What's the story of Zhao Zhouqiao?

Hello everyone! Welcome to Zhao County and visit the world-famous (tour guide introduces himself). I'm glad to be your tour guide. Have a nice trip! Now we are in Zhao Zhouqiao Park, which is centered on Zhao Zhouqiao. This is the main entrance of the park. The horizontal plaque on the lintel was written by Kong Xingxun, the secretariat of Zhaozhou during Shunzhi period of Qing Dynasty. The inscription of this plaque has been included in the book "Famous Plaques in China". After the visit, everyone will feel the same way. Do you agree that Zhao Zhouqiao is really a great and strange landscape? Look at the front of the screen wall again, and select the article "China Stone Arch Bridge" by Mr. Mao Yisheng, a famous contemporary bridge expert in China. Mao Lao's article first appeared in People's Daily 1962 on March 4th, and it is original in length. The following excerpts mainly outline the situation in Zhao Zhouqiao. Mao Lao said in his article: "There are stone arch bridges almost everywhere in China. These bridges vary in size and shape, and many of them are amazing masterpieces. One of the most famous is Zhao Zhouqiao in Zhao County, Hebei Province (this article is selected from the third volume of junior high school Chinese textbook published by the author). Mao Lao analyzed several characteristics of Zhao Zhouqiao in very scientific and accurate language, and expounded Zhao Zhouqiao's scientific value, historical value and artistic value, as well as his outstanding contribution and important position in the history of bridge architecture in the world. These will be explained in detail for everyone next.

Please enjoy the white marble relief group on the back of the screen wall with me. Zhao Zhouqiao was built in the Sui Dynasty with a long history of 1400 years. It is the oldest stone arch bridge in the world. In this thousand years, there are many myths and legends about Zhao Zhouqiao. Among them, the most representative is the moving story described below: It is said that Zhao Zhouqiao was built overnight by Lord Luban, and it was really a bridge built overnight, which shocked the world. Even the immortals in fairyland are famous. Zhang is riding a donkey, and Chai Daguan is pushing a wheelbarrow. They wanted to test the bearing capacity. When they walked to the middle of the bridge, they saw Zhang's hands blowing dust, picking up the sun, the moon and the stars, and Master Chai arrested the famous Wuyue Mountain by magic. In a flash, I saw the donkey struggling to lift its hoof and landing with a sound; Chief Chai slammed the cart, and it rumbled. Zhao Zhouqiao is overwhelmed. At this critical moment, I saw Lu Ban jump off the bridge and firmly hold the bridge with one hand up. After the fairy successfully crossed the bridge, Zhao Zhouqiao was still safe and sound. Since then, there have been several immortal marks on the bridge deck, such as donkey's hoof print, rut print and knee print. So he left a passage of the Hebei folk song "Little Cowherd": "Come to Lubanxiu, the sage of the jade railing stays, Zhang rides the donkey bridge, and Master Chai pushes the cart to roll the ditch." This beautiful legend story expresses people's praise for Zhao Zhouqiao and worship for the bridge builder. These immortal marks on the bridge deck are still vivid. Please follow me to find and have a look.

The road we are taking now is called "Eight Immortals Avenue", and the statues of the Eight Immortals standing on both sides are all carved in blue stone and painted black. At first glance, I can't help but feel a little mysterious. The story of "Eight Immortals" is widely spread in China, especially the story of "Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea", which is a household name. Legend has it that the Queen Mother gave a banquet in Yaochi to entertain the Eight Immortals. The Eight Immortals drank as drunk as a fiddler. After thanking the Queen Mother, they came to the East China Sea drunk to show off their skills. I saw Tie Guai Li throw an iron crutch into the water, stand up by himself and cross the waves. Then, Han Zhong brushed away, Zhang used a paper donkey, a flute, Han Xiangzi used a flower blue, He Xiangu used a bamboo cover, a blue crane used a clapper, and Cao Guojiu used a jade piece to throw it into the water to ride the wind. When the son of the Dragon King in the East China Sea saw the treasure, he became greedy, grabbed Lan Caihe's clappers and took him into the sea. The other seven immortals were furious, beheaded big prince, the dragon king, and wounded the second prince of the dragon king. Then the dragon kings from all over the world came to the war together and invited the heavenly soldiers and heavenly generals to help. Both sides had a good time. Finally, through the mediation of Taishang Laojun, Tathagata Buddha and Guanyin Bodhisattva, the matter was solved. Unity is strength! And left the idiom "Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea, each displaying its magical powers", showing the superb skills of the Eight Immortals and the spirit of unity and victory.

