Baling Bridge
Baling Bridge (bà líng qiáo 灞陵桥) flies over the river flowing from west to east. Baling Bridge is an arch bridge with one arch and two piers, on which you can enjoy the scene of waterfowls swimming happily in the water. It has a 3-meter high and 11-meter long bridge rail on each side. In the middle part of the east bridge rail, there is an 8-meter high bluish stone sculpture of Guan Yu on the horseback, who looked so bold and brave as to be able to scare away the enemies. The sculpture has integrated both modern and old features of sculpture techniques.
The bridge rail has two inscribed stone monuments standing at south and north end respectively. The south one was the picture of Guan Yu bidding farewell to Cao Cao inscribed in Ming Dynasty. Its upper part was inscribed with the characters "Ci Cao Shu (Farewell to Cao Cao)" by Teng Zhihu (a famous calligrapher and the Li Mu, administrative clerk, of Qing Dynasty). Its lower part was a relief carved with Tiao Pao Tu (the picture of Guan Yu accepting the warrior gown presented by Cao Cao with a long sword on horseback) with a similar style of Wu Daizi (a famous painter of Tang Dynasty). The North one was inscribed with strong characters "Han Emperor Guan Tiao Pao Tu" by Zuo Liangyu, the military governor of late Ming Dynasty.
It's said that after Guan Yu knew the trace of Liu Bei, he planned to thank Cao Cao for his help in person. However, Cao Cao said he was too busy to see him. Guan Yu had no choice but to leave the gold, silver and the official seal presented by Cao Cao in the residence and start the journey to look for Liu Bei in the direction of Guanxi together with his sisters-in-law. When he reached Baling Bridge, Cao Cao and other officials caught up to see him off and presented him a warrior gown. In order to keep his sisters-in-law safe, Guan Yu accepted the warrior gown with a long sword on horse back. After bidding farewell to Cao Cao, he went on to the west. It was extraordinary that Guan Yu served Liu Bei and Cao Cao in his life and treasured by both of them.
The original Baling Bridge (also called Eight Li Bridge) was made of bluish stone and grey brick. The whole bridge body was characterized by the building units of Yuan Dynasty, and the upper part was characterized by the building units of Ming and Qing Dynasties. It was 17 m long, 2.88 m high and had three arches. At the ends of bridge, there were two stone tablets namely "Tiao Pao Tu" and "Ci Cao Shu" and one stone monument inscribed with "Han Emperor Guan Ci Cao Chu" by Zuo Liangyu. During governing periods of Emperor Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong of Qing Dynasty, another four monuments were set up to in praise of Guan Yu's holy spirits. It is a great pity that the bridge was damaged by the flood in 1953 and it was replaced by a concrete bridge. The current Baling Bridge is a sightseeing bridge rebuilt in 1993 by the local government in imitation of the bridge in relief picture found in Han relief stone tombs and kept in the Museum of Xinye County.
Location: Qingni River, 4 kilometres west of Xuchang City
Tel: 0374-3317318
Transportation: Take Bus No.5 at train station to get to the destination.
Opening Hours: 8:00 a.m. - 6:30 p.m. (Flexible in holidays)
Admission Fee: CNY30
Small note on cache maintenance:
There is a local cache guardian who will assist.
Name and contact info on file with geocaching.com.