The Puji Bridge (), commonly known as Shengtang Bridge (), is a historic stone

arch bridge An arch bridge is a bridge with abutments at each end shaped as a curved arch. Arch bridges work by transferring the weight of the bridge and its loads partially into a horizontal thrust restrained by the abutments at either side. A viaduct ...

in the town of

Jinze Jinze () is a town in Qingpu District of Shanghai, China. As of the 2017 census it had a population of 60,800 and an area of . The town is bordered by two provinces, namely Zhejiang and Jiangsu. With convenient land and water transportation, it is ...

Qingpu District Qingpu District, is a suburban district of Shanghai Municipality. Lake Dianshan is located in Qingpu. The population of Qingpu was counted at 1,081,000 people in the 2010 Census. It has an area of . Qingpu District is the westernmost distr ...

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

Name

The bridge is named after Shengtang Temple, a

Buddhist temple A Buddhist temple or Buddhist monastery is the place of worship for Buddhists, the followers of Buddhism. They include the structures called vihara, chaitya, stupa, wat and pagoda in different regions and languages. Temples in Buddhism represen ...

nearby the bridge.

History

The bridge was originally built in 1267, in the 3rd year of Xianchun period (1265–1274) of the

Southern Song dynasty The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...

(1127–1279). It was renovated in the

Ming The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

and

Qing dynasties The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speaki ...

(1368–1911). In 1987 it was inscribed to the fourth batch of Municipal Level Cultural Heritage List by the

Shanghai Municipal Government The Politics of Shanghai is structured in a dual party-government system like all other governing institutions in the mainland of the People's Republic of China (PRC). In the last few decades the city has produced many of the country's eventu ...

Architecture

With one arch, Puji Bridge is long and high, very similar to Wan'an Bridge, therefore the two being collectively known as the "Sister Bridges". It is made of a very precious purple stone, namely the

fluorite Fluorite (also called fluorspar) is the mineral form of calcium fluoride, CaF2. It belongs to the halide minerals. It crystallizes in isometric cubic habit, although octahedral and more complex isometric forms are not uncommon. The Mohs sca ...

. Washed by rain, it appears shiny purple under the sun, sparkling and colorful.

References

Bibliography

External links

Puji Bridge in Jinze, Qingpu District of Shanghai
''Bridges in China'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Puji Bridge Bridges in Shanghai Arch bridges in China Bridges completed in the 13th century Song dynasty architecture Buildings and structures completed in 1267 13th-century establishments in China 1267 in Shanghai