The summary meeting of the three-year action for the protection of covered bridges hosted by the National Cutural Heritage Administration was held in Huaihua, Hunan Province on the 18th. Hunan, known as the "Great Province of Langqiao", has comprehensively investigated its financial situation and determined that the total number of Langqiao bridges is 516, ranking second in the country after Fujian in terms of quantity. The person in charge of the Hunan Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau introduced that Hunan has completed field investigations on 661 bridges throughout the province, confirmed a total of 516 existing covered bridges, and all of them have been recorded in the fourth national cultural relics census system. Among them, 307 were reviewed and 209 were newly discovered. The corridor bridge, also known as the flower bridge, roof bridge, wind and rain bridge, or pavilion bridge, not only has practical functions of crossing streams and ditches, providing shade and shelter from the sun and rain, but also has architectural aesthetics and artistic value. It is also a public place closely related to the lives of local residents. In the 1940s, Liu Dunzhen, a historian of architecture from Hunan, went to Southwest China for investigation and noticed the type of bridges in various provinces that were "like a rainbow, covered with corridor houses". He named this special type of building, which "integrates transportation functions, rain protection, and aesthetic value," "corridor bridges". Hunan Province is one of the core areas in China with abundant corridor bridge resources. In Hunan Province, Huaihua is the area with the most abundant resources of Langqiao. There are currently 137 types of covered bridges in Huaihua, ranking first in the province in terms of quantity. Among them, there are 13 national key cultural relics protection units and 14 provincial key cultural relics protection units. The nine national protected covered bridges, including the Tongdao Pingtan Wind and Rain Bridge Group, are like a long rainbow lying on the waves, and can be called the "open-air museum of covered bridges". (New Society)