Chengyang Bridge

Dongzu has a long history, the culture here is simple and glorious. The Dong people are passionate with strong feelings. Dong stockade villages are special and different from other places; most of the Dong stockade villages were built by the side of rivers, and people lived opposite each other across the water. Corridors and kiosks were built above the bridges; the bridges were not only used for people passing but also to avoid the wind and rain. So they are called Wind and Rain Bridge.

San Jiang is located at the connecting point North of Guangxi, Hunan and Guizhou; it is an autonomous region mainly consisting mainly of Dongzu, which makes up for more than 54% of the people of the whole of the county.

San Jiang has marvellous scenery in the Dong stockade villages. The most famous thing in San Jiang is the Chengyang Bridge. Chengyang Bridge is constructed above the Linxi River of San Jiang County.

Chengyang Bridge is also called Yongji Bridge or Panlong Bridge. It was built in 1916, and it is the best one among the wind and rain bridges in Dong stockade villages. At present, it is the largest wind and rain bridge also it is the crystal of Dong people's wisdom; it is one of the artistic precious things of Chinese wood architectures.

This bridge is made of wood and stone, making it a large bridge stretching across the Linxi River, having 5 stone-made large columns. Fir and wood board cover the surface of the bridge. Moreover, the bridge is 64.4 meters long, 3.4 meters wide and 10.6 meters high. Both sides of the bridge are inlayed with railing, so the whole bridge looks like a long corridor; in the bridge, there are 5 tower-like kiosks with many horns. The brims of the kiosks rise like stretching wings; the pilaster, tile brims, carved flower and pictures are magnificent.

The whole bridge is grand, like a brilliant rainbow, the most amazing thing in its construction is that no nails were used in the building of the whole bridge; pieces of wood in the bridge are closely jointed. Long stools were set up on both sides of the bridge for people to rest. On both sides of the river it was full of tea forest and green woods on the sloping hills. Also you could see that the peasants were working in the plantations; there is also a reservoir on one side of the river. Chengyang is not only famous for the wind and rain bridges, but also the Chengyang Eight Stockade Villages, which is the soul of Dongzu's culture.