This Was Founded In The First Half Of The 17th
Century.
The people generally call it Fei-ch'eng" (Bretschneider,
Peking, p. 50.) - H.C.] It is described both by Magaillans and Lecomte,
with some curious discrepancies, whilst each affords particulars
corroborative of Polo's account of the character of the bridge.
The former
calls it the finest bridge in China. Lecomte's account says the bridge was
the finest he had yet seen. "It is above 170 geometrical paces (850 feet)
in length. The arches are small, but the rails or side-walls are made of
a hard whitish stone resembling marble. These stones are more than 5 feet
long, 3 feet high, and 7 or 8 inches thick; supported at each end by
pilasters adorned with mouldings and bearing the figures of lions.... The
bridge is paved with great flat stones, so well joined that it is even as
a floor."
Magaillans thinks Polo's memory partially misled him, and that his
description applies more correctly to another bridge on the same road, but
some distance further west, over the Lieu-li Ho. For the bridge over the
Hwan Ho had really but thirteen arches, whereas that on the Lieu-li had,
as Polo specifies, twenty-four. The engraving which we give of the Lu-kou
K'iao from a Chinese work confirms this statement, for it shows but
thirteen arches. And what Polo says of the navigation of the river is
almost conclusive proof that Magaillans is right, and that our traveller's
memory confounded the two bridges. For the navigation of the Hwan Ho, even
when its channel is full, is said to be impracticable on account of rapids,
whilst the Lieu-li Ho, or "Glass River," is, as its name implies, smooth,
and navigable, and it is largely navigated by boats from the coal-mines of
Fang-shan. The road crosses the latter about two leagues from Cho-chau.
(See next chapter.)
[Illustration: Bridge of Lu-ku k'iao]
[The Rev. W.S. Ament (M. Polo in Cambaluc, p. 116-117) remarks regarding
Yule's quotation from Magaillans that "a glance at Chinese history would
have explained to these gentlemen that there was no stone bridge over the
Liu Li river till the days of Kia Tsing, the Ming Emperor, 1522 A.D., or
more than one hundred and fifty years after Polo was dead. Hence he could
not have confounded bridges, one of which he never saw. The Lu Kou Bridge
was first constructed of stone by She Tsung, fourth Emperor of the Kin, in
the period Ta Ting 1189 A.D., and was finished by Chang Tsung 1194 A.D.
Before that time it had been constructed of wood, and had been sometimes a
stationary and often a floating bridge. The oldest account [end of 16th
century] states that the bridge was pu 200 in length, and specifically
states that each pu was 5 feet, thus making the bridge 1000 feet long. It
was called the Kuan Li Bridge. The Emperor, Kia Tsing of the Ming, was a
great bridge builder.
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