relief and openwork carvings of dragons, lions playing with embroidered balls, and human figures, all intricately crafted and vivid in detail. It is the most intact stone memorial archway remaining in the urban area and serves as a tangible example for the study of Qing Dynasty stone architecture.

Because this area once had a Rainbow Bridge and was later named Rainbow Road, people commonly refer to this archway as the Rainbow Archway or simply Rainbow Archway. On December 5, 1981, the Jiangdong District People's Government designated it as a district-level cultural relics protection unit.