In fact, the road we are taking now has existed in history. In the past, people always called it "Imperial Road". In the Sui Dynasty, this north-south passage through Zhao Zhouqiao went straight to Luoyang in the east and Zhuo Jun in the east, leading to Beijing, so this road is equivalent to the current 107 national highway. Think that year, Emperor Qianlong went down to the south of the Yangtze River and made three overland trips, all of which went south through Zhao Zhouqiao. 1900, Eight-Nation Alliance invaded Beijing, and Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Guangxu fled to xi 'an. Later, when they returned to Beijing, they also passed by Zhao Zhouqiao. Before the completion of 1984 Park, Zhao Zhouqiao still played the role of a normal traffic bridge. Therefore, Zhao Zhouqiao not only maintained 1000 years, but also used 1000 years, which is very rare in the world. Therefore, Li Chun, the designer and builder of Zhao Zhouqiao, has attracted the respect and admiration of the world in particular. Please look with my right hand. The silicon bronze statue standing there is Li Chun, the designer and builder of Zhao Zhouqiao (the bronze statue was designed and made by Professor Shao Wu of the Central Academy of Fine Arts). Unfortunately, there are few records about Li Chun in history, but one sentence is very conclusive and powerful, that is, Zhang Zeng, secretary of the Chinese Department during the Kaiyuan period of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, wrote in the book Tang: "The stone bridge on the Weihe River in Zhao County is also a trace of craftsmen in the Sui Dynasty." Who is the builder of Zhao Zhouqiao? Please take a closer look at the image of this outstanding architect: profound vision, showing superior wisdom; Stepping on a stone embodies the spirit of doer. The overall shape is solemn, grand and far-reaching, which is awe-inspiring.

Please look this way. In front of our eyes is the world-famous Zhao Zhouqiao, China. It is the first batch of national key cultural relics protection units announced, and it is also a provincial patriotism education base. It has been listed in the world heritage protection list and is the 12 international civil engineering historical site in the world. Let's take a look at this bronze medal symbol, which is also one of the symbols of Zhao Zhouqiao's important position in the world. The signature below is "Honor of American Society of Civil Engineers". The Association is the authoritative organization for international civil engineering. It has been selecting masterpieces of historical civil engineering all over the world to go down in history, and issuing bronze commemorative cards as a souvenir. The brand we see now is a replica, and the original has been treasured and put into storage. On the afternoon of September 4th, welcome American hotel with open arms! Under the welcome slogan of "Warmly welcome American distinguished guests" and the drum music of the honor guard, Professor Ben Gwyck, honorary chairman of the Society, and his party came to the scene and gave an award ceremony. At that time, the Chinese and English words on the red background were: the unveiling ceremony of the International Civil Engineering Historical Monument. That is, the Eiffel Tower in France, the pyramids in Egypt and the Suez Canal in London, England are also tied with it internationally. At that time, there were several projects declared by China, such as Dujiangyan and the Great Wall, but only Zhao Zhouqiao was selected, becoming the first 12 bronze medal in international civil engineering history in the world at that time, and the only one in China. (The stone inlaid with bronze medal is selected from flint rock)

Please follow me to the bridge deck and have a look. Locals call Zhao Zhouqiao the "Bridge of God". It is said that once you step on it, you can feel the efficacy of God, and everything will be fine. I want to know how you will feel when you walk on this thousand-year-old bridge. The width of the bridge deck is 9 meters, which is basically equivalent to the national second-class highway standard today. At that time, people came and went on the bridge and the traffic was busy; There are hundreds of games under the bridge, as well as the game in Qian Fan, which is a bustling scene. The river flowing eastward, with the laughter of the people, flows into the sea. Look, this is a ditch rolled by Chai Rong Chai's cart, and there are two donkey hoof prints left by walking on a donkey riding bridge. In the Song Dynasty, there was a poem praising: "Sui people chose stones to drive Hongqiao, which is famous all over the world. Where the fairy rides the donkey, the footprints are still bright. " It can be seen that this allusion was widely circulated in the Song Dynasty, but what happened to these fairy tales? So far, no one can fully understand it, which has become an eternal mystery, adding a mysterious and fantastic color to Zhao Zhouqiao.

