Page:Twentieth Century Impressions of Hongkong, Shanghai, and other Treaty Ports of China.djvu/391

Rh several days. In the meantime the friends of the victim are permitted to administer opiates to reduce his sufferings. The execution ground for those who receive the more merciful sentence of decapitation is near the south gate, which was formerly the chief means of ingress and egress. The Taoutai's Yamen, the finest residence in the city, lies near the east gate, and is surrounded by extensive and artistically laid-out grounds. Perhaps the object of greatest interest to the visitor is the willow pattern tea-house, which is said to be the original of the willow pattern ware so popular in England. It is a two-storeyed wooden building of octagon shape standing in the centre of a small weed-covered lake and approached by a zig-zag bridge, which is supposed to offer an insuperable barrier to the passage of evil spirits. A delightful contrast to its congested surroundings is afforded by the Mandarin tea-house and garden. Enclosing a small pond, masses of rockwork rise one above another as though hurled into position by the hand of nature, and from their midst springs a wealth of palms, willows, ferns, grasses, and other vegetation. Cunningly constructed little paths lead with many windings to a pavilion perched on the top of the rocks, whence a bird's-eye view is obtained of the city and the settlements.

Leaving the city by the east gate, the riverine suburb of Nantao is entered. In this district is situated Tung-Ka-Doo Cathedral, the largest and most important Roman Catholic place of worship in Shanghai. It is in the Roman basilica style of architecture, with nave and side aisles, but no transepts, and was erected by Bishop de Besco in 1849--53 on a site given by the Taoutai as compensation for some property in the city which belonged to the Catholics before they were expelled from China. It contains some good paintings copied from old Masters, including one of St. Francis Xavier, the patron saint. Among the noteworthy Chinese buildings are several guild houses, by far the most striking of which is the Mosang Way Quay, belonging to the timber merchants. Some cleverly executed carving, mural reliefs, and pewter ware are here to be seen. The Cantonese Guild House, also, affords an excellent example of Chinese architecture.

From the end of the French Settlement the Bund has been continued by the Chinese authorities for some three miles and a half to the Kiangnan Arsenal and Dockyard. This improvement was undertaken in 1904, after a fire had cleared away a noisome collection of huts and hovels that lined the river bank. Moored alongside the Bund is a dense crowd of junks and sampans, the only homes known to thousands of Chinese. From the Kiangnan Arsenal, which covers several acres of ground, a road leads past peach orchards, beautiful with white blossom in April, to Loongwha, famous for its six-storeyed pagoda and Buddhistic Temple. This latter is an oblong enclosure about one hundred and fifty yards long and sixty yards wide. Four main buildings, separated by courts, stand one behind the other in the middle of this enclosure. The first is dedicated to Midoo, the coming Buddha; the second to Ta Tien Waung Dien, "the God of Heaven"; the third to Buddha; and the fourth to Dien Zaum Zaung Waung, "the God of the Earth." The largest is, of course, the temple to Buddha. A finely executed image of the god occupies a central position, and on either side are figures of the two patriarchs—Kashiapa and Ananda—seated on the sacred lotus and borne by an elephant which rests on a massive pedestal of red and black soapstone. Around the wall are thirty-six images, which, says the Rev. C. E. Darwent in his excellent handbook on Shanghai, "are most likely the eighteen Lohan, each one duplicated." On either side of this main range of buildings are smaller shrines, and the dwellings of the priests. The two three-storeyed buildings to the left and right of the entrance court are the drum and bell towers, by means of which the attention of the drowsy gods is called to the fact that they are about to be worshipped.

In conclusion, it is interesting to recall that from the neighbourhood of the Loonghwa Pagoda the Whangpoo originally flowed eastwards through the district of Pootung, and entered the sea at various points east of Woosung. It was not until sometime between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries that it was connected by means of a canal with the Woosung River, which, known to-day as the Soochow Creek, is declared by an old historian to have been not less than five miles wide in the ninth century and to have covered the country for miles north of the rifle-butts with its waters. Truly, time in its flight brings many changes!

Very early in the history of the Settlement provision was made for the recreation of foreign residents. In 1854 certain gentlemen,