The Zhaozhou Bridge is located in Zhaoxian County of Hebei Province. The bridge was named after the county, which was called Zhaozhou in ancient times. The Zhaozhou Bridge was built in the Kaihuang Period (595-605 AD) of the Sui Dynasty by craftsman Li Chun some 1400 years ago. It is China's and the world's oldest and best preserved big stone arch bridge, having a far-reaching impact on the bridge building of later ages. What deserves a special mention is the "open spandrel" structure of the bridge, which was unprecedented in the world's bridge building history. In Europe, the earliest open spandrel arch bridges are those in France and Luxemburg, but they were built about 1100 years later than the Zhaozhou Bridge of China.

The Zhaozhou Bridge spans 64.4 meters and has a width of 9 meters. The arch foot is 9.6 meters wide with a beam span of 37.02 meters and an arch rise of 7.23 meters. The overall structure of the bridge is a single-hole arch stone bridge, with the central arch made of 28 thin, curved stone slabs arranged in longitudinal direction. Thanks to the good position and proper strains and stresses on the bridge base, the bridge is still in good condition after numerous floods and earthquakes over more than 1,000 years.

The Zhaozhou Bridge is not only ingeniously built, but also bears unique Chinese artistic styles, which are mainly reflected by the iron dovetails, lotus-pattern decorations, patterns on the rails and the carvings on the columns. The bridge builder integrated all mythological elements into the design in which romantic approaches were used to make the bridge more beautiful and stable. At the same time, the builder expressed his whishes for the stone bridge's power to permanently keep floods at bay. The bridge is a perfect combination of ancient Chinese architectural art and superb techniques, reflecting the wisdom of ancient craftsmen.

In September 1991, the Zhaozhou Bridge was dedicated as the 12th International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers and a bronze monument to the event was set up on the east side of the north end of the bridge.

Names:
赵州桥zhàozhōu qiáo: Zhaozhou Bridge
开皇时期kāihuánɡ shíqī: Kaihuang Period

Words:
工匠ɡōnɡjiɑnɡ: craftsman
值得zhídé: deserve
结构jiéɡòu: structure
跨度kuàdù: span
地震dìzhèn: earthquakes
巧妙地qiǎomiào de: ingeniously
不可思议的bùkěsīyì de: mythological
长久地chánɡjiǔ de: permanently
建立jiànlì: set up