At the Baiceng Ferry crossing, the stone steps lead directly into the Beipan River. The further one descends, the closer the steep cliffs on both banks seem. Looking up, layers of mountain peaks press down, squeezing the sky into a narrow slit; looking down, the river water crashes against the reefs, with the dull echoes reverberating through the gorge. Reaching the riverbank, Yang Xiulun, a retired cadre from the Zhenfeng County Publicity Department, stops and points towards the Panzhihua Pass on the opposite shore. "The first battalion of the Red Eleventh Regiment first occupied that area," he said. "The Baiceng floating bridge was set up right below here."
While Li Bai lamented that "the road to Shu is harder than to climb to the sky," standing by the Beipan River, the claim that "the roads in Guizhou are even harder than those in Shu" is not an exaggeration. Ninety-one years ago, the Central Red Army hastily erected three floating bridges within Zhenfeng territory to cross this natural barrier. Ninety-one years later, across the same Beipan River, the Huajiang Gorge Bridge now spans the two banks, reducing a roughly two-hour detour to approximately two minutes. The year 2026 marks the 90th anniversary of the victory of the Long March. Following the westward path of the Central Red Army out of Guizhou, this journey traces two crossings over the same river, from the Baiceng Ferry to the Huajiang Gorge.
The Urgency: Three Floating Bridges Raced Against Time
In April 1935, after the Central Red Army's four crossings of the Chishui River, its southern crossing of the Wujiang River, and its feint attack on Guiyang, it decided to swiftly advance westward into Yunnan to force a crossing of the Jinsha River. At that time, enemy forces had heavily blocked the line from Zhenning to Guanling. The Beipan River Gorge, towering and deep with rushing currents, lay before the Red Army, with limited usable crossing points. "Back then, they weren't racing for just a bridge; they were racing for time," Yang Xiulun explained.
On April 16, 1935, the Red Eleventh Regiment first arrived at the Bacao Ferry. With help from local villagers, the vanguard crossed the Beipan River and quickly constructed a floating bridge from Bacao to Pomen. The first battalion then rapidly advanced along the river towards Baiceng. According to Yang Xiulun, the local Bao Shang Battalion militia was garrisoned at the Baiceng Ferry. After contact with the Red Army, the battalion's deputy commander Huang Douzhang agreed to relinquish the crossing, only requesting a "pretend fight" to account to his superiors. Following brief gunfire in the dead of night, the Red Army secured the ferry and completed the construction of the Baiceng floating bridge on the 17th.
With pursuing troops behind and raging currents beneath, the Red Army controlled the high ground on both banks to maintain vigilance while requisitioning wooden boats, bamboo, timber, and ropes to build temporary passageways with local assistance. Subsequently, the floating bridge from Zheping to Nongyang was also erected. In a short span, three floating bridges—Bacao to Pomen, Baiceng, and Zheping to Nongyang—spanned the Beipan River. This allowed the main force of the Central Red Army to cross the river quickly and continue advancing towards Yunnan, securing strategic initiative for the subsequent crossing of the Jinsha River and breaking free from enemy encirclement.
Today, no trace of the floating bridges remains on the river surface. The stone steps of the ancient post road still lead to the ferry, some slabs worn smooth by countless travelers. At the Zhenfeng Red Army Long March Exhibition Hall, guide Xie Tiantian often faces questions from visitors: "Did the Red Army really cross the Beipan River from here?" "Yes, it was this very river," Xie Tiantian confirms. "Today, we can cross it in minutes, but back then, under enemy pursuit, the Red Army had to maintain vigilance, build bridges, and organize the continuous crossing of large forces." She points to the march route map in the exhibition hall, explaining the three ferry crossings—Bacao, Baiceng, and Zheping—to visitors. Some, after hearing the story, make a special trip to Baiceng to walk the ancient post road down to the riverbank.
Liang Zhengguo, a retired cadre from the Zhenfeng County Party History Research Office who has long studied the history of the Red Army's Long March, explains that the forced crossing of the Beipan River was a crucial action within the Four Crossings of the Chishui River campaign. Failure to cross the river within the scheduled time would have severely impacted subsequent marching plans. The three floating bridges existed only briefly, yet they bought the Red Army precious time to press forward.
The Challenge: Erecting a Rainbow at 625 Meters
Leaving the Baiceng Ferry and driving along the Beipan River, the road winds continuously along the mountainside. On one side are jagged rock faces, on the other, a deep, serene gorge. Rounding a mountain ridge, the Huajiang Gorge Bridge suddenly emerges from the mountain range. The steel truss girder spans the gorge, with two bridge towers standing on either bank of the Beipan River. Looking down from the bridge, the river appears as a thin, turquoise ribbon.
The Huajiang Gorge Bridge is a critical project of the Liuzhi to Anlong Expressway. It stretches 2,890 meters in total length, with a main span of 1,420 meters and a deck height of 625 meters above the water. Its main span ranks first in the world for mountain bridges, and its height is also a world record, earning it the title of a world leader in both dimensions.
To erect such a bridge atop an "earth fissure," the first hurdle was the gorge's powerful winds. The Huajiang Gorge features fragmented terrain, massive elevation differences between banks, and variable wind patterns, with instantaneous gusts reaching up to Force 14. The steel truss girder required installation over 600 meters high, where minute changes in temperature, humidity, and wind speed could affect construction precision.
The bridge's steel truss girder consists of 93 segments, with a total weight of approximately 21,000 tons. The construction team employed an intelligent cable-hoisting system to lift the segments from the gorge's edge, transport them to predetermined positions, and complete millimeter-level alignments high in the air. To understand the wind patterns, the team repeatedly conducted wind tunnel tests and introduced Doppler laser radar wind measurement systems to continuously collect wind field data. The hoisting of all 93 steel truss segments was completed in 73 days. "Building this bridge was itself an extreme challenge," said Li Can, Deputy General Manager of Guizhou Communications Investment Huajiang Bridge Tourism Development Co., Ltd.
