[CHAPTER XXXVII.]
The two most interesting objects which deserve attention outside the walls of Nankin are, the famous porcelain tower, or pagoda, and the tombs of the kings of the ancient Chinese dynasty. Of the former it would be extremely difficult to give such a description as would convey to the reader's mind an accurate idea of its peculiar structure and character. It stands pre-eminent above all other similar buildings in China for its completeness and elegance, the quality of the material of which it is built, or rather with which it is faced over—namely, variously coloured porcelain bricks, highly glazed; and for the quantity of gilding, and particularly of gilt images, with which its interior is embellished.
The building is of an octagonal shape, about two hundred feet high, divided into nine stories. The circumference of the lower story is one hundred and twenty feet, so that each face must measure about fifteen feet; but this measurement decreases as you ascend, although each story is of equal height. Its base rests upon a solid foundation of brickwork, raised about ten feet above the ground, and you ascend to the entrance of the tower by a flight of twelve steps. Its face is covered with slabs of glazed porcelain of various colours, principally green, red, yellow, and white; but the whole building is not, by any means, constructed with porcelain. At every story there is a projecting roof, covered with green-glazed tiles, and from each of its eight corners is suspended a small bell.
The effect of this building, when viewed from a moderate distance, is imposing, no less from the novelty than the peculiarity of its appearance. You ascend to the top of it by one hundred and ninety steps, leading through the different compartments, but they are not all in very good repair. The interior of each story appears at first view striking, but is rather gaudy than elegant, being filled with an immense number of little gilded images, placed in niches, in each of the compartments, between the windows.
Lieut. White, R.M. del. S. Bull, fc.
High Priest of the Porcelain Tower at Nankin.
London. Henry Colburn. 1845.
The view from the summit of this temple amply compensates you for all the trouble of reaching it, and for any little disappointment that may have been felt at the appearance of the interior of the building. The property extends over an area of nearly thirty miles, and a great part of this is enclosed within the ruins of a dilapidated wall. The country is beautifully diversified by hill and dale, and houses and cultivated grounds; yet, in some parts, it looks almost deserted. Yet it cannot be viewed without great interest, not only from the appearance of the country, but from the associations connected with the locality, and with the tower itself. This latter is said to have cost an immense sum of money (seven or eight hundred thousand pounds), and to have occupied nineteen years in its completion.
A not unnatural desire to possess specimens or relics, as mementos of the first, and probably the last, visit to the ancient capital of the empire, led to a few instances of defacement and injury to some parts of the building, and to many of the figures within it. But the complaints made upon the subject afterwards by the head priest of the tower, or of the monastery attached to it, seem to have been a good deal exaggerated, probably in the hope of obtaining handsome compensation. It was notorious that a great part of the specimens which were carried away were actually sold to visitors by the priests themselves. A complaint, however, was made upon the subject to Sir Henry Pottinger, and at his request measures were adopted to prevent any recurrence of the violence; and, indeed, with the laudable object of encouraging a good understanding with the Chinese, and of doing what, under the circumstances, appeared to be an act of justice, a considerable sum of money was paid over to the chief priest, or abbot, of the monastery, to be applied to the restoration and decoration of the building. It much exceeded the actual value of the damage done.