Entering the Dong village, you can often see a very chic wind and rain bridge. Speaking of wind and rain bridge, there is a myth and legend.
Anciently, there is no equalization of the village, the Dong family lived in the hillside, a small cottage, only a dozen families. There was a small cottage with a descendant, named Buka, married a wife, named Peiguan. The husband and wife were so in love that they were almost inseparable. Two people work back, a pick firewood, a load of grass, a carry hoe, a cattle, always followed by back and forth. This Peiguan was so beautiful that when the couple crossed the bridge, the fish in the river leapt out of the water to see them.
One morning, the river suddenly surged. Mr. and Mrs. Buka were in a hurry to go to the west mountain to work, and they could not care less, and went to the small wooden bridge in front of the village. Just as they walked to the center of the bridge, suddenly blew a gust of wind, scraping the Buka can not open their eyes, Peiguan "ouch" fell into the river. Buka opened his eyes to see, his wife disappeared, know scrape down the river, he jumped headfirst into the water, dive into the river. However, back and forth to look for a few rounds are not found. Folks know, also rushed to help him look for, looking for a long time, still can not find Peiguan. What's going on here?
There was a crab spirit deep in the bay, and it swept Peiguan into a cavern at the bottom of the river. All of a sudden, the crab spirit turned into a beautiful descendant and wanted Peiguan to be his wife, but Peiguan refused and slapped him. He immediately showed his fierce face and threatened Pei Guan. Peiguan cried and cursed, and the sound of his cries and curses traveled from the bottom of the river to the ears of a flowery dragon upstream.
Then the wind and rain came, and the waves rolled in, and a flower dragon was seen in the waves, looking east and west with its head held high. The dragon looked to the left, the wave hit to the left, the left side of the mountain collapsed, the dragon looked to the right, the wave rushed to the right, the right side of the shore cracked. The small wooden bridge has long been swept away by the waves. The people were frightened. But the dragon's head came to the beach side of Buka, the dragon's head even nodded a few times the waves calmed down. Then the flower dragon made a circle on the water and rushed to the bottom of the river. Then, from the water out of a stream of black smoke, rose into the air into a cloud, the flower dragon rushed into the air, flopping body, the black cloud down, finally pressed it to show its original shape. Turned out to be the drum tower top so big black crab. The black crab panicked and fled, climbed to the cliff three feet high. The flower dragon went down to the water and turned over, the dragon tail swung, and swept the crab down to the water. This several rounds, the crab is exhausted, wobbly crawling to the bamboo forest, want to use the bamboo to block the flower dragon. But the flower dragon jumped up, opened its mouth to spray water, spraying the bamboo forest piece by piece down, the crab fell into the river. Flower Dragon closely chased to the bottom of the water, the waves rolled down the river, and then no longer see the black crab showed up. Later, not far from the river bay, revealing a crab-shaped black stone, is the flower dragon to the crab essence of the town. This stone, later people called it the crab stone.
When the river had calmed down, a woman's voice was heard calling from the opposite bank. Buka took a look and it was none other than his wife. Buka called a few people to swim over immediately. After getting ashore, Peiguan said to Buka, "Thanks to Flower Dragon's rescue!" Everyone realized that it was the Flower Dragon who had saved her, and they were all very grateful to the Flower Dragon. At that moment, the Flower Dragon flew back upstream, nodding to the people from time to time.
The story soon spread throughout the Dong village. The people of the small wooden bridge near the water was converted into a large wooden bridge like the air promenade, and the four center pillars of the bridge were engraved with the pattern of the flower dragon, wishing that the flower dragon would always be there. After the completion of the large wooden bridge in the air promenade style, a grand celebration ceremony was held, very lively. At this time, colorful clouds in the sky, shaped like a long dragon, haze, people look closely, it is the flower dragon back to visit everyone. Therefore, the later called this bridge for the Dragon Bridge. Some places also called the flower bridge, but also because the bridge can be sheltered from the wind and rain, so it is also called wind and rain bridge.
