Luding Bridge

Luding Bridge (Luding Qiao) is a 103-metre iron chain suspension bridge spanning the Dadu River in western Sichuan, famous above all as the site of the Battle of Luding Bridge during the Long March. On 29 May 1935, a unit of Communist Red Army soldiers crossed the bridge under heavy fire from Nationalist forces — crawling hand-over-hand along the bare iron chains after Nationalist troops had removed the wooden planks and attempted to destroy the bridge — in a crossing that became one of the defining heroic episodes of the Communist revolution and is commemorated throughout China. The bridge itself dates to 1706, built during the Kangxi reign of the Qing Dynasty to connect Sichuan with Tibet along the Tea Horse Road. Nine iron chains — each link hand-forged — support the 3-metre-wide wooden plank deck, which sways noticeably over the churning grey-green Dadu River far below. A museum beside the bridge documents the Long March battle in considerable detail.