Xijin Bridge, Wooden bridge in Yongkang, China

Xijin Bridge is a wooden bridge spanning the Yongkang River, supported by twelve stone piers that connect thirteen wooden spans across the water. The piers measure about 5.6 meters long and 3.3 meters wide, while the wooden beams average about 13 meters in length.

A floating bridge and later a ferry called Xijin once crossed the Yongkang River here. In 1718 the monk Zhihe raised funds for a wooden bridge; stone piers were added under the Yongzheng emperor and the structure was completed under Qianlong. Floods destroyed it in 1800, and the 1807 rebuilding produced the stone-pier, timber-deck covered bridge that survives, repaired in 1856 and later.

The name Xijin means "West Ferry," recalling the Ming-era ferry crossing called Xijin Du that preceded the bridge. Inside the covered gallery, more than a dozen plaques and couplets hang above the walkway, including calligraphy by Mao Yisheng dated May 1989 and by Sha Menghai. A local tale claims Xijin beat its sister bridge Shuxi in Wuyi in a length contest by curving out of sight.

The bridge is straightforward to walk across with its flat wooden surface and accessible design. Visit during dry weather to avoid slippery conditions on the wooden deck.

The bridge bends: it runs straight toward the upstream side and curves slightly downstream, so from one end of the gallery you cannot see the other. Local lore says Yongkang builders deliberately made it winding to win a length contest with the sister bridge Shuxi in neighbouring Wuyi, though Shuxi Bridge actually dates from the Southern Song, earlier than Xijin.