Marco Polo Bridge

The Lugou Bridge was completed in 1192 under the Jin dynasty, an eleven-arch granite span of about two hundred and sixty metres over the Yongding River, and Marco Polo described it in terms admiring enough that European languages named it after him. Its balustrades carry stone lions on every post, several hundred of them, each carved differently and many with smaller lions hidden on their bodies, so that counting them accurately became a proverbial impossibility in Chinese. The small walled town of Wanping stands at its eastern end.

History

Building of the bridge began in 1189, the last year of Emperor Shizong of the Jin, and it was finished under his successor in 1192; after flood damage it was rebuilt under the Kangxi Emperor in 1698. Marco Polo praised it so highly on his travels in the 13th century that Europe came to call it the Marco Polo Bridge, and the engineer Mao Yisheng later named it the most splendid of China's old bridges. Vehicles used it until new bridges were built nearby in 1971 and 1985, and in 1986 its asphalt surface was taken off in a restoration (Wikipedia, Marco Polo Bridge).

What's there

• The stone lions - several hundred carved posts, each different.
• The 1192 arches - the original granite spans over the old river course.
• Wanping fortress town - the walled settlement beside the bridge.
• The Yongding River - the broad bed under the eleven arches.

When to go

April to May and September to October for comfortable weather; the site is exposed with little shade. It is far from central Beijing and rarely crowded.

Good to know

The river beneath is usually low or dry, which reduces the setting. The bridge is closed to vehicles and much restored.

Nearby

Wanping is immediately alongside; central Beijing lies northeast.

Key facts