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 bridge is also where the incident of 7 July 1937 occurred, which marked the start of full-scale war between China and Japan, commemorated at the museum in the walled town of Wanping beside it.

What you actually see

• 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 1937 memorial museum - the war museum in Wanping.

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. The museum keeps standard hours and closes on Mondays.

Honest expectations

The river beneath is usually low or dry, which reduces the setting. The bridge is closed to vehicles and much restored. The museum's presentation of the 1937 events is strongly framed, as visitors should expect at a national war memorial.

Nearby

Wanping is immediately alongside; central Beijing lies northeast.