Guanyin Bridge on Mount Lu

Guanyin Bridge on Mount Lu

Guanyin Bridge is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Guanyin Bridge is located in Xingzi County at the southeastern foot of Mount Lu. Traveling south from Bailudong along Jiuxing Highway, then turning northwest for several kilometers, you will see a stone bridge spanning a high cliff — this is the famous thousand-year-old ancient bridge, Guanyin Bridge.

Also known as Qixian Bridge or Sanxia Bridge, Guanyin Bridge was built in the early Northern Song Dynasty and has a history of nearly a thousand years. It is a single-arch stone bridge, 24.4 meters long and 4 meters wide. The bridge deck is paved with large stones, and stone railings are built on both sides. The inner ring of the bridge arch is formed by seven rows of rectangular stones interlocking with protruding and recessed tenons, curving gradually into an arch shape. On the central stone block of the arch is carved the name of the skilled craftsman who built the bridge at that time: “... Jiangzhou artisan Chen Zhifu, brothers Zhiwang and Zhihong.”

Known as “a pearl in the architecture of southern bridges,” Guanyin Bridge has withstood the raging torrents of the Sanxia Gully — described as “a Milky Way pouring down with the thunder of thousands of awakening dragons” — for thousands of years, yet remains unscathed. Even today, it stands firm under the weight of vehicles. It’s no wonder visitors, when admiring the ancient bridge and imagining how the Chen brothers built this colossal structure with their bare hands, can’t help but marvel: “A marvel of divine craftsmanship, a wonder defying nature.”

Around Guanyin Bridge, lush forests create picturesque scenery. At the southern end of the bridge, a small stone pavilion stands against the mountain, housing a clear spring known locally as “Zhao Yin Spring,” recognized by Lu Yu, the Tea Sage of the Tang Dynasty, as the “Sixth Best Spring Under Heaven.” On the other side, stone steps lead up to a massive rock engraved with the characters “Jin Jing” (Golden Well), beneath which lies a deep ravine hundreds of feet down, where rushing water crashes through rocks and splashes in breathtaking waves. The Song Dynasty poet Wang Shipeng, moved by the scenery during his visit, wrote: “Walking by Sanxia Bridge with staff in hand, I feel as if I’ve reached Kuizhou; I wish to write verses rivaling the real Three Gorges, but alas, my words can’t match such grandeur.”

The Guanyin Bridge Scenic Area is surrounded by natural wonders: to the east lies the first of Mount Lu’s extraordinary peaks, the Five Elders Peak; to the west, Mount Lu’s main peak, Hanyang Peak; to the north, the mystical Taiyi Peak; and to the south, the vast and misty Poyang Lake. The entire scenic area is tucked within pristine forests.

The Guanyin Bridge Scenic Area is also a sacred Buddhist site. To the west of the bridge stands Cihang Temple, dedicated to the worship of Guanyin Bodhisattva, and to the north lies the thousand-year-old Qixian Temple, one of the five major Buddhist monasteries on Mount Lu.

Highlights:

The area boasts rich cultural attractions, stunning natural scenery, and traces of historical figures: the “Sixth Best Spring Under Heaven,” designated by the famed Tang Dynasty tea master Lu Yu; the first painter of the Ming Dynasty, Tang Bohu, who created the renowned “Sanxia Jian Bridge Painting” (today’s Guanyin Bridge); former ROC leader Chiang Kai-shek and his wife, who admired the feng shui here and built a summer retreat; in 1961, the then-Premier visited Guanyin Bridge and had a touching encounter with a young cowherd named Zhou Guihua.

Introduction:

The millennium-old national treasure known as the “No. 1 Ancient Bridge of the South,” Guanyin Bridge, is 19.4 meters long and 4.8 meters wide. Built in 1014 AD, it majestically spans the Qixian Grand Canyon — a massive gorge on Mount Lu — and is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Suggested Duration

2 hours 30 minutes

Admission Fee

Admission: 40 RMB (children under 1.1m free; children between 1.1–1.4m pay child fare, 20 RMB)

Opening Hours

8:00-17:00

Location

Inside Qixian Grand Canyon, Mount Lu

Further Reading:

· Third Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units