西螺大橋

August 12th, 2017

Xiluo Bridge (西螺大橋) spans the mighty Zhuóshuǐ River (濁水溪), the unofficial boundary between north and south Taiwan, connecting the counties of Changhua and Yunlin. Construction began in 1937 under Japanese colonial rule but came to a halt after the attack on Pearl Harbor as the allotted steel was needed for the war effort.

In 1952 the bridge was completed under the incoming Chinese Nationalist government with American steel and financial aid. At 1,939 meters in length it was one of the longest bridges in the world when it was finished—second only to the Golden Gate Bridge at that time—and became such a source of national pride that it appeared on Taiwanese bank notes (第一套橫式新臺幣) and stamps in the 1960s. Originally it was equipped with sugar railway tracks but these have been removed and nowadays only light road traffic is permitted to cross the bridge.

Xiluo Bridge, the gateway to Yunlin County. Notice the plaques on the inside of the struts on either side? The left bears an imprint of the American steel manufacturer; the right is a plaque signifying Sino-American cooperation.

At nearly two kilometers in length this was one of the longest bridges in the world when it was built. The seal at top left is that of Chen Cheng (陳誠), former Premier of the Republic of China.

Crossing the mighty Zhoushui River beneath the distinctive red trusses of the Xiluo Bridge.

Looking north along the length of Xiluo Bridge from Yunlin County. On the left you can see the outline of the Xizhou Recycling Plant (溪州資源回收場) in Changhua.

I became interested in Xiluo Bridge after seeing in pictures and reading a little about its history online. I made my first crossing at night while riding a bicycle from Tainan to Changhua. Not long thereafter I returned to Xiluo and crossed by day. It is a beautiful and refreshing ride across the broad alluvial plains and it isn’t so highly trafficked that you cannot stop along the way and admire the scenery framed by the distinctive red steel structure of the Warren trusses.

Red and blue converge across the broad floodplains.

Reflections of the Changhua terminus of the Xiluo Bridge.

A plaque for the Sino-American Cooperation Organization (中美合作) near the south end of the bridge. SACO had already dissolved by this point and the Chinese contributed almost nothing to the construction of the bridge; the pylons are Japanese and the steel is American.

By night the southern terminus of the Xiluo Bridge comes alive with the sound of music and the sight of dozens of locals enjoying a night on the riverbank. There are tables, chairs, and other places to sit, several mobile cafés selling drinks and snack, and a stage setup for bands and karaoke. I can’t say whether this is a regular occurrence or not but I saw crowds along the riverbank on more than one occasion so I would imagine it’s fairly commonplace. Xiluo retains a distinctly vintage vibe and these gatherings feel like a throwback to simpler times in the town of swords and vegetables. And, as luck would have it, this beautiful old bridge was declared a historic site in the 2000s, so there are no plans to tear it down. Something of the past will live on.

Map

Heritage Status

Historic Building (歷史建築)

Themes

KMT Authoritarian Era Taiwan (國民政府時期)
Railways in Taiwan (臺灣鐵路建設)
Sugar Industry in Taiwan (台灣糖業)
Road Transportation in Taiwan (臺灣道路建設)
US-ROC Alliance Period (中美共同時期)

Series: Taiwan Summer Road Trip 2017

In the summer of 2017 I borrowed a scooter to ride to a music festival in Nantou and only returned it several months later. It wasn’t a continuous road trip—I’d leave the scooter parked at various HSR stations as I slowly made my way around central and southern Taiwan—but each leg of the trip usually involved 3 or 4 days of riding. In the end I gathered enough material for 60 or 70 posts, only some of which have been published.