For travellers heading towards Hailuo Gou Glacier, the scruffy, two-street market town of LUDING marks a half-day hiatus between buses, with plenty of time to soak up some history at the Luding Bridge , one of the great icons of the Long March. In May 1935, the Red Army reached Anshunchang on the southern side of the Dadu River but were unable to cross the rapids there. Pressured by enemy troops, they decided to head upstream to where a nominal Guomindang force, baulking at destroying the only crossing for hundreds of kilometres, had pulled the decking off the Luding suspension bridge, but left the chains intact. On a forced march, the Communists covered the 100km to Luding in just two days, where 22 heroes braved heavy fire to climb hand-over-hand across the chains and take Guomindang emplacements on the west bank. Official accounts say that only three men were killed.

 

Though substantial by local standards, the bridge is simply a series of thirteen heavy-gauge chains spanned by planks which look as if they might have been pirated from a packing crate. The Dadu flows roughly below, while temple-style gates and ornaments at either end lend the bridge an almost religious aspect. On the near side is a ticket office (¥1) and a gold-lettered tablet detailing the events of May 29, 1935, while a pavilion on the far side houses a museum with period photos.

There's precious little to see in the town itself, though it's full of nondescript places to eat and so busy in spring that an overflow of produce from stalls has to be laid out on sheets in the narrow main street. For accommodation , try the comfortable Yagudu Hotel and restaurant (¥30-75), where they don't speak a word of English, despite a scattering of signs, or there's a choice of cheaper rooms, such as the polite Luhe Zhoudaisuo (¥30-75), to the right of the bus station. Moving on , there are at least daily buses to Kangding (¥10), Moxi Xiang (for Hailuo Gou; 3-4hr; ¥7), Shimian (for Xichang; ¥10) and Chengdu (¥90).