The Marco Polo Bridge - Lugou Qiao in Chinese - carries an old road across the Yongding River about fifteen kilometres south-west of central Beijing. It is a low stone bridge of eleven arches, roughly 260 metres long, built in the twelfth century and rebuilt and repaired repeatedly since. It is one of the oldest bridges in northern China still standing in something close to its original form, and its name in the West comes from the description of a great stone bridge at this crossing in accounts attributed to Marco Polo.
The lions
The bridge's distinction is its railings. Along both parapets stand rows of carved stone lions, and local saying holds that the lions cannot be counted, because each large lion carries smaller lions on its back, under its paws and beside its head, and the total depends on whether you count the small ones. The figures are replacements and repairs from several dynasties rather than a single commission, which is part of why they vary so much in style. Look for the pairs at the eastern end, and for the stone lions that face outwards over the water.
Wanping Fortress
Immediately at the eastern end of the bridge stands Wanping, a small walled town built in the seventeenth century as a garrison for the crossing. Its brick walls and two surviving gates are intact, and inside the walls the streets are quiet and residential. The fortress is closely associated with the events of July 1937, when fighting at the bridge opened the wider war in China, and a museum inside Wanping is devoted to that period. Visitors should approach the site as a place of national memory, and photography inside the museum follows the usual rules.
Practical notes
The bridge is reachable by metro to the western end of line 14 or line 16 and then a short taxi, or by car in around forty minutes outside rush hour. The river itself carries little water for much of the year, and the channel has been heavily engineered, so the visit is about the bridge and the town rather than the scenery. The two sit side by side and take about two hours together, including the museum. Temples, a small park and the old road surface at the bridge's east end round out the walk.
