Beijing attractions

Lugou Bridge (Marco Polo Bridge)

Lugou Bridge is located above Yongding River of Fengtai District in Beijing. It is the oldest stone-united arch bridge. Yongding River was also named Lugou River, so Lugou Bridge was named after the river. Lugou Bridge is 266.5 meters long and 7.5 meters wide. The most width of bridge is up to 9.3 meters. There are 10 piers and 11 holes. It is the longest ancient stone-bridge in Northern China.

The number of stone hurdles on both sides of the bridge is 140. There are also 501 stone-carved lions with different expressions and gestures on the hurdles. Lugouxiaoyue, four Chinese characters on white marble were the handwriting of Emperor Qianlong. It is one of the eight sceneries in Yanjing. There are many stone-lions on the bridge. As for the exact quantity of lions, many visitors had tried to figure it out, but during their counting they were always confused by the density of Lions. In 1962, some specialists from relevant department counted the stone lions and they drew the conclusion that there were 485 stone lions. However, in 1979 during the rechecking, they discovered there were 502 on the bridge. So from then on, nobody dared to finalize the number of stone lions.

Marco Polo, the famous Italian traveler once spoke highly of this bridge. He thought it as the best and unmatched bridge all round the world. On July 7 1937, Japanese began their invasions from this bridge. China's local army bravely resisted their invasions. It is called the Lugouqiao Incident in history. There is also a museum in memory of the event.