The Zhaozhou bridge spans the Xiao River and is a stone bridge with only one great arch. Its particular feature is the "open shoulder": on each shoulder of the great arch are two small arches rather than solid stone, so that in a flood the water can pass through them.
From 595 to 605 (Kaihuang 15 to Daye 1 of the Sui), the craftsman Li Chun directed the building of this open-spandrel single-arch stone bridge.
The great arch was built in parallel courses: arch rings were laid along the line of the bridge, and these rings were set side by side.
In the Tang, Zhang Jiazhen composed the Stone Bridge Inscription, which recorded the name of Li Chun and the ingenious structure of the four small arches on the bridge.
Zhaozhou Arch Bridge is the class in the chapter on Architecture on one stone bridge. It covers the open-spandrel single-arch stone bridge over the Xiao River at Zhaozhou that the craftsman Li Chun directed in the Sui: small arches in the spandrels let floodwater pass, and the arch rings were laid in parallel courses; Zhang Jiazhen's Tang Stone Bridge Inscription recorded Li Chun's name and the structure of the four small arches on the bridge.