2. Legend of Huixian Bridge
Huixian Bridge is on the Nationality Road in Yuzhong District, in the center of the square in front of the present-day Huixian Building. The bridge disappeared early, and my uncle came to Chongqing in the early 1920s to work as a laborer, and never saw the bridge. However, the place name of Huixianqiao existed until the 80s of last century.
Anciently, the city of Chongqing is not very populated, Daliangzi (now Xinhua Road) area is still a forest. A small stream flowed down from Daliangzi, approximately along present-day Zhengyang Street, through Dayanggou, to Hongyadong, and into the Jialing River. Huixian Bridge was a bridge over this stream, probably less than 10 meters long. The reason why it is called Huixian Bridge is that legend has it that someone met a fairy here. However, there are several versions of the legend.
One version is that an old man opened a cold tavern at the end of the bridge, and often a Taoist priest from Laojun Cave on the south bank came to drink in his tavern. He invited the old man to go to Laojun Cave to play. When the old man went there, the Taoist priest treated him to a bowl of douhua, which the two of them could never finish. In the afternoon, the old man returned to the tavern, the wife was surprised, said: "How come you do not come back for many years, yo?" The old man said: "You fainted yo, I just play half a day." But when he looked in the mirror, he grew a long white beard. The old man realized that the Taoist priest he met was a fairy. The rumor spread, so people called the bridge in front of the tavern "the Bridge of the Immortals".
There is also a story that a girl who lived below Hongyadong often went to the Jialing River to wash her clothes. One time, the clothes she was washing were washed away by the river. There is a single fisherman on the river saw, rowing fishing boat to go to her back. They became familiar with each other. One day, the girl's mother died of illness, the girl did not have the money to bury, anxious to jump into the river. The fisherman saved her, and said to her, "I caught a pick of golden carp in my net, and I'll pick them up and sell them right away, and then I'll go and buy a birthday suit and a coffin." However, he picked the fish into the city, just went to the bridge, the lively gold armor carp are all dead hard, but also sell what money yo! The fish farmer was so anxious that he jumped up and down on the bridge and cried. At this time, he heard a voice from the land temple: "Quickly get out of the way, eight holes fairy is coming!" He looked up and saw that there were eight beggars, but he didn't care, he knelt down and begged the immortals to help. The leader was a crippled old man on iron crutches, saying, "We are all beggars, we have nothing to eat, how can we help you!" That carry a sword of the caller picked up a weight of stone thrown into the fishing Lang's fish basket, said: "Your fish are all alive, do not quickly take it to sell?" The fishmonger took a hard look. He threw the stone into another basket, and the fish came to life. When he looked again, all the beggars were gone. So the fisherman sold it for a good price, buried the girl's mother, and then married the girl and settled down at this bridge. The bridge was named Huixianqiao (Bridge of the Immortals).
3. The Legend of Zhaozhou Bridge
Anciently, Zhaozhou was now Zhao County in Hebei Province. Zhaozhou had two stone bridges, one in the south of the city and one in the west. The big stone bridge in the south of the city looks like a rainbow over the river, magnificent and majestic. Folklore says, this big stone bridge is Lu Ban repair; west of the city of small stone bridge, look like a small white dragon floating on the water, alive, legend has it that this small stone bridge is Lu Ban's sister Lu Jiang repair. These two bridges have been repaired well! The stage staged "Little Cattle", there is also this lyrics: "Zhaozhou stone bridge Lu Ban grandfather repair, jade railing saints stay, Zhang Guolao donkey ride on the bridge to go, Chai Wang Wang cart rolled a ditch." Here sings the legend of Lu Ban repair Zhaozhou Bridge.
