Ningde, June 6 (Wu Yunjie) On the occasion of China's 9th "Cultural and Natural Heritage Day" on June 6, Huang Chuncai, the national representative inheritor of the traditional construction skills of wooden arch bridges, said in an interview with reporters that he hoped to have more opportunities to build wooden arcade bridges in his lifetime.
Wooden arcade bridge is also known as "Hongqiao", do not nail piece iron, only rely on the rafters against the rafters, trusses embedded trusses, tight connection, stable structure, with "bridge on the river, corridor on the bridge, with the corridor bridge, bridge corridor integration" ancient unique bridge style, known as the "living fossil" in the history of bridges in the world. In October 2009, the "Traditional Construction Techniques of Chinese Wooden Arch Bridges" represented by Fujian and Zhejiang was inscribed on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in Need of Urgent Safeguarding by UNESCO.
The data picture shows craftsmen "building roof trusses" during the construction of the wooden arcade bridge. Photo by Gong Jian
At present, there are only about 110 wooden arcade bridges preserved in China, mainly located at the junction of Fujian and Zhejiang provinces. In the mountains of Pingnan County, Ningde City, Fujian Province, wooden arcade bridges span the banks of the stream, connecting the lush forest sea with the quaint village, becoming a unique and beautiful scenery of the local area.
Huang Chuncai, who is over eighty years old, was born in a bridge-building family in Pingnan County, and his grandfather was a famous bridge craftsman in the late Qing Dynasty. However, it was not until January 2003 that the State Administration of Cultural Heritage came to Pingnan to investigate the topic of wooden arch bridges in Ningde City, that Huang Chuncai, who was 1 years old at the time, returned to his old business and had the opportunity to build bridges.
The data picture shows the Zhuling Ancient Corridor Bridge in Zhoudun Village, Siqiao Township, Zhouning County. Photo by Li Hongyuan
"It was almost lost, but fortunately there was a box of drawings." Huang Chuncai said that the skill of covered bridges has always been passed down by word of mouth, and he learned to design drawings before saving the materials related to the construction of covered bridges with drawings, so that the inheritance can "manifest".
In order to further inherit the bridge-building skills, Huang Chuncai set up a bridge construction team of about 20 people to record the documentary "Chinese Craftsmanship" in Beijing and participate in the "Intangible Cultural Heritage" exhibition in Taiwan. This bridge-building family also established the Huang Family Wooden Arch Bridge Skills Transfer Institute, which trained more than 10 craftsmen.
"I don't want the skills left by my ancestors to disappear in this era, and I hope that they can be passed on forever." Huang Minhui, 39, has been engaged in the construction of wooden arcade bridges for 18 years under the leadership of his father Huang Chuncai. From "no bridge to build" to orderly inheritance, Huang Minhui, who participated in the construction and restoration of more than 10 wooden arcade bridges, sighed with emotion, looking at the "mountain rainbow" built and restored by himself, a sense of achievement was born.
The data picture shows the bridge builder installing the beam. Photo by Gong Jian
There are 52 wooden arcade bridges that have existed for decades or even hundreds of years in Ningde, which is the prefecture-level city with the largest number of preserved wooden arcade bridges in China. Ou Donghai, deputy director of the Ningde Museum, said that the protection and inheritance of the wooden arcade bridge and its culture has not damaged its historical remains, cultural landscape and ecological environment, and revitalized this ancient skill and culture.
In recent years, 20 new wooden arcade bridges have been built in Ningde City, and through practical apprenticeship and skills, the construction of talents of the old, middle-aged and young echelons has been continuously improved, and the number of representative inheritors has increased from 6 to 23; Strengthen the protection of cultural heritage of covered bridges by carrying out the "judicial + insurance + service" cultural relics protection model, equipping safety protection facilities, implementing preventive protection monitoring and digital protection of cultural relics, and carrying out legislation on the protection of wooden arcade bridges.
"Applying for heritage" is an important way to protect the heritage of the covered bridge and promote the culture of the covered bridge. In 2012, 22 wooden arcade bridges in Fujian and Zhejiang were included in the Tentative List of World Cultural Heritage of China. The seven counties of Fujian and Zhejiang Provinces have jointly formulated the "World Heritage Application" action plan, formulated the protection plan of Fujian and Zhejiang wooden arcade bridges, improved the fire safety system of covered bridges, established the "bridge chief system", and implemented the protection of "one bridge and one yard", etc., and continued to promote the joint "application" and protection of wooden arcade bridges.
Under the two-way promotion of the government and the people, the inheritance of wooden arcade bridges has been reversed. Xie Ping, deputy director of the Fujian Provincial Cultural Heritage Bureau, said that the "application for heritage" is a marathon, which requires members of the seven-county alliance to strengthen regional communication, build consensus, stimulate people's enthusiasm for "applying for heritage", promote the protection of cultural heritage, and let the covered bridge go out of the mountains, throughout the country and to the world. (End)