Construction on the bridge began in 2022. Over the next three-plus years, the bridge towers rose on both sides, and the steel truss girder extended segment by segment from each bank towards the center of the gorge. The bridge achieved closure in January 2025 and was officially opened to traffic on September 28 of the same year. The moment the final steel truss segment was connected, a critical link in the Liuzhi to Anlong Expressway was secured.
The Speed: Two Hours Shrinks to Two Minutes
For residents on both sides of the gorge, 625 meters and 1,420 meters are awe-inspiring engineering figures; two hours and two minutes, however, are scales of change felt in daily life. Before the bridge opened, vehicles from Zhenfeng and Guanling, facing each other across the river, had to navigate mountain roads for about two hours. Now, driving across the Huajiang Gorge Bridge allows one to cross the Beipan River in roughly two minutes. This saved time is woven into the fabric of daily life: accessing medical care, students commuting to school, bus routes, and agricultural product transportation.
"The bridge first changed transportation efficiency," Li Can said. Rural passenger transport and logistics, once constrained by winding mountain roads, can now more quickly access the expressway network. Reduced transport time for fresh agricultural products means less spoilage, with some goods now reaching cities like Guiyang and Kunming on the same day.
The opening of the Huajiang Gorge Bridge also marked the full completion of the Liuan Expressway. This north-south corridor connects Liupanshui, Anshun, and Southwest Guizhou, linking with major expressways like Shanghai-Kunming and Shantou-Kunming. Residents along the route now enjoy more convenient travel and transport channels.
In Guizhou, high bridges are becoming key nodes connecting the road network. By the end of 2025, Guizhou's expressway mileage had exceeded 9,500 kilometers, with over 32,000 bridges built or under construction. Roads and bridges crisscrossing the mountainous terrain link counties, towns, and villages once separated by landscape. Southwest Guizhou Prefecture has cumulatively built nine expressways, with a total length of 745 kilometers, achieving expressway access for every county. In the past, people had to find paths following the mountain contours; now, expressways tunnel through mountains and span gorges, accelerating the transformation of the region's strategic location as a "hub of three provinces" into a tangible transportation advantage.
As roads extend beyond the mountains, they also expand the market radius for rural industries. Agricultural products travel from county and township roads onto the expressway network; tourists reach villages directly via expressways. Production and living spaces once fragmented by mountains and rivers are being reconnected. On the Beipan River, the shift from two hours to two minutes records a bridge's efficiency and reflects the broader transformation of Guizhou's transportation landscape.
The Connectivity: Mountain Goods Go Out, Opportunities Come In
Below the Huajiang Gorge Bridge lies Xiaohuajiang Village, built along the mountainside. Stone houses with grey-tiled roofs are scattered along the Beipan River, about one kilometer in a straight line from the bridge. In the past, isolated by poor transportation, villagers relied mainly on farming, animal husbandry, and migrant work for income, with most young people crossing mountains to seek jobs elsewhere.
"After the bridge opened, many migrant workers started returning home to start businesses," said Pan Zhongxiang, a cadre stationed in Xiaohuajiang Village by the Zhenfeng County Party School. "People have opened homestays, started restaurants, and other sectors like cultural and creative industries are thriving, solving the problem of starting businesses while also increasing incomes."
Liang Decai is one of these returning young entrepreneurs. In the afternoon, he inspects new rooms being added to his homestay. The wooden doors are freshly installed, and construction materials are still piled inside. From the window, the Huajiang Gorge Bridge spans the banks, with vehicles occasionally passing by. After university, Liang Decai worked in Zhejiang, earning three to four thousand yuan per month. He later returned to Xiaohuajiang Village, where his family raised over a hundred goats. During those years, as the bridge was being built, while herding sheep or working, he would watch the bridge towers gradually rise and the steel truss extend towards the gorge's center. "Back then, I thought, with the world's highest bridge being built here, there would surely be opportunities for the village," Liang Decai recalled.
Continuing to raise goats offered limited and laborious income; opening a restaurant worried him about handling it alone; starting a homestay required a significant investment. After some hesitation, Liang Decai decided to try. For the first phase, he invested about 350,000 yuan to convert his family home into six guest rooms. After the bridge opened, tourist traffic to the village gradually increased, with rooms often fully booked on weekends and holidays. Seeing stable visitor flow, he invested an additional 200,000-plus yuan to expand, bringing the total homestay investment to over 500,000 yuan, with rooms increasing to over ten. "Before in Zhejiang, it was 3,000-something yuan a month; now on average, it can be over 10,000 yuan a month," Liang Decai calculated. More importantly, he no longer has to live far from home.
As visitor flow brought by the bridge spreads to surrounding areas, businesses like homestays,餐饮, and ethnic cultural experiences are developing. Li Can noted that the nearby Yundu Service Area directly provides nearly 400 jobs, with over 70% filled by local residents. While the bridge brings people and goods to the village doorstep, transforming this access advantage into stable industries remains a new challenge for Xiaohuajiang Village to address.
Dozens of kilometers away, the stone steps of the Baiceng Ferry still lead to the Beipan River. The three floating bridges vanished long ago, yet the story of the Red Army's urgent crossing continues to be told through generations. Ninety-one years ago, floating bridges bore the Red Army forward. Ninety-one years later, a high bridge delivers the road to the doorsteps of mountain villagers. Liang Decai pushes open the newly installed wooden door. Outside the window, traffic flows steadily across the bridge. "Opportunities used to be outside; now opportunities come into the village along the bridge," he said, turning back to continue tidying the room.
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