"Under the Bailiang Bridge stand a hundred beams, each mirrored in water as water mirrors each beam." This ancient couplet engraved in Ningbo people's memory has recently gained new meaning through the bridge's transformation. Located in the Huijiang Village, Dongqiao Town, Haishu District, the Bailiang Bridge is now protected by the Yinjiang Levee Improvement Project. Through the "new bridge safeguarding the old" approach and the construction of an ecological river island, it continues its millennium-spanning legacy of preserving heritage while embracing innovation.

As the longest surviving wooden corridor bridge in eastern Zhejiang, the Bailiang Bridge was built during the Yuanfeng era of the Northern Song Dynasty, using 132 large squared fir timbers. The long wooden benches under its tiled corridor and the weathered engravings on pillars preserve the poetic charm of "a single bridge connecting emerald creek banks." After serving nearly a millennium as a transportation route, this provincial-level cultural relic has finally retired from its duties.

To protect this treasured heritage, the Bailiang Bridge now has a "new look": a newly built river island north of the north-south ancient bridge connects to the Huijiang Village via a concrete footbridge, while the southern side retains the Bailiang Village's original embankment. Two new floodgates, 47m and 40m wide respectively, were constructed upstream and downstream between the island and the Bailiang Village, forming a protective loop of island, embankments, and floodgates.

To the east of this protective loop stands the newly built Bailiang New Bridge. This modern structure features four vehicle lanes and pedestrian walkways, taking over the old bridge's transportation role. While contrasting with the old bridge's classical charm, the new bridge's enhanced load capacity and modern engineering create a unique juxtaposition of the past and present. Local villagers remark: "Crossing the new bridge daily and seeing the old bridge feels like watching our ancestors waving to us across time."

Moreover, with increasing extreme rainfall events, the Haishu District established special project segments within the Yinjiang Levee Improvement Project to protect the Bailiang Bridge from floods. Measures include creating auxiliary flood channels, building new vehicle and pedestrian bridges and floodgates to form the protection loop. During floods, closing the upstream and downstream floodgates in advance to divert water through secondary channels has proven effective in safeguarding the ancient bridge.

The 10,000m² river island, created by relocating 200+ households in the Huijiang Village and excavating a 540-meter new waterway, has recently become operational. With specialized landscaping, the island now features native camphor trees complemented by seasonal blooms like cherry and Osmanthus and so on, creating layered vegetation. A 300-meter circular pathway adorned with decorative elements, pergolas, and stone benches offers recreational space for locals. Landscape lighting ensures nighttime illumination while enhancing aesthetic appeal.

An official from the Haishu Water Conservation Bureau said that the Bailiang Bridge's transformation, from flood control to ecological island construction, embodies the modern conservation philosophy of "preservation isn't freezing time, but creatively sustaining it".