跨越过去与现在

中国日报 王茹

当文物保护者2003年在几十年前（民国年间）建造的一座石拱廊桥上发现董直机的名字，并见到他本人时，他已经78岁了。建桥似乎成为了一个遥远的记忆。但是人们感到非常宽慰，因为他们终于在浙江省温州市泰顺县发现了仍然掌握建造木拱桥技能的人。

这样的桥曾经在现在的浙江南部和福建北部的山区很流行，但自20世纪60年代以来，它们逐渐被混凝土所取代，导致建设这种桥的手艺变得无用，工匠们只能转而从事其他职业。大约在2000年左右，当人们再次关注这样的桥时，能够建造它们的人似乎已经消失了。

这就是为什么董直机的出现让人们感到欣慰。尽管他上一次建桥已经是差不多60年前的事情，但这位老人仍然记得这些技术。2004年，他利用传统手艺建造了同乐桥，这是几十年后他第一次获得展示自己才华的机会，并在此过程中培养了几位学徒，其中名气最大建桥最多的当属“斧头王”曾家快。

温州市廊桥文化学会会长钟晓波是董直机建造同乐桥时施以援手的人之一。回忆起这个故事，已经致力于保护木拱廊桥超过二十年的钟晓波说，那是木拱廊桥制作技艺复兴的开始，当时这门手艺正处于失传的危险之中。

在去年12月15日，中国木拱桥建造的传统设计和实践，由急需保护的非物质文化遗产名录被转入联合国教科文组织认可的人类非物质文化遗产代表作名录，标志着多年来保护工作取得的显著成效。

听到这个消息，钟晓波兴奋不已。“这是对我们长期保护这些桥梁和传承技艺的回报。这是一段漫长而艰辛的旅程。工匠人数从零到一，从一到多。最终我们看到了黎明的第一缕曙光，”钟晓波说道。

保护努力

1977年出生于泰顺的钟晓波一开始并没有觉得这样的桥特别，因为它们是他青少年时期每天生活的一部分。

然而，当他于2000年在四川省成都西南民族大学攻读中文学士学位时，他的同学告诉他木拱桥的价值，让他突然意识到他曾经认为理所当然的东西实际上是珍贵的文化遗产，而这些桥梁濒临灭绝，因为木结构很容易受到火灾、洪水和昆虫的侵害，而制造它们的手艺逐渐失传。

震惊于现状，从那时起，他就对保护这些桥梁产生了浓厚的兴趣和责任感。在过去的几十年里，钟晓波投入了大量时间，汇集全国各地的民间力量，以保护和推广这些桥梁文化。

据他介绍，作为中国廊桥的一种，木拱廊桥大多分布于浙江南部和福建北部山区的七个县，数量不多。这些桥结构复杂而精致，使用相互嵌入的短木材制成长桥拱，没有使用任何钉子或铆钉。这种结构通常可以有效地分散重量负荷，十分稳定，常常无需桥墩的帮助。在旧时，建造这样的桥梁的手艺是通过家族内父子传承或师徒传授的。

桥梁的建造往往涉及许多民间活动，如选择主梁以及抬梁、架梁等，都要向土地神和河神祭祀。每一个步骤都充满了人们对大地的敬畏和对平安吉祥幸福的祝福和期望，以及他们对美好生活的愿望。

除了发挥交通功能外，桥梁还充当社交中心和精神信仰空间，人们在这里聚集交谈、享受休闲活动，并向神灵祈福。对于那些远离家乡的人来说，它们也是怀旧的象征。

2000年，钟晓波成立了一个以廊桥为主题的网站，更新有关信息并吸引了廊桥爱好者的关注。他还在2002年策划了这些桥梁的照片展览，在浙江和上海的几所大学展出，以推广廊桥文化。

2003年，钟晓波得知始建于唐代的泰顺三条桥上游有人计划修建一座水电站，这将切断桥下流动的溪流。担心缺水会使桥无用并逐渐被遗忘，他在网站上发布了主题为“三条桥保卫战”相关信息，并呼吁保护这座桥。

最终，通过公众的关注和努力，水电站建设者做出了让步，使桥梁可以继续跨越河流，继续履行其自古以来的使命。

“几十年过去了，这些场景仍然清晰地留存在我的心中。这一事件为我们带来了宝贵的经验和对抗水利发展负面影响的信心，培养了民间保护木拱廊桥的积极氛围，”钟晓波说道。

传承者的培育

在接下来的几年里，他先后联合发起成立了泰顺县廊桥文化协会和温州市廊桥文化学会，并参与组织了许多有关桥梁研究的研讨会。他还每年接待国内外学者来参观考察这些桥梁的情况。从最初隐藏在深山中到被全世界所知，这些桥梁的逐渐走向世界，见证了钟晓波在这一过程中的辛勤努力。

