China strengthens protection of ancient lounge bridges

Spanning from 2023 to 2025, a national action plan to protect China's lounge bridges unveiled its findings, revealing there are a total of 2,193 such structures nationwide, a rise of more than 61 percent from the 1,355 identified in a preliminary survey conducted in early 2023, according to data recently released by the National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA).

In Shitun village, Hongshan town, Jiexiu city, north China's Shanxi Province, Huancui Bridge, a lounge bridge, arches gracefully over a ravine.

The bridge is one of just six ancient lounge bridges in Shanxi — a discovery that has challenged the long-held assumption that such structures survive only in southern China.

According to inscriptions on a baluster, Huancui Bridge was first built in 1540 during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). A pavilion was added during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). The structure stands as a significant example for the study of integrated bridge-and-corridor architecture in northern China.

Cao Jun, a local villager whose home sits right next to the bridge, signed up a few years ago to serve as a cultural heritage custodian. "Conducting daily fire and theft checks and sweeping the bridge deck has become part of my routine," he said.

Yang Yaowei, a member of the general Party branch committee in the village, noted that when provincial experts came two years ago to conduct surveys and measurements — and after several online content creators posted videos about the bridge — public interest grew significantly. Visitors from elsewhere have since made special trips to see it.

Liang Jun, director of the heritage conservation and utilization division at the Shanxi Cultural Relics Bureau, said that during the three-year action plan, the province engaged professional institutions to carry out comprehensive assessments of lounge bridges' structural defects and load-bearing capacity. Problem inventories were compiled, protection plans drawn up, and routine safety patrols put in place to strengthen the protection of these sites. Staff members also conducted interviews with scholars, intangible cultural heritage inheritors and local residents, gathering oral histories and audiovisual materials to build a dedicated Shanxi lounge bridge database. "The platform offers information retrieval and interactive visualization functions, providing solid support for in-depth research, public outreach and the broader use of these bridges," Liang said.

This stitched aerial drone photo taken on Jan. 23, 2024 shows the Wan'an Bridge, a wooden arch bridge, in Changqiao town of Pingnan county, southeast China's Fujian Province. (Photo by Wang Zhiling/Xinhua)

In Changqiao town, Pingnan county, Ningde city, southeast China's Fujian Province, stands Wan'an Bridge — the largest, longest and most arch-spanned wooden lounge bridge known to survive in China. First built during the Song Dynasty (960-1279), it links Changxin village and Changqiao village.

After a devastating fire in 2022 destroyed Wan'an Bridge, the NCHA approved a restoration project, with the work led by two brothers: Huang Minping, a Fujian provincial-level representative inheritor of the traditional designs and practices for building Chinese wooden arch bridges, and Huang Minhui, a Ningde municipal-level inheritor.

"The first task in the restoration was to identify which timber components salvaged from the fire could still be used, in keeping with the principle of minimal intervention," Huang Minhui explained.

The restored bridge passed its acceptance inspection in 2024. On the bridge pillars near the Changxin village side, faint scorch marks remain visible. "We kept the burn marks on the timber components — partly out of a commitment to restoring the original appearance, and partly to preserve the memory of what happened," Huang Minhui said.

Smoke sensors and thermal imaging cameras have been installed beneath the eaves and along the bridge arches, with an automatic sprinkler system set to activate whenever any anomaly is detected.

"The goal isn't just to restore Wan'an Bridge — it's to strengthen the protection of lounge bridges and other heritage structures," said Wu Shantian, director of the county's cultural relics protection and service center. The county has installed Internet of Things monitoring equipment covering fire prevention, security and structural conditions at historical and cultural sites, while routine management of lounge bridges and other cultural relics has been formalized through a long-term protection mechanism.

Along the Pingtan River in Tongdao Dong Autonomous County, Huaihua city, central China's Hunan Province, nine wind and rain bridges — a type of lounge bridge — are strung together like beads on a string.

In recent years, the county has built on these nine structures — all listed as key historical and cultural sites under national-level protection — by rolling out a "lounge bridge plus cultural tourism" model. The initiative has given rise to a heritage-themed tourism route along the bridges, weaving these ancient structures more seamlessly into contemporary life.

Ou Yami, secretary of the leading Party members group of the county's bureau of culture, tourism, radio, television and sports, said the model integrates heritage conservation, intangible cultural heritage inheritance and rural revitalization, helping the wind and rain bridges move from static preservation to dynamic, living heritage transmission.