Pujie Bridge

Pujie Bridge

Pujie Bridge is a cultural relic protection unit of Anhui Province.

Pujie Bridge is located in Tianchang City, Chuzhou, Anhui Province, and dates back to the Qing Dynasty.

Historically, Tongcheng was once called Tongcheng City, which included towns such as Sanhai and Pujie. Since the bridge was situated in Pujie Town, it came to be known as Pujie Bridge. According to historical records, an elderly local named Zeng Shengsan donated his life savings and spearheaded a fundraising campaign to build the bridge. The local gentry and common people responded enthusiastically, and the bridge was completed in 1818 after three years of construction.

The bridge runs from north to south, is about 6 meters wide and over 20 meters long, and features four ship-shaped piers, with the middle two adorned with carved dragon motifs. The bridge deck is supported by log columns about half a meter in diameter. It is paved with 45 large granite slabs, and the sides of the bridge are lined with 15 balustrades each. The railings feature exquisite carvings, including "Carp Leaping Through the Dragon Gate," "Bats Circling Longevity," "Phoenix Playing with Peonies," and "May All Your Wishes Come True." The carvings are finely detailed and lifelike. The most famous is the “bridge atop a bridge,” an ingeniously designed feature that has become a representative example of stone railing carvings.

Historically, Pujie Bridge suffered three major instances of destruction, bringing this grand structure to near ruin. According to elders in the town, during the Taiping Rebellion, the Taiping Army captured Tongcheng and severed the dragon heads and tails from the bridge piers as a symbolic act against the Qing government. During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Japanese aircraft bombed the bridge twice, blasting away three stone lions from the railings and causing significant structural damage. During the Cultural Revolution, the inscribed stone tablet commemorating the bridge’s construction was destroyed, and many of the carvings on the railings were smashed...

Today, Pujie Bridge remains a vital transportation route, with a constant flow of vehicles passing over it every day. Despite enduring over a century of weathering and the scars of war, the bridge continues to serve and benefit the local community.

In 2012, Pujie Bridge was designated as a provincial-level cultural relic protection unit in the seventh batch of such announcements by the People’s Government of Anhui Province.

Protected area: 10 meters extending outward from both ends of the bridge.

Construction control zone: 10 meters outward from both ends of the bridge, beyond the protected area.