Luding Bridge — Attraction in Sichuan

The Dadu River, swollen by spring snowmelt in the Himalayas, thundered through the gorges of Sichuan. Amid soaring mountains, reaching tens of thousands of feet into the Sichuan sky, a narrow bridge stretched across the angry, roiling waters. It was, in reality, barely a bridge at all — wooden planks that could normally be walked on had been removed in an effort to prevent crossing. All that was left were rough chains, suspended 50 feet above the waves.

Explosions and gunfire added to the chaos as 26 commandos, exhausted after months of constant march and running battles, crept across the bridge, struggling to hang onto both the bridge and their weapons. Artillery shells landing in the river threw spray onto the iron chains, making the crossing even more treacherous. Four commandos fell to their deaths in the river.

The remaining 22 managed to cross, and once on the other bank fought against long odds to overwhelm the defenders and secure the Luding Bridge, enabling the Red Army to cross the Dadu River and escape from the KMT forces pursuing them. From there the Red Army could continue the Long March that would eventually lead them to safety in Yan’an, where it would regroup and grow in strength, eventually surviving to take all of China.

According to American journalist Edgar Snow in his book Red Star Over China, “the crossing of the [Dadu] River was the most crucial single incident of the Long March. Had the Red Army failed there, quite possibly it would have been...

四川甘孜藏族自治區內有名的鐵索橋，橫跨於瀘定縣大渡河上，相傳清朝康熙帝統一中國後，為加強川藏地區的文化經濟交流，御批修建此橋，並在橋頭立禦牌，是古代橋樑建築的傑作。

走在瀘定橋上，可明顯感受滾滾河水衝擊鐵索橋的晃動，頗有震撼感，人多的時後特別晃，懼高的人會心驚膽跳。瀘定橋雖是昔日茶馬古道的入口，現在卻成了相當商業化的旅遊景區，廣場周邊很多商家和特色小吃。

瀘定橋兩岸的橋頭古堡，是傳統木結構古建築，橋長103公尺，寬3公尺，用13根鐵鍊固定在兩岸橋臺落井裡，9根作底鏈，4根分兩側作扶手，12164個鐵環相扣，重逾40餘噸，相當壯觀。

#四...

Wow- amazing piece of history. Scary but exciting to cross, despite the rain. ...