'Fortune bridge' cross generations

Craftsmen protect aging structures by working hands-on while teaching younger people the skills needed to sustain them, Bai Shuhao reports in Hunan.

On a drizzly spring morning in Tongdao Dong autonomous county, tucked into the misty borderlands where Hunan province meets the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region and Guizhou province, villagers move in a quiet procession. With woven baskets strapped to their backs, they cross wooden covered bridges built by their ancestors and head uphill to pick the season's first tea leaves.

These structures are more than mere crossings over water. In the villages of the Dong ethnic group, they function as shelters, gathering places, and, in a sense, spiritual anchors. Locals call them "wind-and-rain bridges", for their ability to shield travelers from the elements. Some refer to them as "fortune bridges", believed to gather and bestow blessings.

China's recorded history of such bridges dates to the Han Dynasty (202 BC–AD 220), though the term "Chinese covered bridge" was only formally defined in the mid-20th century by architectural scholars. Today, there are 2,193 documented covered bridges, according to a conclusion of a recent three-year national covered bridge preservation initiative.

Tongdao alone accounts for 117, nine of which are designated nationally protected cultural relics. Each week, one man makes a circuit to check on them.