Loomingly, the soul of steel remains awake.
Serious silence clangs.
Over the Hsilo Plain sea winds wildly shake
This design of strength, this scheme of beauty, they shake.
Every nerve of this tower of will,
Howling and yelling desperately.
Still the teeth of nails bite, the claws of iron rails clench,
A serious silence.
—from Hsilo Bridge by Yu Kwang-chung
For decades, the 1,939-meter span depicted in renowned poet Yu Kwang-chung’s (余光中) 1958 poem was Taiwan’s longest bridge, as well as one of the lengthiest in the world. Hsilo Bridge was completed in 1952 and for many years provided the only way for automobiles to cross the wide Zhuoshui River, which separates Yunlin and Changhua counties in central Taiwan.
As construction technologies have advanced, new bridges have emerged to claim the title of Taiwan’s longest, and additional spans have been built to connect the two sides of the Zhuoshui River. Although the 62-year-old Hsilo Bridge now plays a lesser role in the nation’s transportation network, it continues to connect places, people and memories.
Visually appealing bridges, both in Taiwan and overseas, range from those built with state-of-the-art engineering and materials to older stone structures spanning small countryside streams. To create a record of these feats of architecture, Yang Ming Cultural Foundation, which was founded in 2005 by Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp. to promote maritime culture and arts, held a bridge-themed international photo contest in February 2013. Between February and August that year, the foundation received nearly 4,000 shots of bridges in 40 countries.
The photos were divided and judged in two categories, with one for bridges in Taiwan and the other for those overseas. The images that received awards in the Yang Ming competition have been exhibited at several galleries in Taiwan as well as published in Enchanting Bridges, the foundation’s photo book. (The award-winning photos in this selection were chosen from the Taiwan category.) “These photos have shown that while bridges are built for transportation purposes, they become microcosms of art, culture and history,” Wang Jaw-shen (王烑炫), chairman of the Yang Ming Cultural Foundation, notes in the preface of the compilation. The spans in Enchanting Bridges, it seems, have the ability to conquer physical obstacles as well as the depths of the human heart.
Write to Jim Hwang at cyhuang03@mofa.gov.tw
Enchanting Bridges
Huang Hsiao-si
Bridges span Xindian Creek, which separates Taipei City and New Taipei City.
(Photo courtesy of Yang Ming Cultural Foundation)
Beautiful Harp Bridge
Yeh Shih-hsien
Harp Bridge in Xiangshan District, Hsinchu City
(Photo courtesy of Yang Ming Cultural Foundation)
Sunset at Nanfang-ao
Chu Ping-chia
Nanfang-ao Bridge in Su-ao Township, Yilan County
(Photo courtesy of Yang Ming Cultural Foundation)
Sunrise
Huang Heng-yu
Chashan Suspension Bridge in Manzhou Township, Pingtung County
(Photo courtesy of Yang Ming Cultural Foundation)
Sunset at Cable-stayed Bridge
Yang Wen-ping
Cable-stayed Bridge in Dashu District, Kaohsiung City
(Photo courtesy of Yang Ming Cultural Foundation)
Magpie Bridge
Hou Wen-tsai
Heart of Love River Bridge in Gushan District, Kaohsiung City
(Photo courtesy of Yang Ming Cultural Foundation)
Kanjin Bridge
Huang Hsiao-si
Kanjin Bridge in Daxi Township, Taoyuan County
(Photo courtesy of Yang Ming Cultural Foundation)
Hsilo Bridge
Chan Feng-chin
Hsilo Bridge in Hsilo Township, Yunlin County
(Photo courtesy of Yang Ming Cultural Foundation)