This is a paradise embraced by rolling mountains and dotted with blue lakes and sea of clouds. The four seasons paint the place with different colors, but there is one thing that always keeps the same. That is the tranquility. This is Taishun of Wenzhou, known as the hometown of covered bridges and the most beautiful nostalgia destination in China.
Once appearing vividly in the painting "River Scene in Qingming Festival" but then disappearing from the architectural world for more than 900 years, the "Rainbow Bridge" now is still hidden in the pure land of Taishun, bringing enormous fame to the timber arch covered bridges in Taishun, which are thus known as China's treasures.
The timber arch covered bridge is also known as the rainbow bridge or the covered bridge with a rainbow arch because it resembles a rainbow. This ancient and unique bridge style reproduces the structure of the "Rainbow Bridge" over Bianshui River in Zhang Zeduan's painting "River Scene in Qingming Festival" of Song Dynasty.
The technique to build timber arch bridges belongs to the category of traditional techniques. It was listed on the national intangible cultural heritage protection list in 2008 and on the representative list of UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding in 2009.
Covered bridges are scattered across Taishun, which is hailed as the "Hometown of Chinese Covered Bridges" and the "Museum of Chinese Bridges." There are 32 such bridges in the county, featuring varieties of structures such as the timber arch covered bridge with stacked beams and the timber arch covered bridge with a "八" shaped beam, etc.
The ancient covered bridges in Taishun, represented by 17 of them, including Santiao Bridge, Wenxing Bridge and Yongqing Bridge, have attracted a lot of attention both at home and abroad. Among them, 6 timber arch covered bridges have played an important role in the history of bridges in the world. They are Xidong Bridge and Beijian Bridge in Sixi Town, Xuezhai Bridge in Sankui Town, Xianju Bridge in Luoyang Town, Wenxing Bridge in Xiaocun Town and Santiao Bridge in Zhouling Town.
In Taishun, the timber arch covered bridge is a spiritual place for local people.