Chinese Rainbow Bridges

摘要

"Qingming Festival on the River" is a famous painting from the Song dynasty. At the center of this painting a wooden arch bridge is depicted, which is called "Bian-He Rainbow Bridge". It was built using a very special ancient technique, "woven" of straight wooden logs. This type of bridge does not appear in any other part of the world, and has disappeared from China several hundred years ago.900 years later in 1980's several dozens of ancient timber arch bridges were discovered in the mountain area of south Zhejiang and north Fujian Provinces. The structure of these bridges is suitable for large span and can cross river without any pier supports. These bridges are very similar to the Rainbow Bridge. In this paper the authors describe these bridges and their unique structures.