The Chushul Chakzam (), or simply Chakzam which literally means "iron bridge" in

Standard Tibetan Lhasa Tibetan (), or Standard Tibetan, is the Tibetan dialect spoken by educated people of Lhasa, the capital of the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China. It is an official language of the Tibet Autonomous Region. In the traditional "three-branch ...

, was a

suspension bridge A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck (bridge), deck is hung below suspension wire rope, cables on vertical suspenders. The first modern examples of this type of bridge were built in the early 1800s. Simple suspension bridg ...

that spanned the

Yarlung Tsangpo The Yarlung Tsangpo, also called Yarlung Zangbo () is the upper stream of the Brahmaputra River located in the Tibet Autonomous Region, China. It is the longest river of Tibet and the fifth longest in China. The upper section is also called Dan ...

river in modern-day

Qüxü County Qüxü County, or Qushui or Chushur or Chushul, is a county in the Lhasa southwest of the main center of Chengguan, Tibet, China. It is mountainous in the northwest, flatter near the Lhasa River, which runs through the east of the county, an ...

near

Lhasa Lhasa (; Lhasa dialect: ; bo, text=ལྷ་ས, translation=Place of Gods) is the urban center of the prefecture-level city, prefecture-level Lhasa (prefecture-level city), Lhasa City and the administrative capital of Tibet Autonomous Regio ...

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

. It was built in 1430 by

Thang Tong Gyalpo Thangtong Gyalpo () (1385 CE–1464 CE or 1361 CE–1485 CE), also known as Chakzampa, the "Iron Bridge Maker" (), Tsöndrü Zangpo "Excellent Persistence" (), and the King of the Empty Plain.Sarah Harding. Niguma, Lady of Illusion. Snow L ...

. The southern bridgehead was built on the mountain Chowuri, which is sacred in Tibetan Buddhism. This mountain was a site where

Guru Rinpoche Padmasambhava ("Born from a Lotus"), also known as Guru Rinpoche (Precious Guru) and the Lotus from Oḍḍiyāna, was a tantric Buddhist Vajra master from India who may have taught Vajrayana in Tibet (circa 8th – 9th centuries)... According ...

and

Trisong Detsen Tri Songdetsen () was the son of Me Agtsom, the 38th emperor of Tibet. He ruled from AD 755 until 797 or 804. Tri Songdetsen was the second of the Three Dharma Kings of Tibet, playing a pivotal role in the introduction of Buddhism to Tibet and th ...

had meditated during the 8th Century. When it was built, its main section was the longest unsupported span in the world, with a central span estimated at around . In 1444, a monastery Chaksam Chuwori () was founded on the southern bridgehead. During its existence, the monastery served as the seat of Chakzampa school of Tibetan Buddhism. Supported by the bridge toll, the monastery at one point hosted about 100 monks. The monastery was destroyed during the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goal ...

History

By the 1860s, the bridge was in a state of disrepair that a ferry was in operation slightly upstream offering safer passage. By 1904, the river had overflown the north bank leaving the northern bridgehead on an island, thus rendering the bridge functionally ineffective. The ferryman mostly came from a nearby village of Chun or Junba, which is the only fishing village in Tibet. The ferry service continued as late as 1959. During the Qing expedition to Tibet of 1910, the 13th Dalai Lama decided to seek refuge in India. His general

Tsarong Tsarong Dasang Dramdul (; ; born Namgang; 1888–1959), commonly known simply as Tsarong or by his title Tsarong Dzasa, was a Tibetan diplomat, economist, civil engineer and close aide of the 13th Dalai Lama. He was an important figure in the ...

fought a skirmish against the Chinese here, holding their advances allowing the Dalai Lama to safely arrive in India. The bridge was torn down by the Chinese government in the 1950s when they were building the concrete bridge in its place. The new concrete bridge Qushui Yaluzangbujiang Bridge opened on August 1, 1966.

References

External links

lcags zam chu bo ri
- Buddhist Digital Resource Center Bridges completed in 1430 Suspension bridges in Tibet Qüxü County {{PRChina-bridge-struct-stub

History

See also

References

External links