“二十多年如一日，钟老师几乎将全部业余时间投入廊桥的保护工作。……钟老师的讲解，让我们深刻认识到廊桥不仅是交通的纽带，更是文化的载体，历史的见证，举世无双的瑰宝，廊桥保护和文化传承的责任属于我们每一个人，”浙江财经大学的学生王疆慧说道，她参加了去年由钟晓波指导的社会实践活动。

通过持续的宣传，钟晓波发现人们对保护桥梁的意识显著提高。“过去，桥梁处于无保护状态，常常不得不为发展让路。但现在我们有志愿者团队和专业设备来监督可能破坏它们的风险，并及时采取措施消除它们，”钟晓波说道。

他还目睹了越来越多的桥梁建造技术传承人的增加，这确保了木拱桥在现代生活中的持续存在。

自从发现了仍然掌握着被遗忘技能的董直机和其他几位老工匠以来，地方政府已采取措施，如为用传统技艺建造的桥梁提供补贴，以鼓励这种手艺的应用和传播。

“现在在浙江南部和福建北部的部分地区，新建的木拱桥数量已经超过了旧桥的数量，显示出发展的积极趋势。考虑到仅仅二十年前它们还面临灭绝的情况，我们可以自信地说，情况现在已经迎来了有利的逆转，”钟晓波说道。

根据联合国教科文组织的官方文件，在2009年这些手艺被列入急需保护的非物质文化遗产时，只有四位掌握核心技术的人，全部年龄超过75岁。现在有40多位代表性传承人，平均年龄为56岁，显示出年轻化的趋势。

钟晓波眼中，这些努力的显著成效之一是2016年在超强台风“莫兰蒂”几乎冲走了泰顺的三座国保级古桥之后，这些桥得以修复。

在不到一年的时间里，基于在河流中找回被冲走的桥梁木构件的90%，这三座桥被传承人们用传统手工艺修复，其中许多人是董直机的徒弟。

“这样短时间内就完成了修复工作，显示出这些年在保护和传承传统手工艺方面的努力，”钟晓波说道。

钟晓波和他的同行还将这些桥带上了国际舞台。早在2013年，钟晓波就参加了一个在美国以廊桥保护为主题的研讨会，并与美国同行交流桥梁保护经验。

“尽管类型不同，美国也拥有大量的廊桥，他们保护这些桥的经验对我们也具有启发意义，”钟晓波说道。

钟晓波和他的同事们发起“廊桥出海行动”，努力在海外国家建造这种传统中国桥梁，并将桥的模型作为礼物送给他们，介绍其特殊设计和工艺中蕴含的智慧。

“对于像我这样在桥边长大的人来说，木拱桥具有特殊的意义。谁不为家乡的美感到自豪呢？为家乡的宝藏做点事情对我来说真的很有意义，充满乐趣，”钟晓波说道。

Bridging past and present

Once endangered across the country, region increases the number of newly built wooden arch structures, outstripping the old, Wang Ru reports.

By Wang Ru | China Daily

Updated: 06:08 am (GMT+8) Feb 21, 2025

When heritage activists met Dong Zhiji in 2003, whose name they'd found on a bridge built decades earlier, he was 78 years old. By then, building bridges was a distant memory, something he'd done in a previous life. But the conservators were relieved, as they'd finally found someone who still had the skills to build the endangered structures.

Wooden arch bridges were once widespread in the mountains of what is now southern Zhejiang and northern Fujian provinces, but since the 1960s, they have gradually been replaced by concrete and steel, leading the craftspeople who made them to turn to other professions. By the turn of the millennium, when they regained their cachet, those able to build the bridges seemed to have vanished.

That's why finding Dong was an amazing feat. Although he last built a bridge about 60 years ago, he still remembered the techniques, and in 2004, he had the chance to practice those skills on the Tongle Bridge, and train several apprentices in the process.

Zhong Xiaobo, director of the Wenzhou Covered Bridge Culture Society, helped build the Tongle Bridge. He has devoted over two decades to protecting wooden arch bridges, and says Dong's knowledge on wooden arch bridges has made the revival of the then-endangered craft possible.

On Dec 15, the traditional design and practices for building Chinese wooden arch bridges, listed in 2009 as an Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding, was transferred to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, marking its remarkable revival.

