Honghua Stream HuiLong Bridge

Honghua Stream HuiLong Bridge

Address: On Honghua Stream at the junction of Group 4 of Jiaoping Village and Group 1 of Zhouziping Village, Minsheng Town (now part of Nuojiang Town), Tongjiang County.

The HuiLong Bridge was built in the eighth year of the Daoguang reign of the Qing Dynasty (1828). It is a flat bridge constructed with stone slabs and piers, oriented east–west. The bridge is 9 meters long and 2.25 meters wide, and stands 3.1 meters above the river surface. Guardrails were originally installed on both sides. The bridge has two piers and three spans. At both the eastern and western ends, stone slabs are stacked to form abutments serving as piers. Each pier is 0.66 meters wide and 2.70 meters high, built with seven layers of stone slabs. The northern end of each pier is shaped like a fish mouth, and both ends of the piers are wider than the bridge deck. The bridge deck consists of three rows of large flat stones. Originally, there were six timber sleepers beneath the deck, but they have rotted away, leaving only the mortise holes.

On the left side under the eastern end of the bridge, the characters “Daoguang Eight Year Zheng” (道光八年正) are vertically inscribed on the natural stone face. The ancient Honghua Stream path is a historic route connecting Yang County in Shaanxi, passing through Tongjiang (via the Yangbi Trail) to Bazhou (the Yangbi–Bazhou Trail). Approximately 2 kilometers of the original stone-paved road still remain, winding along the contours of the mountain and featuring resting platforms. From the western side of the bridge, one could travel through Minsheng and Yangbai in Tongjiang, then to Shuining Temple in Bazhou, Qingjiang Ferry, and on to Bazhou’s seat, en route to Chengdu or Chongqing. From the eastern side, the route leads through Tongjiang County, Maoyu, Washi, Changsheng, Yanxi, Yong’an, Nixi, Changping, and Lianghekou to Yang County in Shaanxi. This was also the essential route from Minsheng Town to Tongjiang County and remains in use to this day.