Green Bridge 锁翠桥

Not all of the Black Dragon Pool is about the beautiful scenery that can be seen from this spot. Certainly, the view from the Black Dragon Pool can be one of the most enchanting in all of China, however, the current state of the pools don’t really support that, at least for the moment. The water levels of the Black Dragon Pool are astonishingly low and it is obvious that there has been distress about the state of the pool itself. The bed of the pool is cracked with what can only be seen in drought sticken areas. This was particularly worrisome for me since the Black Dragon Pool is one of the most visited sights in all of China. If the authorities really can’t do anything about the low water levels here in a major tourist site, then there is really something very wrong here.

Anyway, I need to continue on with my tour of the Black Dragon Pool. The first structure I encountered when I was going around the pool was the curiously named Green Bridge. First ot all I didn’t think it was that green, the Chinese name of 锁翠桥 doesn’t exactly translate into green either but this was the name the translation used. Anyway, the Green Bridge here is a wind and rain bridge, meaning that it is okay to use this bridge in the event of wind and rain, otherwise known as a covered bridge. The corridor style wind and rain bridge is one of the best preserved in Lijiang and it marks the entry of the pool’s waters into Lijiang Ancient Town. It is said that there are three small cascades below the bridge, though I doubt that was even possible given the current state of the pool.

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