Zhong was overwhelmed by the news. "This is a reward for our efforts in protecting the bridges and passing on skills. It was a long, arduous journey, from no craftsman to one, from one to many. Finally we see the first rays of dawn."

Protective efforts

Born in Taishun county in Wenzhou, Zhejiang, in 1977, Zhong never thought of wooden arch bridges as special — they were something he saw every day as an adolescent.

It was only as he pursued a bachelor's degree in Chinese language at Chengdu's Southwest Minzu University in Sichuan province in 2000 that he discovered their value. He was shocked to find that something he'd taken for granted was actually precious heritage, prey to fire, flood and insects, and that the skills to make them were in danger of becoming lost.

Since then, he has devoted his time to encouraging efforts to protect them.

Zhong says that there are few wooden arch bridges in China, and most are found in the seven mountainous counties in southern Zhejiang and northern Fujian. They use short, interlocking logs to create long arches without nails or rivets, a design that efficiently spreads the load, often without the help of pillars. Originally, the skills to make them would be passed down within families, or through apprenticeship.

Besides carrying traffic, they were social hubs where people gathered to chat, relax, or make religious offerings.

In 2000, Zhong launched a website about the bridges, drawing the attention of fans. A few years later, he held photo exhibitions in universities in Zhejiang and Shanghai to promote them further.

In 2003, he heard of plans for a hydroelectric power station upstream of the Santiao Bridge, which would cut the flow under the Tang Dynasty (618-907) bridge. Worried that the lack of water would render the bridge useless, causing it to fall into obscurity, he issued a call to action on his website.

With public efforts, the power station builders made a concession on the flow to allow the bridge to continue to fulfill its ancient duty.

"Decades later, this is still vivid in my heart. Saving the bridge gave us experience and confidence, and raised awareness of the need to preserve them," he says.

Cultivation of inheritors

Soon after, he set up the Wenzhou Covered Bridge Culture Society and organized seminars. He also encouraged scholars to check on them every year. Thanks to his hard work, wooden arch bridges went from being nestled in deep mountains to becoming known to the world.

"Over the past two decades, Zhong has devoted a significant part of his spare time to protecting the bridges. … His stories reveal that these structures are not merely about transportation but are vessels of culture and testimonies of history. They are invaluable treasures; and the duty of preserving them and promoting their cultural significance should be embraced by every individual," says Wang Jianghui, a student at the Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics who participated in one of Zhong's activities last year.

As a result of the publicity, Zhong says awareness of protecting the bridges has improved greatly. "In the past, they were left without protection and often had to give way to development. But now we have teams of volunteers and devices to monitor threats and take measures to eradicate them."

He has also seen the growing number of bridge makers, who help ensure their continued existence.

Since Dong and a few other elderly craftspeople were found, the local government has adopted measures, like subsidies for constructing bridges using traditional skills, to encourage the use and spread of the craft.

"Now, the number of new wooden arch bridges in some parts of southern Zhejiang and northern Fujian exceeds the old, a positive trend in development. Given that just two decades ago they were endangered, we can confidently say that the situation has undergone a welcome transformation," Zhong says.

According to official documentation about the craft on the UNESCO website, when it was inscribed on the Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding list in 2009, there were only four people with mastery of the core techniques, all over 75. Now there are more than 40 representative inheritors, aged 56 on average.

For Zhong, the most remarkable testimony to such efforts was the restoration of three old bridges in Taishun, which are protected at the national level, after super typhoon Meranti almost washed them away in 2016.

In less than a year, 90 percent of their wooden components had been retrieved, and the three bridges had been restored by inheritors, many of whom were Dong's students.

"The restoration was accomplished in a short time, validating efforts in preserving and passing down the traditional craft," says Zhong.

He and his counterparts have also helped bring the bridges onto the global stage.

In 2013, he participated in a seminar about the protection of covered bridges in the United States, and exchanged experiences with his US counterparts.

"Although different in style, the US also boasts a large number of covered bridges and their experience in protecting them can be inspiring for us," he says.

Zhong and his colleagues have built traditional Chinese bridges abroad and have sent models as gifts, introducing their design and the knowledge embodied in their making.

"Wooden arch bridges have a special meaning for someone like me who has grown up by their side. Who doesn't take pride in the beauty of where they are from? It's really meaningful to do something for the treasures of my hometown," he says.

来源：中国日报 作者：王茹

原文刊登于中国日报 2025年2月21日 16版