Legend has it that Lu Ban and his sister traveled around the world, went to Zhaozhou, a white Xiao River blocked the way. On the river side of the carts, tandem, selling onions, selling garlic, riding horses to catch the examination, pulling donkeys to catch the meeting of the hustle and bustle, scrambling to cross the river into the city. There were only two small boats swinging around in the river, and they could not pass a few people for half a day. When Lu Ban saw this, he asked, "Why don't you build a bridge over the river?" People said, "The river is wide, the water is deep, the waves are fast, who dares to repair it, and we can't find such a skillful craftsman even if we hit the lantern!" Lu Ban listened to his heart, and discussed with his sister, Lu Jiang, to build two bridges for the pedestrians.
Lu Ban said to his sister, "Let's build the big stone bridge first and the small stone bridge later!"
Lu Jiang said, "OK!"
Lu Ban said; "Building bridges is hard work, don't be afraid to suffer!"
Lu Jiang said, "I'm not afraid!"
Lu Ban said; "It is good that you are not afraid. Your heart is stupid and your hands are clumsy, if you are afraid of suffering again, you will be in trouble." This sentence made Lu Jiang upset. She said defiantly: "You do not think that my heart is stupid hand clumsy, this day, we separate repair, you repair big, I repair small, and you race
a race, see who repair fast, good repair."
Lu Ban said, "Okay, let's race! When will the work begin and when will it be finished?" Lu Jiang said: "The darkness out of the stars to start work, the chicken call day dawn to finish." The word was finalized, and the siblings split up to get ready.
Lu Ban did not panic and slipped to the west toward the mountains. When Lu Jiang reached the west side of the city, she hurriedly got her hands dirty. She repaired while thinking: do not need to be busy, must pull you down. Sure enough, before the third watch was over, the small stone bridge was repaired. Then she quietly ran to the south of the city to see what her brother had repaired. To the south of the city to see, the river is not even a bridge shadow. Lu Ban was not at the river either. She thought to herself that her brother had lost this time. But turned his head, west of Taihang Mountain, a man driving a flock of sheep, jumping and scurrying down the mountain. Waiting to get closer to see, the original sheep driving is her brother. Which is to drive the sheep ah, clearly driven to a piece of snow like white, like jade as smooth stone, these stones to the river, a blink of an eye into a processed variety of stone. There are square bridge foundation stones, rectangular bridge deck stones, crescent-shaped arch ring stones, and beautiful railings. Beautiful columns, where the bridge, everything. Lu Jiang a look at the heart of a shock, so good stone bridge to build up how strong ah! In contrast, they built that can not, need to quickly think of remedies. It is too late to rebuild, just in the carving on the efforts to cover him! She quietly went back to the west side of the city to start, in the railing carved Pangu open heaven, Yu water, and carved the cowherd and the weaving maiden, the phoenix and the sunrise. What rare birds and animals, exotic flowers and plants, are carved like the real thing. Carved birds can fly, carved flowers scented. She herself looked at this exquisite carving satisfied, and ran to the south of the city to peep at Lu Ban. At first glance, she exclaimed. The rainbow in the sky, how to fall on the river? Fixed attention and then a closer look, it turned out that the brother to build a bridge, just missing a good bridge on the last pillar of the lookout. Her brother won a bet, so she played a joke with him. She dodged squatting behind the willow tree, pinching the throat and stretching the neck, "coo-coo-coo -" learned a chicken call. She screamed, which led to the nearby people's home chickens also screamed. Lu Ban heard the chickens, rushed to the last pillar to the bridge, the bridge is also considered to be completed.
