Stone piers
46 of them.
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China's first stone bridge across a sea inlet, at the mouth of the Luoyang River northeast of Quanzhou, begun in 1053 and completed in 1059 under the city's governor Cai Xiang; it counts among China's famous «four ancient bridges». The bridge runs about 1,200 m on 46 stone piers; its builders laid a raft-like foundation of stones on the inlet's bed and farmed oysters on it so the stones would bind together, an engineering solution centuries ahead of its time. A small island sits midway along it, small stone towers and carved tablets stand at its sides, and it's part of «Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yuan China», a World Heritage Site since 2021. Crossing is free and possible at any hour; low tide is the best time, when the inlet bed and the bridge's foundations show, or just before sunset.
46 of them.
Old engineering.
Shows the base.
Mouth of the Luoyang River, northeast Quanzhou
It was China's first stone bridge across a sea inlet, completed in 1059, its foundations bound by farming oysters on the stones; crossing is free.