From Rattan Nets to a Steel Crossing at Dexing

A national ethnic-affairs account describes a Lhoba technique for building rattan-net bridges. Builders shot an arrow across a river with a rope trailing behind, then used it to draw rattan, palm and bamboo ropes over the wide, fast current. The account identifies the old bridge across the Yarlung Tsangpo at Dexing as more than 300 years old. Its description connects a crossing to both river skill and the work of carrying natural-fiber ropes from bank to bank.

A separate 2021 feature from the Nyingchi tourism authority names the Beibeng Rattan Bridge and the Jiongxing rattan-net bridge, and describes spans made without piers, planks or nails. Together, the accounts preserve a picture of Motuo crossings built from flexible plant materials and adapted to steep river terrain.

A 2024 Motuo tourism route describes a steel suspension bridge between Motuo town and Dexing Village. The report says the bridge, more than 140 metres long, was completed and opened in 2009, giving vehicles reliable passage to and from Dexing Township.

The older rattan-net crossing and the steel bridge belong to different descriptions and different structures. The steel bridge carried road traffic; the older account recalls a span woven from rattan, palm and bamboo ropes. Read together, they show how Motuo’s river crossings have been described across generations, from a hand-built rope structure to a modern vehicle bridge.

The two accounts preserve complementary details: the materials and method associated with the old rattan-net bridge, and the date, length and vehicle role of the steel Dexing Bridge. One tells how rope was carried across a powerful river; the other records when a modern crossing opened and what it enabled.

The contrast is also a story of changing movement. A rope bridge belongs to foot travel and the knowledge needed to make flexible materials span a gorge; the 2009 steel bridge supports vehicles on a road connection. The published record holds both forms of crossing in Motuo’s history, each tied to its own construction and use.