The two bridges, a small one and a large one, are very beautiful. Lu Ban's big stone bridge, majestic, durable; Lu Jiang repair small stone bridge, delicate, beautiful and delightful. Zhaozhou built two bridges in one night, and the next day it was a sensation in the nearby state government offices and counties. Everyone watched and praised. The skilled craftsmen came here to learn their crafts, and the skillful girls came here to describe their patterns. People came to visit every day, like running water. This strange thing soon spread to the Peng Cai immortal island immortal Zhang Guolao's ears. Zhang Guolao didn't believe it, he thought Lu Ban had such a great ability! He invited Mr. Chai to go and see what happened. Zhang Guolao rode a small black donkey, Chai Wang Wang pushed a one-wheeled cart, the two came to Zhaozhou stone bridge, just met Lu Ban is standing on the bridge, looking at the pedestrians laughing! Zhang Guolao asked Lu Ban: "This bridge is you repair?" Lu Ban said: "Yes, what's wrong with it?" Zhang Guolao pointed to the little black donkey and Master Chai's one-wheeled cart and said, "If we cross the bridge, will it stand up?" Lu Ban gave them a glance and said, "If a big mule and a big horse, and a golden carriage and a silver carriage can pass through, can't this little donkey and cart of yours pass through?" When Zhang Guolao heard this, he thought that he was talking too much, so he used magic to gather the sun and the moon, and put them in the pouch on the donkey's back, with the sun on the left side and the moon on the right side. Master Chai also used magic to gather the five famous mountains and mounted them on the cart. The two men smiled a little, pushing the donkey to the bridge. As soon as they got on the bridge, they looked at the bridge and saw it lolling. Lu Ban hurriedly jumped to the bridge, raised his right hand to hold the bridge, save the bridge.
The two men passed, Zhang Guolao looked back at the bridge to the Chai Wangzhi said: "No wonder people praise, Lu Ban repair this bridge is really the world's best." Master Chai nodded his head and gave a thumbs up to Lu Ban, who had only just returned to the bridge. Lu Ban looked at their backs and said in his heart, "These two people are not simple!"
Now, Zhaozhou stone bridge deck, there are still Zhang Guolao riding a donkey stepped on the hoofprints and Chai Wang cart rolled a ditch. To Zhaozhou stone bridge to go to the people, can be seen, the bridge below the original also left a big handprint Lu Ban master bridge, now can not see.
(P.S.: According to historical records, Zhaozhou Bridge was designed and built by Li Chun, an artisan of the Sui Dynasty).
4. The Legend of Wuli Bridge
"Wuli Bridge" is a stone arch bridge between Zhuchang Village and Wuli Village in Wudang District, Guiyang City, Guizhou Province, where the local Buyi people have a legend about the origin of the bridge.
A long time ago, Zhu Chang has a wide and deep river, both sides of the river, each with a village, in order to facilitate each other, one day, the two villages village people organized dozens of strong laborers in the river set up a more than ten feet long, more than three feet wide wooden bridge. However, the next day, the wooden bridge disappeared. People thought that the bridge was not firmly repaired, washed away by the water, so they re-selected the strongest wood, invited the skilled craftsmen, set up a second bridge.
That night, something strange happened. On a night when the moon was shining brightly in the sky, the wind suddenly rose up, dark clouds rolled in, lightning flashed and thunder roared, and heavy rain fell from the sky. The waves on the river rolled, as if they were going to wash down the cliffs on both sides of the river. After a black wave scattered, a monster appeared on the river, said viciously: "repair bridge, want to walk through my body, huh, I see you repair! Repair a bridge and I will destroy one, so that you can taste the power of my old dragon spirit." Said, it will be a body shake, become a clawed green dragon, a head into the water, set off a few feet high wild waves, only to hear the "clatter" sound, the wooden bridge in an instant into countless pieces of wood, floating downstream along the evil waves.
The next morning, the people of the two villages came to the river, and found that the wooden bridge was gone. There was a lot of talk, some said: "Which one of them has broken the bridge?" Some said: "The one with a bad conscience has broken the bridge? Some said: "I'm afraid it was washed away by the water." Others said: "Maybe it was blown down by the wind." Everyone you a word I say a word, which can not be sure how the bridge is collapsed, the repair of the bridge had to be put down.
A year passed, and the people on both sides of the river suffered a lot from the long way around. After many discussions, they decided to build a tall stone bridge instead of wood.
After five months of hard labor, a tall and big stone arch bridge was finally built. This bridge is a simple and ancient shape, the bridge is molded on both ends of a pair of angry lions, from a distance, like a beautiful rainbow. Because the bridge north of the village is five miles from the village in the southeast, people call this bridge "five miles bridge.
