Batuan Bridge

　　    Batuan Bridge, also known as Batuan Wind and Rain Bridge, is located on the Miaojiang River near Batuan Village in Dudong Township, Sanjiang Dong Autonomous County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and is slightly smaller in scale than the Chengyang Bridge.

　　    The bridge was completed in the second year of the Xuantong reign of the Qing Dynasty (1910). It runs east-west, is 50 meters long, and has a span of 30.14 meters between its abutments. Round wooden beams are laid across stone piers at the ends and stone piers in the river, with crossbeams spaced at intervals and projecting layers that form a stacked-beam bridge structure. The design features two piers and one span, with two arches and three pavilions. Its structural style is similar to that of the Chengyang Bridge, but it differs in that it includes a separate, lower-level path for livestock adjacent to the upper-level pedestrian corridor, making it a double-decker wooden bridge with a height difference of 1.5 meters between the two levels. The upper pedestrian walkway is 2.4 meters high and 3.1 meters wide, while the lower animal passage is 1.9 meters high and 1.4 meters wide.

　　    The bridge design makes skillful use of the local terrain and features. On the western bank, there is only a single southbound pathway, whereas the eastern bank has both eastbound and northbound country roads. The builders placed two entrances at the eastern end of the bridge and connected them via a bridge pavilion. On the western bank, the southern entrance aligns with the road direction at an 80-degree angle to the bridge’s axis and is fronted by an ornamental gate. Another unique feature of this bridge is that it was constructed by two Dong carpenters, each working from opposite ends, bringing their own styles yet achieving a naturally unified whole.

　　    Batuan Bridge is the world's first wooden bridge to feature a three-dimensional division of functional levels, conceptually similar to modern double-decker overpasses. It is hailed as a “unique and unparalleled example of folk bridge architecture through the ages.” In 2001, as a Qing Dynasty structure, Batuan Bridge was included in the fifth group of Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level by the State Council.