Wind-and-Rain Bridges

The wind-and-rain bridges (风雨桥, fēngyǔ qiáo) that span the streams running through Zhaoxing are covered wooden bridges with tiled pavilion roofs at intervals along their length — long enough to shelter a walking passage from rain and sun, with benches along the sides for sitting. Like the drum towers, they are built from timber using mortise-and-tenon joinery without metal fasteners.

Several bridges cross the streams that run through Zhaoxing, and they connect the different quarters of the village. The longest spans about 50 metres; the shortest connects two sections of bank no more than ten metres apart. The combination of nail-free timber construction, tiled roofing, and covered walkway creates an architectural environment that is simultaneously practical and beautiful — a form developed over several centuries to solve the specific problems of a valley settlement built on flood-prone terrain.

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A story
The wind-and-rain bridges of Zhaoxing serve a function that goes beyond shelter. In Dong cosmology, water is associated with both prosperity and danger, and the bridges are built to manage the spiritual as well as the physical relationship between the community and the streams. The pavilions at the centre of each bridge were traditionally where the village elders would sit to greet visitors — the bridge was the formal boundary between inside and outside, community and stranger. The bridges are also where Dong people have traditionally gathered to sing: the acoustic properties of the covered structure concentrate sound in ways that enhance polyphonic singing.