Grand Canal near Suzhou 1996. [Photo by Bruce Connolly/chinadaily.com.cn]
I became a regular at a cafe near my hotel. When the owner learned of my passion for the waterways, she inquired if I had been to the Baodai Bridge? Although located beyond the old walled city, it should have been reasonably simple to find, but new residential areas were rising alongside rice fields and former rural villages. Suzhou was expanding, I wandered around disoriented! Spotted by an agricultural scientist, he invited me for lunch with his colleagues. A route was then described to an intersection between the wide Grand Canal and Dantai Lake where the bridge connected to an island.
At 317 meters long with 53 arches, Baodai Bridge dates back to 816 during the mid-Tang Dynasty (618-907). The name, which means "precious belt" in Chinese, apparently came from a local prefect Wang Zhongshu who sold his precious belt to finance the construction. The current structure supposedly resembling "a jade belt floating in water" was erected in 1446 during the Ming Dynasty. Again, it was an excellent vantage point to observe the river along with modern industry spreading along the banks. In historic times it was a place of serenity with distant mountains, fertile fields and water seemingly everywhere.
