Jin Shrines, Feiliang  晉祠飛梁

Building Information

The name "Flying Bridge" 飛梁 can be traced to the description of the site found in the entry on the Jin River 晉水 in Li Daoyuan's 酈道元 Shuijing zhu 水經注 （6th cen. CE) (Li 2007 rpt., 174). According to the early scholars of Chinese architecture Lin Huiyin (1904-1955) and Liang Sicheng (1901-1972), the present structure is consistent with the construction techniques of the Song dynasty, and should date to the same period as the Sage Mother Hall and Offering Hall. These buildings were later dated to 1038-1087 and 1168, respectively, suggesting the Offering Hall was designed to match the earlier Sage Mother Hall (Miller 2007). Liu Yongde states that restoration of the bridge and Square Fishpond underneath it (Yuzhao 魚沼) in 1953 revealed the cavity for the spring directly underneath the Sage Mother Hall. The structure was such to suggest that they were built at the same time (Liu Yongde 1958, 34). Details on this bridge and "flying bridges" more generally can be found in Miller 2007, 143-144.1