The stone bridge was repaired one night soon, the monster ---- old dragon spirit came to the river again, when it set off a vicious wave, ready to wash down the stone bridge, suddenly under the bridge released a circle of golden light, at the same time the bridge issued a thunderous roar. The old dragon spirit was startled, it was about to drill into the water, suddenly flew a golden circle, a momentum will be its brain set. Then, a big chain flew in and bound its body tightly. The old dragon spirit rolled around on the water in pain. At that moment, an old man standing in the center of the bridge, holding a shining sword in his hand, pointed at the old dragon spirit and yelled, "Sinful dragon, how dare you do evil?" The old dragon spirit was scared out of his wits, and hastened to kneel down and beg for forgiveness.
Originally, the old dragon spirit overturned the wooden bridge and killed the living beings, and was seen by an immortal, who went to report to the Jade Emperor, and the Jade Emperor ordered him to come to punish the old dragon spirit. He saw that the old dragon spirit had already confessed, but was afraid that other water demons would cause trouble, so he used his sword to point and let a pair of golden ducks fly into the bridge pier with a golden stretcher. Then, the immortal will take the old dragon spirit back to heaven to resume the decree. For hundreds of years, this pair of golden ducks and this golden flat burden has been guarding the stone bridge, so that the stone bridge is still intact on both sides of the river.
5. The Legend of Maple Bridge
There can only be one monk in charge of a temple, and the two monks, Hanshan and Shide, were in the same temple, so who should be the master of the temple? The two monks were very polite, pushing back and forth, but to no avail. This temple is only his two monks, it does not matter, until one after another to recruit a group of small monks in, there is a problem. The young monks asked, "Old monk, which sutra to recite today," and Hanshan said, "You should ask Master Shide first." The little monk went to ask Shide, Shide said: "Still should ask Han Shan master." They respected each other, but the little monk suffered, how to entertain the guests, how much incense oil to buy, who to send to collect firewood, and so on. The little monk is at a loss, there are opinions, it is difficult to barely blah blah blah blah blah blah. Little monk's words to Cold Mountain, pick up the ears, the two discussed again, push and push, or no results. At this time came an old peasant woman, said: "two masters do not humble, I come to give you an idea. You compare your skills, and the one with the most skills will be the head monk, which is the fairest." Cold Mountain, pick up the first listen, is a way, but, than what, the peasant woman pointed to a river in front of the temple, said, this river lacks a bridge, folks come and go by crossing the river, and inconvenient and dangerous, please show your magic, change a bridge out, which becomes out is which is the ability of the big. Monks do not fight words, so, not afraid of cold mountain pick up hidden spells, really pick up the first spell, the body of the monk's clothes off, to the river a throw, changed into a bridge, but unfortunately, no bridge support, a, the wind blew, look at it is going to be scraped down. Cold Mountain hastily will be in the hands of the Zen staff to the river side of a plug, the operation of the spell, Zen staff suddenly turned into a tree, the tree towards the other side of the bank a spread, a bridge will be stable and lying on the river. The old peasant woman smiled and said, "It's still Cold Mountain who is more capable." Said a handkerchief towards the feet in front of a throw, handkerchief into a lotus flower, she stepped on the lotus flower rose into the air, cold mountain pick up to look up, it turned out that the old peasant woman is the Goddess of Mercy change. Cold Mountain had to do as a monk, the temple is also called "Cold Mountain Temple". Cold Mountain that Zen staff, is made of maple tree, the bridge is naturally called "maple bridge".
6. Legend of Double Throwing Bridge
The Double Throwing Bridge is in the middle of Yangqiao Road in Fuzhou. Legend has it that there was a river here in ancient times, with an unnamed wooden bridge over it and deep water flowing under it. Near the river lived the Qiu, He and Hu families. The Qiu family had a son who earned his living as a carpenter and was honest and loyal. The He family is also not very rich, there is a daughter looks beautiful, and kind nature. Qiu, He two families have always had dealings with each other, a pair of men and women naturally also good. The two childhood sweethearts, two small, the two elders as appropriate, so they were betrothed, and chose to marry the auspicious date.
