Fangqiao

Fangqiao

Fangqiao is located at the northeast corner of Fangqiao Village, Jiangkou Subdistrict, Fenghua City. The waters of the County River, Yan River, and East River converge here, making it a strategically important location. In April 2007, it was designated as a cultural heritage site under the fifth batch of Fenghua Municipal Cultural Relics Protection Units.

Historically, Fangqiao enjoyed exceptional advantages in both water and land transportation. To the south, it connected to Taizhou and Wenzhou; to the north, it linked Ningbo and Shaoxing, and since ancient times, it has been a route along the eastern Zhejiang courier road.

Legend has it that before the Ming Dynasty, there was a small sluice gate here, commonly known as "Changpu Sluice," which collapsed due to long-term disrepair and erosion by the river. The first bridge built on this site was then called "Dafang Bridge," which was a simple wooden flat bridge. In the 35th year of the Qianlong reign (1770), the wooden flat bridge was dismantled and replaced with a five-arch stone ring bridge, named "Taiping New Bridge," and praised as the "Number One Bridge in Eastern Zhejiang." In the 27th year of the Guangxu reign (1901), the five-arch ring bridge collapsed. It wasn’t until the 33rd year of the Guangxu reign (1907) that the current steel girder flat bridge was completed, and the bridge was officially named “Fangqiao.”

Fangqiao is a through-type bowstring steel truss bridge, extending from north to south. It has a total length of 85.5 meters, a width of 6.02 meters, and the steel structure weighs a total of 87.5 tons. The bridge deck was originally paved with wooden planks (later replaced with concrete hollow slabs after 1964). It is said to have been designed and manufactured by Germans. Compared to the similarly structured Ningbo Ling Bridge, it was built 20 years earlier. Therefore, locals often say that the Ningbo Bridge was modeled after "Fangqiao."