This photo of Ya'an veranda bridge (lang qiao - 廊桥) was taken in April 2013, a few days before a magnitude-7 earthquake hit the city. Ya'an is situated 120 kilometers Southeast of Chengdu, Sichuan's capital. The city is also known as rain city (yucheng - 雨城), as its fertile land is blessed with more annual rainfall than any other land in the region. The city was the capital of Sikang (xikang - 西康) before the extinction of the province in 1955. The territory marks the end of Han territory, and the incursion into the Tibetan universe. Ya'an bridge is one of the few examples of veranda or porch bridges in China. The veranda corridor not only serves as a place where locals kill time at leisure protected from the rain or the summer sun, but also as a market to sell local specialties.
