In 1479, a local official named Sun Yi laid the first blue stones of the Suifeng Bridge across the Huaxi River in Suizhou, Hubei Province. He chose the name Suifeng, meaning annual rich harvests, to bless the farmers of Yushi Street as they crossed toward the Shuanglong Temple. When a summer flood swept Sun Yi's work away, Magistrate Li Chongsi stepped forward in 1497. He donated his own salary to rebuild the crossing one hundred paces south, anchoring the new single-arch structure with heavy iron chains stretched across the riverbed. To villagers watching from the banks, the rippling water over these submerged links resembled a wriggling iron centipede, a visual marvel that birthed a lasting local legend.

The river claimed the bridge again in July 1848 during a devastating flood. Four years later, a citizen named Yu Chaogui led a community campaign, gathering local donations to rebuild the stone arch. This masonry still stands today. Its blue stone strips bear the clear, hand-chiseled grooves of Qing Dynasty stonemasons. For generations, the bridge remained the center of neighborhood life.

Time left its own physical marks. Invasive elm roots slowly wedged into the mortar, splitting the stone joints and causing the ancient pedestrian deck to arch upward. In 1981, a worker climbing a ladder in the river channel spotted a forgotten stone stele embedded in the northwestern wall. The inscription preserved the names of Li Chongsi and Yu Chaogui, linking the modern city directly to its Ming and Qing Dynasty builders.

Today, the ten-meter-long bridge is protected as a municipal relic in the Zengdu District. A modern highway bridge built ten meters to the south carries the weight of vehicular traffic, leaving the quiet blue stones of Suifeng Bridge to serve as a pedestrian sanctuary.