A Bridge Most Admired

You may have heard of A Bridge too Far or Bridge over Troubled Water, but have you heard about the Great Stone Bridge (大石桥) (inset) ? Located in  Zhao County, China, the bridge is  also known as the Zhaozhou Bridge (赵州桥). Said to have been designed by a craftsman named Li Chun, the bridge was constructed in the years 595-605 during the Sui Dynasty. Over a period of 1,400 years, the bridge survived at least eight wars, ten major floods and numerous earthquakes including the 1966 7.2 Xingtai Earthquake and probably that earned it its other name, Anji Bridge (安济桥) which translated literally into Safe Crossing Bridge. Today, the bridge which crosses the Xiaohe River (洨河) in Zhao County, remains the oldest standing bridge in China and  is the world's oldest open-spandrel stone segmental arch bridge. No wonder the bridge was nominated by the Chinese to be included into the World Heritage List and in 1991, was dedicated as an International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers.