Ningpo to Shanghai in 1857/The Iron Streams to Sing-chong
As it flows gently, the iron, though almost imperceptible to the touch, may be seen in light streaks on the yellow sand beneath. The stream here flows from the eastward, and the course to a small hamlet of 30 families called Ding-wong, is along its left bank for two or three lé. Half a mile further from this place the road to Shang-chune breaks away to the southward, through a defile clothed with firs and called Shung-Kay-ling. It was stated at page 12 that the Kwei-ling-foong was the boundary of the Fung-wha and Sing-chong. There, too, commences the—
DEPARTMENT OF SHAU-HING.
Shang-chune is a thriving little town, and here, at stalls by the Road side, the traveller finds excellent wheaten flour pancakes, so cheap that a hearty meal can be made of them for the merest trifle. The process of manufacturing these pancakes is simple. An earthenware pan is filled with a stiff batter of flour, water, salt and eggs, and in this the manipulators, old women generally, dip the fore fingers and spread, or rather smear the batter lightly over the hot pan;—one spread one way, one the other, a second's delay and the food is cooked; coming from the pan as crisp and delicious as Hebrew passover cakes. Prepared in stacks a foot high, they are sold by the catty, or singly as required. Similar pancake stalls are found in and for several days of travel beyond the district city of Sing-chong, and are extensively patronised by way-farers from the hills A stream, not the iron washing, is met with at this place, its course from the hills being almost due south, and though shallow is a hundred feet wide. Another stream is crossed, too, on the road to Tah-ming-zee, over a bridge of planks and trussels 250 feet in length. Tah ming-zee, a place of 400 families, is one mile S. W.from Shang-chune.—Mulberry and Tallow tree, growing over a sandy soil, are met in several places on the road.
Hoi-yen, a hamlet of 30 families, is two mile sou' west from Tah-ming-zee. The devotion exhibited by the old women of this neighbourhood in telling beads and muttering the Buddhist chant of O-me-to-fah or veh is remarkable; and if such acts could atone for sins or obtain the wished for good fortune, success would be sure from the zeal displayed Occasionally, in road side temples, old women and men in threes and fours may be seen perpetrating for themselves services prescribed in papers sold at some monastery of notoriety, and to reach which they make extensive pilgrimages. Seated at a table together, all repeating the mystic words till both tongue and brain must ache with the repetition, one counts beads, another, at each revoiution of the string, moves from a bundle, a sanctified joss stick, the act being signalized by a third with a tap on a small bell, by another with a rap on a skull-like drum, and so on until the prescribed number of joss sticks is expended, and the service finished. Of all the intellect-stultifying devices superstitiously conceived, Buddhism must be the most successful. Happy the day when the devotion now so uselessly expended is given in the exercise of a rational religion! Speaking of them as a body, the Chinese are, intrinsically, a very God fearing people, and Christianity once introduced will have ardent and faithful practisers.
From Hoi-yen to Fong-quong-ling, a Ding on a hill, which, with its arched verandah and white washed walls is seen from a good distance, the course is S. W. one mile. From the top of the Ling, Sze-ming-shan, a mountain 2,500 feet high, beats N. by W,distant some fifteen miles. From the top of Sze-ming-shan a view is obtained of three departments at a glance, viz Ningpo, Taechow and Shaouhing. San-Tew, a small hamlet of 30 families on the top of this hill, surrounded by tea bushes, is W. S. W. 5 lē from the ding spoken of. From this spot, as far as the eye can reach all round, only mountains meet the view. A little way down the hill, southerly, is the village of Wong-mo-teah, of 100 families, 10 lē from which, due west of the village, is the district city of Sing-chong.
The great object of attraction at Sing chong is the Tow-va-sze or Temple of the Great Buddha; and to reach it, travellers from the east pass through the city and mount a sharp ascent in the rear; then descending a flight of steps to the other side, a total distance from the city walls of 4 lē. A monastery of 50 priests is attached to the Temple, and, by the Abbot and Guest chancellor, the latter particularly, every attention and kindness are readily given to foreign visitors. A more fortunate selection for such an establishment could not have been made. It is in a complete hollow amid a group of hills and precipitous rocks from one to two hundred feet high, just large enough for the Monastery and outbuildings, the approaches winding in such a way that, but for a knowledge of the existence of the place, it would not easily be discovered. Here, carved out of the solid rock, fifty one feet in height from the base on which the demi-body sits, the great Buddh is arched in and enthroned in truly god-like state. The rock out of which the idol is cut, a conglomerate—porphyritic—resembling a hard gray green free stone) is about a hundred feet high with a N. E'ly aspect.
