Visit Yanshou Bridge at Yanshui Park

Yanshui Park is a comprehensive water park in Putian City, integrating the Qingxi River, Green Island, ancient bridges, danli, countryside, and villages. The park is divided into 8 themed functional areas: fishing boat landscape area, folk culture area, waterfront vitality landscape area, mountain culture area, leisure orchard area, ecological and educational area, leisure and recreation area, and lidao landscape area. Visitors to Yanshui Park love to take a boat ride on the Yanshui River that surrounds the entire park. I came to Yanshui Park mainly to see the Yanshou Bridge. The Yanshou Bridge was built in 1127 during the reign of Emperor Gaozong of the Southern Song Dynasty. It is located in a place called Yanshou Village, and it spans the Yanshui River, which flows into the sea. It is the most famous of the 34 stone bridges built by Li Fu, a hero of the Southern Song Dynasty, after he retired from office and returned to his hometown. There is a stone tablet at the southern end of the bridge, written by Chen Mi, a scholar of the Yipin Dragon and Tiger Pavilion, in 1229 during the reign of Emperor Lizong of the Southern Song Dynasty. The Yanshou Bridge is a 14-arch stone beam bridge. The bridge deck is paved with five large bluestones, and the stone railings at both ends of the bridge are carved with lions of different shapes. A huge ancient banyan tree at the northern end of the bridge shades the sky, making this 900-year-old stone bridge even more ancient.