The 42-meter-long wooden bridge, long dubbed "The Wind & Rain Bridge" by local residents, was found in the Jinsha Cultural Relic Site in the western suburbs of Chengdu, the provincial capital of Sichuan.

Measuring somewhere between approximately seven and 8.8 meters in width, the tile-roofed wooden bridge, while losing its original splendor, still provides very valuable clues for the architectural research of the ancient period.

"Roofed wooden bridges such as this had heretofore appeared only as images carved into bricks. This is the first time that we have found a real one," said the noted archeologist Tang Fei.

Tang cited the bridge as a typical structure of the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-24 AD), which could be a vital communication link to nearby Chengdu.

According to him, excavation work at the Jinsha Relic Site began in early 2001. Thus far, more than 1,200 articles have been unearthed, including gold pieces, and jade, stone and bronze wares and ivory pieces.

(Xinhua News Agency February 14, 2003)