Ningpo to Shanghai in 1857/Ho-pe-chee to the Kwei-ling-foong
Sheong pe chee, a village of two hundred families is only a short distance from Ho pè chee. Thence to Ying kow ling, a village of 400 families, the distance in a Sou' westerly direction, is seven lé. Travellers from the west will be pleased and interested at seeing here a specimen of bridge building such as they will not have expected. The stones of which it is composed are as rough as they grew, and placed so compactly in an arch of 23 feet span that not one stone is out of line; the skill of the builders in fixing the keys evincing a knowledge of engineering principles for which the Chinese are seldom credited. The road way over the top is prettily tesselated. This style of cobbled arch is not uncommon in other parts of the province,—the smaller brooks in many places being so bridged over.
Ying kow ling, too, is in the great market thoroughfare;—fowl carriers and drovers being met in such numbers, occasionally, that the road is blocked up with them.
Shit dee deo, about 14 lé south from Ying kong ling, is the residence of a Shanghae dealer speaking English, of the name of Adjing. Travellers this road will find a ready welcome at his house. Fan shong ling is a hamlet of a hundred families not far from the place last mentioned. A Temple here is called the Wong koo mew. Moeyang, a village of similar size is about two miles from Chin kay ling (Front road pass) and here is a small Temple, where a Hoshang, (Buddhist priest) supplies hot tea gratis to all who wish it; the cost of the establishment being defrayed by the people of the village, a place numbering 100 families. At this point the traveller finds himself in the hill region, and enjoying lovely scenery,
Yang ko jo and Sing ko jo are each villages of 100 families between the pass last mentioned and a very steep and high pass called Kwei ling foong, the boundary of the Fung wha and Sing chong districts.
The remarkable way in which the hills are covered with Fir or other timber here, not an inch of available ground being left unimproved, has much to do in convincing the sceptical that for future generations there is little room—China is full;—for her increasing population there must be an outlet or other modes must be invented whereby they may gain existence. If mines could be opened in places of known mineral production, a great relief might be obtained.
The view from the top of the Kwei-ling-foong and from the Jong-kong-ling temple, a little way down the hill, is grand to a degree. In a W. S. W'ly direction the mountains are very high. Tea is grown on the hills here in some quantities, and bamboo trees in much greater.
The ascent of the Kwei-ling-foong occupies nearly an hour of trying travelling. At the base on the western side, is another temple, Kwei-ah-Deen, with a free tea table;—Prince and peasant, rich and poor, being equally welcome to a bamboo noggin of the beverage "which cheers but not inebriates."