Chengyang Winds and Rain Bridge & Yinshui Dong Village

 Chengyang Winds & Rain Bridge

A saying goes that 'Where there is a Dong village, there is a Wind & Rain Bridge'. The Wind and Rain Bridge is a unique minority architecture of Dong people. It is a covered wooden-structured bridge with a long corridor body, on which two or more pavilion structures are set. The bridge usually spans over a river like a rainbow and serves as a welcoming architecture in front of a Dong Village. Its name is derived from the fact that the covered corridor of the bridge can shelter people from rains and winds in bad weathers.

Chengyang Wind & Rain Bridge, also called Yongji Bridge is located 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) north of Sanjiang County in the Guilin City. It is reputed to be the best one among the wind and rain bridges in Dong villages.

Originally built in 1916, this bridge is 60 meters (197 feet) in length, 10 meters (32.8 feet) in height and more than three meters (9.8 feet) in width. It is supported by five stone piers in the river and the bridge floor is covered with wood boards. There are five exquisite multi-eaved pavilions set on the body of the bridge, which present the unique architectural style of Dong people. On the beam of one portal of the bridge hangs a plaque with the inscription of 'Chengyang Bridge'. It is said that the 60-meter-long (197 feet)  body of the bridge is built entirely by wood and none nails and rivets were used.

Getting there: Long distance buses leaving from Guilin every twenty minutes to Liuzhou, the municipal city in which Sanjiang Town is located. The bus trip takes about 3 hours. There are also two direct buses leaving from Nanjing daily to Liuzhou.


Tips: Performances are played by the Dong people in front of the Drum Tower of Ma'an, and it requires extra payment if you want to take some pictures. In addition, there are two new Drum Towers in Pinggu, both of which require a small entry fee.

 Yinshui Dong Village

Located 2 kilometers west of Longsheng town, the village is named after the waterfall that runs down from the mountaintop resembling a long silver chain from afar.

It is said that the village was founded during the Tang-Song dynasties and gained its fame due to the hard work of the later generations of the Dong people. In 1737 during the reign of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing dynasty, Wu Jinyin, the 82nd chief of Yinshui Dong Village, led the Dong people to rise in rebellion with the support of the Zhuang, Miao and Yao peoples against the Qing government. Shocked and fidgeted, Qing government hastily sent troops from the neighboring provinces to put down the rebellion. After the failure of this rebellion, the village moved to another place and the original village became abandoned.

In recent years, with the development of local tourism, Dong people were invited to return their home village with 101st village chief of the Wu clan.
In this village, you can see drum-tower and Wind and Rain Bridge, which is a unique complex acting as bridge, pavilion as well as corridor simultaneously.


Admission Fee: CNY 50