Ｊｉａｘｉｎｇ：Ａ Ｌａｎｄ ｏｆ Ｂｒｉｄｇｅｓ

When it comes to bridges in Zhejiang Province， people will probably first think of Shaoxing， a land of rivers crisscrossed by numerous bridges. However， Jiaxing in northern Zhejiang is also famed as a land of rivers where bridges are numerous. Jiaxing became the birthplace of dragon in 1127 when a prince was born and later became emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty. It was by no coincidence that from then on thanks to the support and sponsorship of local governors over centuries， numerous bridges were built in Jiaxing. Zhu Mingzhong， the first director of Jiaxing Bridge Projects after the founding of the New China， recalls that in the early 1950s Jiaxing was possessed of more than 5，000 stone arch bridges. Today， of the 5，000 plus bridges， about 2，600 bridges still remain.

The 5，000 plus bridges in Jiaxing have names that indicate ancient kingdoms， villages， donators， folk stories and legends. The nine-mile port in Jiaxing is an ancient battlefield， where a demarcation line defined the boundary of the Wu Kingdom in the north and the Yue Kingdom in the south. A stone three-arch bridge was later built to mark the boundary. The 13.2-meter-long 1.58-meter-wide bridge was defined by a statue of the king of the Wu Kingdom on the north side and a statue of the king of the Yue Kingdom on the opposite side.

The Rainbow Bridge on the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal was built by a reverent monk named Chen Fugu during the years of 1611-1621. Seeing the local silkworm farmers take great trouble to ship cocoons across the canal， the monk wished to have a bridge built. He spent ten years raising 100，000 silver dollars and got the bridge built. The longest bridge on the Grand Canal measures 72.8 meters in length， 10.8 in height， and 5 meters in width. The three-arch stone bridge， with its groundwork built in a soft soil area， is an architectural wonder and has been placed under state protection since June， 2006.

In front of the Temple of Stone Buddha Statues in Fengqiao Town are twin bridges connected by only a three-step-long path. According to history， local farmers unearthed four stone Buddha statues from the field in 757 A.D. during the Tang Dynasty and decided to raise money to have a temple built. When the temple was completed and pilgrims came， some of them found they were two small streams away from the temple. So monks in the temple raised money to have two bridges built. If the folk story is true， then the twin bridges are 1，250 years old.

According to the earliest local annals， Jiaxing had about 150 stone bridges in prehistoric times. Today， the remaining ancient stone bridges in the region are leftovers from the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911). Most of these stone bridges are one-arch or three-arch hunchback-shaped bridges; some are flat bridges.

Today， most of these ancient bridges no longer play an important part in the local road system. Engineer Zhu Mingzhong alone has taken part in building more than 3，200 reinforced concrete bridges since the founding of New China. According to incomplete data， Nanhu and Xiuzhou districts in Jiaxing alone now boast over 8，000 old and new bridges. A river that rings the downtown Jiaxing has 20 new and long concrete bridges， which at night highlight attractive cityscapes in resplendent light.

While building new bridges， the Jiaxing City Government has put in 50 million yuan to restore and repair ancient stone bridges which are still in use but in poor condition. Government offices monitor the safety of ancient bridges closely.