Feixian Pass Bridge

Feixian Pass Bridge

Feixian Pass Bridge is a cultural relic protection unit of Sichuan Province.

Feixian Pass Bridge (Lushan County)

Starting from Ya'an, the first highway bridge entering Tianquan is called the Feixian Pass Bridge. It is a cable-stayed suspension bridge, stretching from Feixian Town in Lushan County in the east to Duogong Township in Tianquan County in the west. Built in the early 1950s, it is one of the proud masterpieces of bridge engineers after the founding of New China; it is also the first highway bridge on the Kangding-Tibet Highway, holding significant historical importance in the development of the highway.

Towering cliffs and rugged peaks surround Feixian Pass, and the bridge stands firmly by the Luyang River that cuts through the gorge. At the center of the towering gantry, five bright red stars shine brilliantly, while the sides of the lintel are engraved with timeless couplets: “Revolution brings happiness, opening up the remote borderlands to prosperity; labor creates the world, no challenge is too great for Feixian Pass.” The horizontal inscription reads “Feixian Pass Bridge.”

At both ends of the bridge stand green stone blockhouses, manned year-round by People's Liberation Army soldiers. In the dramatic landscape of Sanjiangkou, they built a green Great Wall with their youth and lives, safeguarding this site — not only a remnant of the ancient Tea Horse Road but also a strategic throat passage for Sichuan’s access to Tibet and Yunnan.

Before liberation, there were no highways between Kangding and Tibet, let alone highway bridges. Material transport from Sichuan into Tibet and Yunnan could only be accomplished via the “Tea Horse Road” that snaked through deep valleys. The journey from Ya'an to Garzê Prefecture spans over 200 kilometers, passing through three mountain ranges, four passes, four openings, eighteen streams, and eighteen plateaus. The terrain is riddled with cliffs and crisscrossed by rivers. Besides Feixian Pass, other perilous spots include Jinmen Pass, Zishi Pass, Dabengliu, and Chesuo Slope...

The bridges that connected the “Tea Horse Road” were all made from locally sourced materials — wooden flat bridges, stone flat bridges, suspension bridges, iron-chain bridges, and ancient plank roads. Where river surfaces were too wide, porters would split bamboo into strips, weave them into ropes, tie them across the riverbanks, and use the elevation difference to slide across — commonly known as “sliding across” (a type of suspension bridge).

On the arduous “Tea Horse Road,” every year saw porters starving to death in the wilderness, and several more perishing on the precarious footbridges over crisscrossing streams while carrying goods to “Dartsendo” (Luding). Thankfully, the former “Tea Horse Road” has long become a historical relic.

In early 1950, the 18th Army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army entered Tibet via Ya'an. They cleared paths through dense wilderness, and while liberating people, they also built highways to the Roof of the World. From then on, the once insurmountable became traversable, and the Kangding-Tibet Highway finally had true highway bridges.

Today, within Ya'an, there are over thirty highway bridges connecting to National Highway 318, many named after the Four Passes and Eighteen Streams — such as Feixian Pass Bridge, Jinmen Pass Bridge, Zishi Pass Bridge, Longdanxi Bridge, and Xiangshuixi Bridge... Like brilliant pearls, they are inlaid along the crystal-clear Qingyi River.

Protected area: The core protected zone extends 10 meters outward from all sides of Feixian Pass Bridge; the general protected area extends 30 meters beyond the core zone.

Construction control zone: The protected area extends 50 meters eastward and 50 meters westward.

Further reading:

· Eighth Batch of Cultural Relic Protection Units of Sichuan Province