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The 800-year-old Lugou Bridge in Southwest of Beijing, recorded in the travelogue of Marco Polo, is suffering damages in its beautiful lion sculptures because of weathering.

Serious damages have been found on nine stone lions on the bridge, which is famous in China and overseas for its exquisite architecture, said an official with the cultural relics department of the Lugou Bridge tourist site.

Cracks are found on many more stone lions, said the official, surnamed Wang, adding that the damaged lions are difficult to be repaired, and experts have not found a proper method to solve the problem,

The State Administration of Cultural Heritage has sent experts to investigate the situation and make the repairing plan.

Monitoring equipments have been set up on the bridge to monitor the environmental factors such as the temperature and force of wind at the region.

The bridge was first built in 1189 and it was refurbished and repaired many times in history.

Marco Polo went all the way to China during the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368). He described the bridge in vivid words as "Over the river, there is an extremely beautiful stone bridge. Come to think of it, it is indeed the most wonderful and unique bridge in the world ...".

The bridge, 266.5 meters in length and 7.5 meters in width with 11 arches, is famous for its 485 lifelike and vivid carved stone lions.

The lion cubs on the bridge vary from a few millimeters to a dozen millimeters in size. Often half hidden, they would prove difficult to count.

On July 7, 1937, Japanese military forces attacked the Chinese garrison at Marco Polo Bridge, which marks the beginning of the Chinese people's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression.

(Xinhua News Agency October 26, 2006)