Please look at this white marble cultural relic signboard under the South Bridge. "Anji Bridge" is the official name of Zhao Zhouqiao. This is the name given by Zhao Xubei of northern Song Zhezong when he visited the north, so Zhao Zhouqiao's real name is Anji Bridge. "Dashiqiao" is the local people's common name for Zhao Zhouqiao, which is another name, so the village where the bridge is located is also called "Dashiqiao Village". Please go to the bridge below, where you can watch the charm of Zhao Zhouqiao carefully and feel the grandeur and vastness of Zhao Zhouqiao. Zhao Zhouqiao's single span was 37.02 meters, ranking first in the world at that time, reaching the limit in the single span of stone arch bridge. Therefore, Zhao Zhouqiao is an open-shouldered stone arch bridge with the longest existing age, the largest single span and the most complete preservation in the world, and is recognized as "the first bridge in the world" by the world. Then, I want to ask you: Why are many ancient buildings in the world mostly collapsed and damaged, and only Zhao Zhouqiao still stands tall after thousands of years of vicissitudes?

First of all, this is due to Zhao Zhouqiao's unique construction method. Please pay attention to the back of the arch. We can find that along the longitudinal extension direction of the bridge, there are arch rings one after another, just like our fingers are connected together. This is called longitudinal side-by-side masonry. In 1930s (1933165438+1October), Mr. Liang Sicheng (son of Liang Qichao), an outstanding architectural expert in China, made a field trip to Zhao Zhouqiao. When he saw this method of building a bridge, he said, "It was beyond my expectation". Because from ancient times to now, people mostly use the method of lateral juxtaposition to build bridge arches. Why did Li Chun use the vertical method to build bridges? This is because the longitudinal bridge can be disassembled into parts, saving manpower and material resources. First, build an arch ring. After the arch ring is built, you can stand independently, and then build the next one in turn until it is completed. Moreover, because each arch ring is independent, if one arch ring is damaged, it has no direct influence on other arch rings and the whole bridge body, which is convenient for independent maintenance. In other words, this bridge-building method is convenient and practical at the beginning of construction and convenient for future maintenance. In order to strengthen the lateral connection between stones, ancient craftsmen also creatively adopted a series of scientific measures and technologies such as waist iron, hook stone, iron tie rod and separation, which played the same role as modern steel bars, cement and adhesives, making the whole bridge structure seamless and stable. For thousands of years, Zhao Zhouqiao has experienced the severe test of more than ten large-scale earthquakes and floods. In particular, in March of 1963, an earthquake of magnitude 7.2 occurred in Xingtai. At that time, the epicenter was less than 40 kilometers away from Zhao Zhouqiao, but Zhao Zhouqiao was safe and sound. At the same time, under the impact of 1963 and1August, 1996, Zhao Zhouqiao has repeatedly proved the foresight and wisdom of the ancients in the design of the overflow function of the open-shouldered arch.

Maybe some friends want to ask: "Why does Qiao Zhou, Zhao Can have such strong earthquake resistance?" This should start from its lower foundation. For thousands of years, the foundation of Zhao Zhouqiao has been a mystery, and there are all kinds of hypothetical doubts. During the period of 1979, the natural history research group of China Academy of Social Sciences conducted a drilling survey on the abutment foundation of Zhao Zhouqiao, and the results were surprising. Zhao Zhouqiao's short abutment and shallow foundation are unexpected. The abutment only uses five rows of stone foundations, with a height of 1.549 m and a length of about 5 m, and an abutment area of about 100 m2. The soil under the bridge is composed of loam and light loam of Quaternary alluvium, which is no different from the soil under our feet. In addition, there is no manual compaction of the foundation. According to the general laboratory analysis, the soil layer has strong stability, uniform soil quality, basic bearing capacity of 34 tons/m2, and small compressibility of clay layer, and it will not produce sand liquefaction during earthquake, so it belongs to a good natural foundation. Because of the scientific use of soil structure and reasonable design, the stress on both sides of the bridge foundation is balanced during the earthquake, which can overcome the uneven settlement, so the earthquake and flood can't help Zhao Zhouqiao. It is very rare to build such a large-span stone arch bridge on such a natural foundation and such a small abutment in the history of bridge construction at home and abroad.

