This bridge is located in Jiaoli Village, on Lingzhi Road. The bridge was built in the 1950s to 1960s, about 57 years ago. Local people raised money together to build the bridge. Due to the location of swamps in the area and the lack of machines, all the materials for building were transported by boat. The bridge is entirely made of stones. Because of the political climate at the time, there were some slogans and phrases in admiration of Chairman Mao erected as well. The two villages next to the bridge were called Qunying and Jiaoli. According to my uncle, who used to live in this area, villagers used to love to sit on the bridge and chat after dinner. Today, most of the people who helped build the bridge have passed away. In 2017 the village was demolished. Now, the places where the village once located is now empty land; and the villagers are living in their other houses or renting places to live with the help of the government policy. The new buildings for those villagers to live are still unfinished.
Several decades ago, this bridge was the main path to the village; but now, it seems it may also be torn down, following the demolition of the village. When I was on the bridge, almost all the buildings nearby had already been turned to rubble. The only building left was a three-floor house, one half of which had been demolished. There is still one person living inside currently. There were bricks and pieces of the village rubble on the surface of the bridge as well. I could not find any information about this bridge in the area; the name “Qunying Bridge” was told to me by my uncle.
I visited the site of the Qunying Bridge in June, 2018. My father took me there, introducing this bridge to me. He could not tell so much information about this bridge, but he used to walk along this bridge since he lived nearby in his childhood. When we went to the site, the surrounding architectures are in the process of being demolished. We saw three workers there and got their permission to walk onto the bridge to have a look. There has been a new bridge, Siqun Bridge connecting the highway.
