Hanging plank roads (zhandao) of Shu
Caminos de tablones colgados (zhandao) del Shu
- Date
- c. 316 BCE · confidence medium
- Place
- Guangyuan, Sichuan, China
- Credited to
- State of Qin and later dynasties
- Field
- Movement
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Walkways of planks resting on beams driven into holes cut in sheer cliffs that allowed crossing the Qinling Mountains into the Sichuan Basin. They were the Chinese solution for opening a road through gorges unfit for a normal alignment.
Tradition places the opening in the 4th century BC after Qin's conquest of Shu (316 BC); the visible remains date from later rebuilding, mainly Han and Tang.
What it led to
- the Qin conquest of Shu and a permanent link between Sichuan and the central plain
- military and commercial routes of the Han dynasty to the south and west