lugouqiao (marco polo) bridge

lugouqiao (literally the bridge over the reed ditch) has been made famous by at least three historic events: marco polo's description, emperor qianlong's inscription and the outbreak of the war against the japanese aggressors. officially the bridge was called the "lugou stone bridge," and it was completely built of white stone and looked majestic with a total of 485 stone lions lined on the balustrades of both sides. apart from minor maintenance repairs made during subsequent dynasties, historical records shows that it underwent a major restoration in 1689 after two arches were washed away by floods. it was on that occasion that the fiver was renamed 'yongding (eternal stability), but the name of the bridge remained lugou.

located 15 kilometres away in southwestern part of beijing from tian'anmen, marco polo bridge is the only existing multi-areh stone bridge spanning on the yongding (eternal stability) river. the bridge is 260 metres in length, 9.3 metres in width, 10 piers and 11 arches. in 1961, the bridge was listed as one of the important monuments under special preservation by the state council. the bridge was "retired" (no vehicle was allowed to pass through on it) in 1968. the lions, big or small on the bridge, got chemical treatment in 1992 and 1999 respectively and the result was satisfactory.

marco polo, the great italian traveler, saw it towards the end of the year 1276 during his tours in china under the yuan dynasty. in the book of travelogues bearing his name, which came out years later, marco polo gave a detailed description of it "--a very great stone bridge--for you may know that there are few of them in the world so beautiful, nor its equal--it is made like this. i tell you that it is quite three hundred paces long and quite eight paces wide, for ten horsemen can well go there one beside the other--it is all of grey marble very well worked and well founded. there is above each side of the bridge a beautiful curtain or wall of flags of marble and pillars made so, as i shall tell you--and there is fixed at the head of the bridge a marble pillar, and below the pillar a marble lion--very beautiful and large and well made." this description earned the bridge its name, marco polo, in the western world. however, marco polo may have suffered a slip of memory when he gave the number of arches of the bridge as 24 instead of the 11 that it has always had. incidentally it may be interesting to note that marco polo called the bridge "pulisangin." this is because, as some scholars point out, the upper course of the river lugou or yongding is the river sanggan, and the river itself may have been known at the time as sanggan or sangin. as for "puli," it came from persian word "puli," which means bridge. therefore, pulisangin was an international coinage for the "bridge on the sanggan river"ma name highly indicative of the amount of intercourse between china at the time and countries to her west.

almost from its very inception, namely in the mingchang period (1190-1208) of the jin dynasty, the bridge was listed by travellers and men of letters as one of the "eight scenic spots of yanjing (beijing)" un- der the descriptive title "lugou xiaoyue" or moon over lugou at day- break (the morning moon over lugou bridge). substitutions and rewordings were made in the listing of the eight subsequent periods under the yuan, ming, and qing dynasties; but "lugou xiaoyue" has remained throughout. in 1751 emperor qianlong of the qing dynasty (1644-1911) personally edited the poetic titles for the eight views of beijing, and wrote in his elegant hand the inscriptions for the steles marking the respective beauty spots, including the "lugou xiaoyue" tablet which still stands on guard by the bridge.

less than two hundred years after the erection of the stele, the bridge witnessed, in july 1937, the japanese aggressors provoking chinese troops into a protracted war of resistance ending only in 1945; but the bridge it- self had been largely spared the ravages of war. for this and other reasons, the marco polo bridge has been a favourite subject for chinese poets and painters. and ancient pictures of the bridge are of particular interest to scholars and historians.

facelift of old defense

workers renovated the ancient city of wanping, located in the southwestern outskirts of beijing. the beijing municipal government allocated 330 million yuan (us$39.9 million) to the renovation project, which kicked off on november 2, 2001 and was completed by june 2002. built in 1640, the ancient city gained prominence after the marco polo bridge incident on july 7, 1937, which marked the beginning of china's war of resistance against japan.

the city wall was 640 metres from east to west, 320 metres from north to south, 7.18 metres high, and its perimeter being 1920 metres. there were totally more than 200, 000 square metres within the city. though its layout was quite small, it looked just like an impregnable pass. in march 1961, the city together with the marco polo bridge was listed for special preservation by the chinese government.

the revamping project included 640-metre-long wall with 7.18 metres in height, the outer surface of the southern city wall encompassing 4, 595.2 square metres, rebuilt 4 turrets, 2 central towers and 4 subsidiary rooms. in the process of renovation, the bullet holes and the vestiges of the japanese aggression will retain according to the original state.

marco polo (1245-1324)

marco polo was born in 1254, the son of niccolo polo, a venetian merchant. his father and uncle had already visited china once in 1260 when marco polo joined them for the second journey in 1271. they spent the next twenty years traveling in the service of kublai khan. there is evidence that marco polo traveled extensively in the mongol empire, and although the course of his later travels is open to debate, it is fairly certain that he visited india and made at least one journey for peking southwest as far as burma (myanmar). the polos returned home to venice by a long route in 1292, and in 1298/9 marco polo was a prisoner of war at genoa. it was probably in prison they wrote the travels; a product of an observant merchant and a professional romancer. marco polo died in 1324 and left the bulk of his possessions accrued on his travels to be divided between his three daughters.

the world known italian traveler marco polo was born in 1254 in a venetian family. in 1260, marco's father nicolo polo and his uncle maffeo came on a trading journey to asia.

kublai khan was pleased with the detailed answers by the polo brothers to his questions about western countries. an envoy, kejiada, was sent to go to rome with the polos.

as the pope had died, the polo brothers decided to start eastward again with the promising young boy marco polo who longed to come to china.

the polos traveled for three and a half years before reaching china. they passed the iranian plateau and the desert of central asia, and finally reached shangdu in inner mongolia in 1275. they were warmly welcomed by kublai khan, and marco polo was included in the list of his honorary guests. kublai khan was pleased with marco's brightness and conscientiousness and sent him as an imperial commissioner to many cities in china. for three years, marco polo was governor of yangzhou near shanghai. a couple of years later, he acted as an imperial envoy and a deputy privy councilor. he was also dispatched by kublai khan on distant missions to burma (presently myanmar), viet nam, the philippines, india and some other countries.

as the three polos stayed at the yuan court for 17 years, they yearned for home. kublai khan did all he could to keep them. finally, in 1295, after escorting the mongolian princess cocacin to persia for marriage, they returned to venice.

after returning home, marco polo kept telling people about his experiences in china. in 1298, in a naval battle between venice and genoa, marco polo was wounded and captured. in the prison he met rusticiano, also a captive, who took down marco's experience at his dictation to create the world-renowned travels of marco polo, a systematic record of marco polo's years in china and in countries in central, western and south- eastern asia.

the part on china was a vivid portrayal and a valuable first-hand ac- count. the book also described the use of coal, silkworm breeding, coinage, bridge and palace architecture, city planning, municipal administration, social welfare undertakings and afforestation in china.

marco polo also brought with him the chinese cookery to italy. dumpling (ravioli) and noodles (spaghetti) are on the list of chinese cuisine.

in the 13th century, china's economy, culture, science and technology were among the most advanced in the world. many of his claims were doubted in the west.

it is said that at his deathbed in 1324 people tried to persuade him to deny what he had said. but marco polo declared that his only regret was telling only half of what he had seen. his book has played an important role in promoting the interflow of communication, economy, culture, science and technology between the east and the west.

in the book kublai khan was held in high esteem. his name is linked with fancy, travel and adventure, longing to know new things and under- stand the world.

in 1981, a film about marco polo was shot that cost us$20 million.

 

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