Precious Belt Bridge

Precious Belt Bridge
Precious Belt Bridge
Traditional Chinese	寶帶橋
Simplified Chinese	宝带桥
Literal meaning	Precious Belt Bridge
Hanyu Pinyin
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Bǎodài Qiáo
Wade–Giles	Pao-tai Ch'iao

Precious Belt Bridge

宝带桥
Precious Belt Bridge; 宝带桥
	Precious Belt Bridge
Coordinates	31°15′32″N 120°38′58.3″E / 31.25889°N 120.649528°E
Crosses	Grand Canal and Tantai Lake
Locale	Suzhou, Jiangsu, China
Characteristics
Material	Stone
Total length	317 m (1,040 ft)
Width	4.1 m (13 ft)
Location

The Precious Belt Bridge, also known by other names, is a stone arch bridge near Suzhou in Jiangsu, China. It is located at the intersection of the Grand Canal and Tantai Lake about 6 kilometers (3.7 mi) southeast of central Suzhou.

Names

The names Precious Belt Bridge and Bridge of the Bejeweled Belt^[1] are calques of the bridge's Chinese name, written 寶帶橋 in traditional characters and 宝带桥 in simplified ones. It is also sometimes known as the Baodai Bridge from the pinyin romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of the Chinese name. The name references the story that Wang Zhongshu, the prefect of Suzhou, funded its construction with his own lavishly decorated belt rather than through forced labor or additional taxation.

In Chinese, it is also known as the "Small Long Bridge".^[1]

History

The Precious Belt Bridge was first built in AD 816 under the Tang dynasty.^[2] It is located about 6 kilometers (3.7 mi) from the Fengmen Gate in Suzhou's old city walls.^[1] The bridge was reconstructed several times, with the current bridge principally dating to the 1446 reconstruction^[2] under the reign of the Zhengtong Emperor of the Ming as repaired in 1873 under the Tongzhi Emperor of the Qing.^[1]

During the 1793 British Macartney Embassy, John Barrow visited the Precious Belt Bridge, accurately describing its length and the manner in which its central arches are higher than the others.^[2]

The bridge was inscribed as the 285th Major Cultural Heritage Site under National-Level Protection added during the 5th round of nominations in 2001.

Structure

The bridge is constructed entirely of stone.^[1] It has a span of 317 m (1,040 ft) with 53 arches along its length.^[1] It is usually 4.1 m (13 ft) wide.^[1] The three central arches are enlarged to allow for the passage of—by historical standards—larger river vessels without masts. The average span of each arch is 4.6 m (15 ft).

Although the bridge was originally protected by pairs of foo dogs at each end, today only a single stone lion remains at the north entrance.^[1] The stone tower and stela pavilion originally located at the north end of the bridge have similarly vanished.^[1]