Lugou (Marco Polo) Bridge

12th-century stone bridge southwest of Beijing, with 281 carved-stone lions. The site of the 1937 incident that began the Sino-Japanese War.

The Lugou Bridge crosses the Yongding River 15 km southwest of central Beijing. The current stone-arch bridge was completed in 1192 under the Jin dynasty and is famous for the 281 stone lions carved on its balustrades — Marco Polo described them in his account of his travels through China, giving the bridge its Western name. On 7 July 1937, a clash between Chinese and Japanese troops at the bridge marked the start of the full-scale Second Sino-Japanese War. The Wanping Fortress at the eastern bridgehead now houses a major war-memorial museum.