Dong-An Bridge (東安古橋)

The current version of Guanxi Township's (關西鎮) Dong-An Bridge (東安古橋) is a beautiful stone arched bridge that dates back to 1933 (昭和8年) and has survived over eight decades thanks to the superb construction techniques and design brought to Taiwan from Japan.

The stone bridge that we see today replaced the original wooden version named "Cai-Feng Bridge" (彩鳳橋) which was constructed only a few years earlier. The original bridge had to be torn down after six years of use due to structural issues that were caused by Taiwan's humidity, the rainy season and frequent earthquakes and typhoons.

Upon completion, the new bridge served as an important connection between the downtown area of Guanxi Village with the Dong'An (東安) suburb across the river as well as the mountains nearby which made transporting fresh produce and timber into the business areas of the town much more convenient.

Guanxi Village, which was known as Kansai (關西街) during the Japanese Colonial-Era is most well known for its production of a medicinal herb of the mint family known as Chinese Mesona (仙草) which is quite popular in Asia. The herb, which is most commonly referred to as "Grass Jelly" in Taiwan helped to bring riches to the Guanxi area. With the help of modern production techniques, and of course the new bridge, the small village became known as the 'Grass Jelly Capital of Taiwan' and still contributes to over 80% of Taiwan's Grass Jelly production today.

Dong'An Bridge is classified as a stone arch bridge, which is a type of bridge design that has been popular around the world for well over three-thousand years.

The bridge has five different arches that allow water from the river below to flow freely while at the same time allowing weight to be freely distributed between each of the five abutments as well as the support structure on either side of the bridge.

Japanese engineers are well-versed in the construction of arched bridges of this variety and as was the case with the beautiful wooden Kintai Bridge (錦帯橋) in Japan, the engineers who constructed the Dong'An bridge were also sure to protect it from floods by controlling the flow of water through the river which could overflow during a typhoon of Taiwan's rainy season.

Recent Popularity

There are a few different factors that went into adding to the popularity of the bridge over recent years. The first is that the the Guanxi village government recently completed a beautiful recreation park known as the Niulanhe Riverside Park (牛欄河親水公園) that the bridge is now a part of.

The park is a popular space for local people to spend time with their families as well as for exercising and is also a spot where you will often find local artists and musicians putting on live performances.

The next factor and the one that likely started the whole Instagram thing is that the bridge was featured in a scene in the hit 2015 movie, "Our Times" (我的少女時代) - a cute movie that I had initially avoided watching, but eventually succumbed to and enjoyed while doing research for this blog.

Since then, the bridge has become not only a popular place for locals to pass by while doing their exercises or visiting the park, but also an attraction for people coming out of town who want to get some photos of the historic structure.

If you find yourself in the Guanxi area, it is quite easy to stop by this bridge and you need very little time to check it out. There is actually quite of bit of history to check out in the small village of Guanxi, so if you are in the area you might also want to consider checking out some of the old Japanese-era buildings, the Old Street, Chau-Yin Temple and some of the amazing Hakka restaurants in the town area.

Overall a quick walk around the downtown won't take you very long, so you won't need a lot of time to visit, but if you're like myself and you're interested in history, then a walk around the village will be one where you're able to learn quite a bit while also sampling not only some great Hakka food but also the cuisines of South East Asians who have made the small village their own.

Unforgettable mesona aroma in childhood memory

 Chung Yung-Hsi(鐘永熹) who grew up in Quanxi has special sentiment on the famous produce of his hometown- Mesona. When he was little, his parents who were farmers always cut the mesona from the side of the ridge between fields and brought it home for drying and storage. When the following summer arrived they would boil the mesona and make it into mesona tea and brought it to the farm to drink as this could eliminate the internal heat in the body. The tea became the thirst quenching and heat elimination beverage during rest time for the family when they were busy in the farm. In order to promote the special industry of his hometown-Mesona and as he was full of sentiment on mesona whenever he recalled his childhood days, he decided to develop products related to mesona together with farmers in Quanxi.

convenient light food mesona jelly will always bring you health and beauty

In terms of purity and gelatin content, Quanxi (關西) mesona is better than other places. Chung Yung-Hsi(鐘永熹)conducted research and development on light eating mesona jelly on his own, with his own unique experience in the food trend in the market. Aiming at the characteristics of modern people who like light and healthy flavor and dislike triviality. and trouble. He carefully designed the packaging of mesona jelly so that the way of eating is simple. Once the box is opened, one can see the mesona that is cut very even. One only needs to add the honey ball and cream and it can be eaten conveniently in any place and in any season.

Carefully selects natural mesona, using ancient methods to extract the mesona into juice and jelly. Naturally fresh and healthy grass jelly tastes crispy, fresh delicious, easy to chew, low in calories and full of satiety.

Products of grass jelly goes through high temperature sterilization, strict quality control, with non-preservative. Independent small package weight exactly, you can follow your own personal preferences to mix and match by adding milk, black tea, coffee and other drinks, at any time. Sweet and not greasy, delicious without gaining weight