BEIJING has many beautiful bridges. Some are quite famous. But ask a foreigner to name one, and you might hear “Marco Polo Bridge”.
Did you know that this is the Lugouqiao（卢沟桥）? This bridge, southwest of Beijing, was built around 1190 in the Jin Dynasty(金代). Westerners call it that because Marco Polo (1254-1324) described this bridge in his Travels. It would have been around 100 years old when he was alive.
A beautiful bridge north of the city is the Chaozongqiao（朝宗桥）, which spans（跨越）the Shahe River（沙河）. It can be seen from the Badaling Expressway（八达岭高速） on the way back from the Great Wall at Badaling, or the Ming Tombs（明十三陵）. I guess it was named Chaozongqiao by Ming emperors who had to cross it on their way to worship（朝拜、祭祀）their ancestors.
East of the city is Baliqiao (八里桥). A famous battle（战斗） took place here in 1860, when the Anglo-French imperialist forces（英法帝国主义军队）defeated（打败） the Qing army during the second Opium War（第二次鸦片战争）, and advanced into Beijing and burnt down the Old Summer Palace（圆明园）. The French were so proud that they honored their general with the title of Duke（公爵）of Baliqiao!
All these are bridges 10-20 km outside the city. But inside there are also some interesting bridges.
An old Beijing resident once told me that somewhere on the Houmenqiao (后门桥)（nearby Di’anmen) may be found the oldest instance of the characters for “Beijing” in reference to （关于） this city. I heard this perhaps 20 years ago, but I was unable to investigate（调查）because various（各种各样的）structures had been built around and over it.
Recently these were cleared away, and I was able to make a careful search, but I did not find it. Why should anyone carve it there? If it were, it should have been done early in the 15th century, after Zhu Di（明成祖朱棣）, the Yongle Emperor（永乐大帝）, moved the capital from Nanjing to Beiping, and named it “Beijing” for the first time.
A little way west of Houmenqiao is another famous bridge-the Yindingqiao (银锭桥) , or the Silver Ingot Bridge, so named because of its shape. (This only makes sense if you know the shape of silver ingots in old China!)
A young friend of mine, Su Zhe, told me that the Yindingqiao was moved to its present location from somewhere else! And that another famous bridge, Hufangqiao（虎坊桥）lies completely covered over! I hope it lies there well preserved for future generations!
