Qìngyuán

Qingyuan lies among the mountains of southwestern Zhejiang, near Fujian. Its people have long cultivated shiitake mushrooms on timber, a craft associated with the local figure Wu Sangong, whom mushroom growers honoured as their patron. The mushroom trade prospered in the Ming period, and growers contributed to the building of covered bridges across the county's streams. One of them, Lanxi Bridge, was first built in 1574. Its timber arch carried a sheltered passage over the water, joining practical construction with a distinctive local architectural tradition.