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The Lions of the Lugou Bridge (1)
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The Lugou Bridge (Marco Polo Bridge), the place where the Sino-Japanese War
ignited, is a very resounding yet sacred word! Its not only in China where even 1
st
-grade
students know it, but even overseas, where no ones unfamiliar with the place. This bridge
left the deepest impression in my brain; I trust that I could use this impression in
introducing the Lugou Bridge to people who havent gone there yet but have already longed
for it.
The Lugou Bridge could be found 20 miles northwest of Pekings Guangan Gate. Not
only in China is this infrastructure considered great but its also a famous stone bridge
worldwide. The bridges length is 240 steps. Underneath it is 11 big holes, and the left and
right sides both have 142 stone-carved pillars. Above every pillar squats a big stone lion.
On some stone lions backs are 3 smaller lions. Some lions have smaller lions embraced.
Some have smaller ones reclined on them, and others even have smaller lions stepped on.
Every stone lions state, may it be in a supine (lying on back with the face upward), lying,
smiling, or angry state, are all different in one way or another, yet theyre all similarly
lifelike. At this point, you cant help but admire the exquisiteness, meticulousness and
greatness of Chinas ancient art! A lot of people say that the number of stone lions in the
Lugou Bridge is unclear, so Ive decided that I have to count them to authenticate the
number of stone lions. Therefore, Ive reached an agreement with Hai-Lan (my friend) that
each of us would count the lions on one side, and that we use our pencils to mark how
many big and small lions there are in our papers. Finally, we added the numbers weve
gotten and came up with 332 big and small lions. I was responsible for counting the left
side 142 big ones, 66 small ones. I asked Hai-Lan if weve counted inaccurately, and she
said, The visible small lions have all been counted, but Im not sure which ones are big and
which ones are small.
Then, what about the small lions lying on the back of the big lions? I asked.
Ah! No, no, I simply dont know that there were small ones lying on the back of the
big lions! she exclaimed while she anxiously stomped her feet. I also admit that I didnt
count correctly, because the stone-lions are old and theyve undergone a lot of peoples
stroking, the winds roaring, and the rain and snows devastation, so everythings fuzzy and
unclear. I also failed to count the small lions on the back of the bigger ones. How many
are actually there? Even I cant answer that.