Bridges, the least known and understood of China's many wonders, are
one of its most striking and resilient feats of architectural prowess.
Chinese Bridges brings together a thorough look at the marvels of
Chinese bridge design from one of the world's leading experts on Chinese
culture and historical geography, Ronald G. Knapp. While many consider
bridges to be merely utilitarian civil engineering, the bridges of China
move beyond that stereotype, as many are undeniably dramatic, even
majestic and daring. Chinese Bridges illustrates in detail 20
well-preserved ancient bridges along with descriptions and essays on the
distinctive architectural elements shared by the various designs.
For the first time in an English-language book, Chinese Bridges
records scores of newly discovered bridges across China's vast
landscape, illustrated with over 400 color photographs, as well as
woodblock prints, historical images, paintings and line drawings.