Pavilion Bridge

A component part of the art or landscape gardening, the pavilion bridge is often built over the surface of a quiet lake, forming a small scenic area and providing sightseers with a place for a rest, sheltered from the sun and rain.

The Five-Pavilion Bridge (Wuting Qiao) in Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province is a fine example of this style. Built in 1757 and like a belt worn on the narrow waist of Shouxihu (Slender West Lake), it bears five pavilions on its 55-meter-long floor. The middle pavilion is higher than the other four, which are spaced two on each side in perfect symmetry. And the middle pavilion is a double-caved structure while the rest have only single eaves. All pavilions have their four corners upturned, with rows of tiles gathered up in the middle under a baoding (roof crown-see a previous article). The pavilions, lined up wit short covered corridors, have yellow glazed tiles on the roofs but green ones for the curving ridges, forming a splendid contrast of color.

Inside the pavilions, the ceilings are decorated with colorful sunk panels and the beams and columns are carved with beautiful patterns. The body of the stone bridge is formed on 15 arches of varying sizes all large enough to allow the passage of boats that ply the lake. In contrast to the exquisiteness of the pavilions, the supporting piers look sturdy and rugged. With its structural complexity, the bridge may claim to be a masterpiece of its kind.

Another well-known pavilion bridge is Chengyang Bridge, also known as Fengyuqiao (Wind-and-Rain Bridge), on the Linxi River in the Dong Autonomous County of Sanjiang in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Built in 1916, the bridge is not so old. Its wood body, 70 meters long by 10 meters wide, rests on piers built completely of big stone blocks. Standing on it are five tile-roofed and pagoda-like pavilions connected by a long covered corridor. So the bridge may also be described as a covered bridge.

The five-storied pavilions have multiple eaves, which are upturned as if about to take wing. The wall panels in the pavilions and corridors are carved with popular Dong motifs, showing marked characteristics of this ethnic minority. All the well-structured woodwork, crisscrossed with thousands of laths, purlins and rafters, were joined together by means of tenons and mortises without the use of a single nail, bearing testimony to the ingenuity of the Dong people.

There are in China a large number of bridges with pavilions and corridors; they can often be seen especially down in the south. The buildings of some bridges are so large that they could be used as meeting halls or trade markets on water.