Dafang Daduhe Bridge

Dafang Daduhe Bridge

Dafang Daduhe Bridge is a cultural relic protection unit of Guizhou Province.

Dafang Daduhe Bridge is located on the Dadu River, 35 kilometers from Dafang County. Originally built during the Ming Dynasty’s Wanli era by An Bangyan, the Tusi (native chieftain) of the native Sui (Shuixi) tribe, it is a five-arch stone bridge, 60 meters long and 7 meters high and wide. The bridge deck has no railings. On the western side of the bridge stand one stone stele in Yi script and one in Chinese, both recording the history of the bridge’s construction and containing multiple references to the An Bangyan family history and personal achievements. The Chinese stele is 2.81 meters high and 0.91 meters wide, with a total of 676 characters. The Yi script stele is largely intact, with 29 lines of clear text. Among all existing bridges in the native Yi-inhabited regions of Guizhou, this bridge is the largest in scale, the earliest in time, and the original structure built at that time. The bridge and the stelae together provide valuable historical material for the study of ancient Yi script, customs, politics, and economy.

In 1985, the People’s Government of Guizhou Province designated the Shuixi Daduhe Bridge and the Yi-Chinese bilingual stelae as provincial-level cultural relic protection units. The Shuixi Daduhe Bridge has now been submerged underwater, and the Yi-Chinese bilingual stelae are housed in the Xiangfei Museum.

Further Reading:

· First Batch of Cultural Relic Protection Units of Guizhou Province