The Xiluo Bridge () is a

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

connecting Xiluo Township in

Yunlin County Yunlin County ( Mandarin pinyin: ''Yúnlín Xiàn''; Taigi POJ: ''Hûn-lîm-koān''; Hakka PFS: ''Yùn-lìm-yen'') is a county in western Taiwan. Yunlin County borders the Taiwan Strait to the west, Nantou County to the east, Changhua County ...

and Xizhou Township in

Changhua County Changhua County ( Mandarin Pinyin: ''Zhānghuà Xiàn''; Wade-Giles: ''Chang¹-hua⁴ Hsien⁴''; Hokkien POJ: ''Chiang-hòa-koān'' or ''Chiong-hòa-koān'') is the smallest county on the main island of Taiwan by area, and the fourth small ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

crossing over

Zhuoshui River The Zhuoshui River, also spelled Choshui or Jhuoshuei River, () is the longest river in Taiwan. It flows from its source in Nantou County up to the western border of the county, subsequently forming the border between Yunlin County and Changhua ...

History

Empire of Japan

On 24 March 1936, the local people of the area set up a committee to construct a bridge over the

. They pledged construction effort to the Japanese government and work began in October 1937. As of March 1940, 32 piers had been completed. However, construction was suspended after the outbreak of

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

against the United States on 7 December 1941. The Japanese government then moved the materials for the bridge to

Hainan Hainan (, ; ) is the smallest and southernmost province of the People's Republic of China (PRC), consisting of various islands in the South China Sea. , the largest and most populous island in China,The island of Taiwan, which is slightly l ...

, Republic of China.

Republic of China

After the handover of Taiwan from Japan to the Republic of China in 1945, the Xiluo Bridge Reconstruction Committee was established in 1948. On 26 January 1950, personnel from

Taiwan Provincial Government The Taiwan Provincial Government was the government that governed Taiwan Province of the Republic of China. Its functions have been transferred to the National Development Council and other ministries of the Executive Yuan. History At the ...

legislators A legislator (also known as a deputy or lawmaker) is a person who writes and passes laws, especially someone who is a member of a legislature. Legislators are often elected by the people of the state. Legislatures may be supra-national (for e ...

, engineers of

Economic Cooperation Administration The Economic Cooperation Administration (ECA) was a U.S. government agency set up in 1948 to administer the Marshall Plan. It reported to both the State Department and the Department of Commerce. The agency's first head was Paul G. Hoffman, a form ...

, Council for United States (US) Aids conducted a site survey. In 1951, the

US Government The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a feder ...

spent US$1.3 million for the steel material and the Taiwan Provincial Government also provided NT$6 million for the project. The Taiwan Machinery Manufacturing Corporation and the Mechanical Engineering Department of the Ministry of Economic Affairs were in charge of the bridge erection and painting projects respectively. The construction of the bridge resumed on 28 May 1952 and completed on 25 December the same year. The inauguration ceremony of the bridge was held on 24 January 1953.

Technical detail

The bridge spans over a length of 1,939.03 meters with 31 arches.

Transportation

The bridge is accessible by bus from

Douliu Station Douliu () is a railway station in Yunlin County, Taiwan served by Taiwan Railways. Yunlin HSR station can be accessed here by bus. Overview The station has two island platforms. Ticketing and customer service are located in the main concourse ...

of Taiwan Railways.

References