Unexpectedly, one day, Ms. He went to the river to rinse clothes, was Hu's family saw. The young master of the Hu family saw the beauty of Miss He, and after finding out the details, he sent a matchmaker to the He family to talk about marriage. The He family put the girl has been betrothed, and within a day to marry the words of the matchmaker mother to go back. But the young master of the house, Hu, simply ignored it, and secretly gathered his men to rob the Qiu and He families on the day of their marriage. The two families were unprepared, and Miss He was robbed on the way to Hu's house.
Miss He is a loyal girl, to the House of Hu would rather die than from, and at night to take advantage of the negligence of the guards of the opportunity to sneak out of the House of Hu, run back to Qiu family and the newlywed husband to meet, to enjoy the joy of the wedding. However, the Hu villain will not stop, he drank the evil slave, each armed with a weapon to Qiu home, Qiu, He newlyweds tied up and captured. The newlyweds resisted all the way, cursing the shameless villain. Hu evil young angry, ordered the evil slaves, the newlyweds were thrown into the river, and ordered to throw the bodies of the two to the north and south, the intention is to death will not let them together. The poor newlyweds were drowned alive in the river, and their bodies were split up on both sides of the river. Later, a banyan tree grew on each side of the river, its roots intertwined with each other at the bottom of the river, and its branches climbed up in the air, becoming a spectacle in Banyan City. Later generations marveled at it and called the bridge across the river the Double Throwing Bridge.
7. The legend of Cai Xiang's Luoyang Bridge
Legend has it that when Emperor Zhenwu became immortal, he pulled out his sword and disemboweled himself, and threw his intestines and stomach down in the Luoyang River. Later, these intestines turned into tortoises, snakes and monsters, from time to time to make waves, endangering the passing ships.
One day, a ferry across the river, the turtle snake monster, the wind roar, the turbid waves rolling, see the ferry was made to turn over. At this time, there was a shout from the sky: "Cai Bachelor in the boat, shall not be rude!" Turtle and snake two monsters heard, scared into the bottom of the river. Only a moment later, the river was calm again. Guests on board were very surprised, and asked who is "Lord Cai", there is no one on board surnamed Cai, only a pregnant woman, her husband surnamed Cai. The pregnant woman knew in her heart, so she made a secret wish to the sky: "If I can give birth to a male child this time, when he grows up, I will ask him to build a bridge over the Luoyang River for the convenience of the passing guests.
The pregnant woman did indeed give birth to a boy, named Cai Xiang (蔡襄), with the character Junmu (君谟), and the number Duan (端). Cai Xiang grew up smart and clever, twenty years old in the year in the earth, and later awarded the Duanming Hall University Professor, very much valued by the emperor. When he was in the capital, he was obsessed with the construction of the Luoyang Bridge. But at that time, the court has regulations: not allowed civil and military officials to return to their original home as officials.
One day, Cai Xiang to accompany the emperor to tour the Imperial Garden, beforehand, he secretly called a eunuch, in advance, on the roadside banana leaves, with a brush dipped in honey wrote eight big words, ants smell the sweet smell, are surrounded by stinging honey, lined up in the word array. The emperor passed by and read the words on the banana leaf: "Cai Duan Cai Duan, this house as an official." Cai Xiang hurriedly knelt down and thanked him. The imperial band laughed and said, "I just read the words on the leaf, not seriously!" Cai Xiang kept kneeling without getting up, saying, "The king has no jokes, how can he break faith with his minister?" Then, he told the emperor about his mother's wish to build a bridge. The emperor was also touched and sent him to Quanzhou Prefecture to be the governor. Later, Cai Xiang built a bridge over the Luoyang River, which is famous in China and abroad as the Luoyang Bridge.