The 800-year-old Lugou Bridge in Southwest of Beijing, recorded in
the travelogue of Marco Polo, is suffering damages in its beautiful
lion sculptures because of weathering.
Serious damages have been found on nine stone lions on the
bridge, which is famous in China and overseas for its exquisite
architecture, said an official with the cultural relics department
of the Lugou Bridge tourist site.
Cracks are found on many more stone lions, said the official,
surnamed Wang, adding that the damaged lions are difficult to be
repaired, and experts have not found a proper method to solve the
problem,
The State Administration of Cultural Heritage has sent experts
to investigate the situation and make the repairing plan.
Monitoring equipments have been set up on the bridge to monitor
the environmental factors such as the temperature and force of wind
at the region.
The bridge was first built in 1189 and it was refurbished and
repaired many times in history.
Marco Polo went all the way to China during the Yuan Dynasty
(1271-1368). He described the bridge in vivid words as "Over the
river, there is an extremely beautiful stone bridge. Come to think
of it, it is indeed the most wonderful and unique bridge in the
world ...".
The bridge, 266.5 meters in length and 7.5 meters in width with
11 arches, is famous for its 485 lifelike and vivid carved stone
lions.
The lion cubs on the bridge vary from a few millimeters to a
dozen millimeters in size. Often half hidden, they would prove
difficult to count.
On July 7, 1937, Japanese military forces attacked the Chinese
garrison at Marco Polo Bridge, which marks the beginning of the
Chinese people's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression.
(Xinhua News Agency October 26, 2006)
