Page:Illustrations of China and Its People vol. III.pdf/20



SINCE 1869, the date at which the previous illustration was taken, the foreign settlement at Shanghai has been steadily improving. No. 8 is a photograph executed in 1872, and designed to give some notion of the improvements to which reference has been made. At least two new buildings have been erected within the past four years, one being the Oriental Bank, bisected by the flagstaff in the picture. The view was taken from behind the gate of the public gardens. No. 9 shows the style of buildings at the southern extremity of the Bund, and the state of the ground fronting them in 1869.

Among the few objects of historical note to be found in the neighbourhood of Shanghai is the Lung-hwa-ta, or "Pagoda of the Dragon's Glory," to the east of the village of Shi-ka-wei, on the banks of the Hwang-pu. This pagoda is one of the most ancient structures in the province, and the temple to which it belongs is a favourite native resort during the Ching ming or spring festival, the time for offering sacrifices to the spirits of deceased ancestors. Tradition tells us that the pagoda was erected about a. d. 230, when the Han dynasty occupied the throne. But this statement is untrustworthy, and information much more reliable assigns the edifice to a considerably later date. A distinguished emperor of the Sung dynasty, about a. d. 800, conferred upon it the title Kung Siang, "total resignation." This practice is one of the remarkable features connected with those ancient shrines. Emperors have invariably given names to them, and these names form the starting-points of their history. In this instance the name has proved inapplicable, as the monument has been at various times battered, broken, and levelled to the ground by the ruthless Japanese, and has risen again on the old site to its old proportions. The great Yunglo rebuilt it once about the beginning of the 15th century, and at another time the temple enjoyed imperial favour at the hands of a Ming empress. On this last occasion the present was not an empty name, but gold and silver, as well as a god, for it seems that at that time the old gods of the temple had fallen out of repair. The pagoda shown in No. 10 is 120 feet high. It is ascended by a winding staircase, and from the summit a commanding view of the surrounding country can be obtained.