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CHINA’S HISTORIC BRIDGES: ARCHITECTURE OVER WATER Gansu Province
Images © Ronald G. Knapp & Jeffrey D. Knapp
Weiyuan, Gansu province is a nondescript out-of-the-way town with one of China’s truly magnificent bridges
The Baling Bridge, built in 1919 as a result of some inspired civic boosterism, was modeled after a well-known bridge in the provincial capital Lanzhou called the Wo [Holding] Bridge that had been destroyed. Spanning 29.4 meters, one third greater than its Lanzhou antecedent, it has a overall length of 44.5 meters and width of 6.2 meters.
Sweeping to a height of 15.4 meters above the stream, the roof of the symmetrical gallery reaches even above the surrounding treetops.
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In the hilly countryside to the west of Weiyuan, the stepped terraces are painted with the yellow flowers of rapeseed plants.