Hearing this, friends may understand two important reasons why Zhao Zhouqiao has survived for thousands of years, namely, Zhao Zhouqiao's unique construction method and scientific calculation and utilization of natural foundations. However, the most important reason why Zhao Zhouqiao has survived for thousands of years is Li Chun's epoch-making pioneering work-that is, the open-shouldered arc arch bridge type refers to the bridge type pioneered by Zhao Zhouqiao, that is, four symmetrical arches in pairs are dug on the shoulders of the central main arch to make "empty collision coupons". This is the open-shouldered arch structure, which is called open-shouldered (that is, hollow or cavity type) internationally. What are its advantages? First, the discharge capacity is increased. Four small arches can increase the water area 16.5%, reduce the horizontal impact on the bridge, and enhance the role of protecting the bridge body, which has been proved by previous flood fighting practices; In addition, the architectural form of air collision not only saves manpower and material resources, but also reduces the dead weight of the bridge body and disperses the vertical pressure of the bridge body on the abutment foundation, so the abutment in Zhao Zhouqiao can be made so light and practical that it can be directly located on the natural foundation; Looking at Li Chun's design, a layer of 16-30 mm vault thin rockfill is laid around four small arches with shoulders, which is just in line with the elastic arch principle in material mechanics. As we all know, the principle of elastic arch was formed in19th century, with a history of less than 200 years in the world, but Li Chun of China successfully applied this principle to practice 1400 years ago, which is a world miracle. Generally speaking, the elastic arch principle of material mechanics is used to build bridges, which can disperse the force of the stress point to all sections of the bridge. The reason why Zhao Zhouqiao has survived for thousands of years is precisely because the design of Li Chun's open-shouldered arch bridge is highly scientific and reasonable, and it is also the most important contribution of Zhao Zhouqiao School in the history of bridge construction in the world. We can say that it is the first open-shouldered arch bridge in Zhao Zhouqiao. This type of bridge first appeared in the west in 1883, when the French built the Tione Bridge and Luxemburg Bridge on the Argo River. But they are at least behind Zhao Zhouqiao 1200 years. No wonder Dr. Needham of Britain concluded: "Li Chun and the open-shouldered arch bridge he created are indeed more than 1000 years ahead of similar bridges in Europe." Mao Yisheng, a famous bridge expert in China, once pointed out: "Zhao Zhouqiao is a single-hole stone arch bridge. Although the stone arch bridge in China appeared earlier than the Sui Dynasty, Zhao Zhouqiao has innovative features and great technical achievements. It is made of stone, and the spelling of the arch ring is also very special. More cleverly, a small arch is added to the main arch ring, creating a' shoulder-opening' structural design. More than 1,000 years of practice has proved that the tradition of Zhao Zhouqiao has not only been widely extended by stone arch bridges at home and abroad, but also widely adopted by modern reinforced concrete arch bridges, and various new developments have emerged. " Indeed, the application of split-shoulder arch not only makes the bridge deformation more beautiful, but most importantly, it has many functions and functions, such as saving materials, reducing self-weight, simplifying bridge foundation and flood discharge. Its design and building structure are scientific and reasonable, and its stability is strong. For thousands of years, Zhao Zhouqiao's structural skills and artistic style have been widely used for reference, making indelible and outstanding contributions to the world bridge construction, and he is a well-deserved ancestor of bridges!

Zhao Zhouqiao-This is a precious cultural heritage left by the ancient working people in China. Witnessed the wisdom of the Chinese nation, witnessed the splendid history and culture of ancient civilizations in the world, and witnessed the civilization and strength of the whole human race. Dear friends, when facing Zhao Zhouqiao, can we not be proud of our motherland and people? Over the years, it has been respected and praised by the whole world. Today, it should inspire us to give full play to our intelligence and make contributions to building a great motherland!

Friends, my speech is coming to an end. Zhao Zhouqiao Park also has an exhibition room and an exhibition room (and a forest of steles), which display objects and pictures related to Zhao Zhouqiao. If you still have time and feelings, you might as well go there to have a look and deepen your understanding of Zhao Zhouqiao culture. In addition, Zhao county has a long history and many cultural relics. Apart from the Yongtong Bridge, the Grand View Monument (with four national treasures), which is known as the "Sister Bridge" in Zhao Zhouqiao, there are also charming scenic spots such as the Berlin Zen Temple. This temple with a history of thousands of years has been revitalized, and I also hope you can visit it and make it perfect. I am willing to serve you as a tour guide again.

If you have any comments and suggestions on my explanation, please point them out and help me improve my work. I will be happy to listen, because I know this is your concern and love for me. Finally, I want to say: "Zhao Zhouqiao spans Asia, Africa and Latin America, and Zhao Zhouqiao also connects you, me and him". We will welcome our friends again and wish you a pleasant journey and a happy mood! Thank you, bye!