Anping Bridge

Anping Bridge is a Song dynasty stone beam bridge in China's Fujian province. It is 2,070 metres (1.29 mi) long. The bridge is also known as the Wuli Bridge because its length is about 5 li, where a li is about 500 meters or 0.3 miles. It is a nationally protected historic site registered with the State Administration of Cultural Heritage. The bridge lies in the prefecture-level city of Quanzhou, crossing what originally was a tidal estuary of the Shijing River (石井江) that separates the town of Anhai (in the county-level city of Jinjiang) east of the river, from the town of Shuitou (in the county-level city of Nan'an) west of the river. The bridge is named after Anhai, which was formerly known as Anping.

Anping Bridge consists of 331 spans of granite beams resting on top of stone piers, the largest beam weighing 25 tons. The width of the bridge varies from 3 to 3.8 metres (9.8 to 12.5 ft). It originally had five pavilions where travelers could rest; however, only one pavilion (Shuixin Pavilion) still exists. Construction of the bridge started in 1138 during the Southern Song dynasty and lasted until 1151. It was originally 811 zhang [2,223 metres (1.381 mi)] long and 1.6 zhang [4.4 metres (14 ft)] wide,with 362 spans. Upon completion, it was the longest bridge in China until 1905, inspiring the local description, "No bridge in the world is as long as this one".There have been six major repairs since its opening, and the bridge is now shorter due to silting of the estuary.