Chengyang Wind and Rain Bridge

Dong carpenters build wind and rain bridges as covered crossings with pavilions and towers on top, meant as shelter and as village meeting places, and the Chengyang bridge, completed in 1912 over the Linxi river, is the best known: about sixty-five metres long on stone piers, with five pavilions and tiled roofs, assembled in wood using mortise and tenon joints without nails. Around it stand eight Dong villages with drum towers, timber houses on stilts, waterwheels and terraced fields, still farmed, so the bridge sits in a working landscape rather than a preserved one. Dong choral singing, inscribed by UNESCO, is performed here.

What you actually see

• The bridge - a nail-free timber crossing with five roofed pavilions.
• The drum towers - Dong village towers among the timber houses.
• The waterwheels - working wheels lifting water to the fields.
• The terraces - farmed slopes around the eight villages.

When to go

April to October, with terraces greenest in summer and harvest gold in September; winter is cold and damp but quiet. Performances of Dong singing run to a daily schedule.

Honest expectations

The village cluster charges entry and performances are staged for visitors. Souvenir stalls line the bridge approach. Accommodation is simple and English rare.

Nearby

Sanjiang town lies south; Longsheng terraces are east.