Hey Hollywood! How's This for a Movie Location?
In the town of Ya'an, a bridge was built in the Qing Dynasty around the 18th century that today has Hollywood written all over it.
As bridges go, its beauty is unrivaled.
The Tower Bridge in London? Not bad but...
The Golden Gate in San Francisco? Architecturally one of the better ones, but...
 Sydney Harbour Bridge in Australia? Nice, but...
The Brooklyn Bridge? Sorry, but the Bridge over the River Qingyi gets my vote as the most unique bridge in the world, and one just waiting for Hollywood's movie cameras to film scenes on it.
One could imagine James Bond chasing -- or being chased by -- the bad guys over the bridge.
Alas, when the motion-picture industry shows scenes in China, where does it go? Beijing, Hong Kong, Taiwan or Shanghai.
Yo, Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, MGM -- you're missing out. Check out the town of La'an the next time you want to shoot in China. The atmosphere is unique and the bridge spectacular, particularly when lit up at night.
The bridge is known as Long Bridge and it features souvenir shops, tea houses, stores and food stops housed in traditional pagoda-style buildings.
One can drive across the bridge on one side, walk across on the other or walk down the middle between all the shops. It's a fascinating place.
You can even fish from the bridge. At one point, I saw a gentleman surrounded by his friends, who were urging him on as he battled a huge fish.
The fishing rod was bent in half. Turned out, it wasn't a fish but a rock, and the rock was winning the battle.
Northeast of the bridge, along the riverside, are numerous "hot pot" restaurants one right after another, as if queuing up to cross the bridge.
The specialty is duck soup, brought in a boiling pot that sits on a flame in the middle of the table. The duck is whole -- neck, beak and all. I'll talk more about that in my next post.
The shops are on both sides of the bridge, creating a tunnel right down the middle.
On the sidewalks southwest of the bridge, men sit around a sidewalk table and play tile or card games. People surround them watching intently, as if they had money riding on the outcome.
Speaking about riding...
Me and our guide Alex were a few blocks away from the bridge on one side and needed to be on the other side to meet the rest of our party.
I hailed a three-wheel, two-legged-power cab for about 40 cents and we made it to our destination with time to spare. I recorded our ride on the Bridge over the River Qingyi and accompanied it with a jazzy song called "The Highway Blues."
It's not exactly a Hollywood production, but you'll get a sense for how ripe this spot is for a Hollywood movie.
Wonder if Tom Cruise, Jodie Foster, Kevin Costner, Meryl Streep or Brad Pitt would enjoy duck soup.
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