From the front of the knees (the figure being sculptured as sitting cross legged) the depth back is 29 feet, the recess being smoothly coved up until it meets in a lozenge arch three feet above the crown of the idol's head. Springing from walls rising 29 feet above the floor, and meeting, on its inner face, the natural rock, is an artificial well turned arch of curved stoned, 46 feet in span, extending out and forming 25 feet of the roof of the temple, which, on the floor, is 46 feet square. The table on which the idol sits is 5 feet from the floor, the whole height of the temple being 58 feet to the crown of the recess. Stout granite columns support the verandah forming the exterior of the Hall. Along the walls, on each side, are alcoves, with ten idols in each, of somewhat less than human size. In the centre of the area, 7 feet from the great Buddha, on a table 8 feet square, is a very jolly representation of the god Me-doe, 6 feet 6 inches high from his seat, supported on either side by the unfinished halves of two figures, intended, when complete, to be 18 feet high.
Excepting that the ears are extraordinarily long, the great Buddh is modelled in regular proportion. In the palm of the right hand, the fore finger of which measures 6 feet 6 inches in length, is an image on a pedestal. This image, viewed from the end of the temple,appears as diminutive as a doll. On measurement, however, it proves to be, with the pedestal, 2 feet 8 inches high. The great Buddha in order to make it smooth enough for gilding, is, in places, thickly plastered. The head is carved to the appearance of a skull cap, studded with fir nuts, with a round space over the forehead, painted partly red, partly brown, similar colours with blue decorating the head dress. Between the eye brows stands a large round jade, and in the centre of the bare breast, the brasitica or character 卍 is depicted, studded with blue drops. The gilding, though bright, is thin and well executed; the folds of the garments and bands being picked with vermillion, as also are the lips of the image. The countenance is pleasing. The width over the knees on the seat is 36 feet. In a halo over the head, the recess is coloured to a purple brown, the rest of the coving and the artificial arch being white-washed.
Of the history of this idol the monks know little (11); but tradition assigns its sculpture to the time of the Leang Dynasty (A. D. 550) The tomb of the first high priest is shown close by the temple, under some trees, and is pointed to with much veneration. A cave in a rock above the temple is also said to contain the books and remains of a studious old priest. The monks speak of a fire so intense as to have destroyed the fingers of the image as at first carved, and of the plunder of a precious gem, erst in the place of the present jade between the eyebrows;—circumstances leading to the conclusion that in days gone by there were ruthless men as little disposed to pay respect to Buddha as the present iconoclastic followers of Tai-ping-Wang.
Attached to the Monastery are 150 mow of land, for which the priests pay government annually 250 cash a mow.—Altogether they pay the state 60 Taels per annum. On the exterior of the great temple are the following inscriptions. Over the lower verandah 殿寶雄大 Tah-yeong-pow-tea, Over the second story 蹟聖生三 Sam-sing-seng-cheh. Between the second and third 樓遙逍 Seaou-yun-laou, and over the fourth 天洞勒彌 Me-leh-tong-tien, whilst within, on either side of the Image are the following—佛尊勒彌 Chuey-sing-chong-mie,—嚴莊勝最 Me-le-ching-veh, (12).
On the right of the entrance to the Monastery are two caves. One of these, an aperture some 22 feet high, 30 deep and 35 wide, is dedicated to the goddess of mercy, with whose image, attended by some two dozen others, one of them a monkey, the cave is adorned. The other cave, some 40 feet wide at the entrance, is appropriated to a representation of Che-foo-tsze, and to some comfortable apartments for priests. The name of Che-foo-tsze, the founder, some seven or eight hundred years ago, of the Chinese atheistic school, from characters said to have been written by himself, is engraved on a rock outside the cave a short distance from the Monastery, On the right of the flight of steps from the hill top is another cave about 80 feet wide, 30 deep, and 16 high. No less than one thousand images line the walls of this place, mere dolls for the most part, recessed in mud daubings around a gentleman of large proportions in the centre. The priest in attendance here is an intelligent and thrifty old man, speaking with an evident sense of self merit at having been able to build a house and purchase some 25 mow of ground out of the contributions of devotees at the shrine of which he is in charge.
The antiquarian finds much to interest him in the neighbourhood of the Monastery, and does not overlook the ruins of a pavilion and tomb close by,—a horse and dragon on the latter, though still in good relief, indicating the hand of a sculptor of many centuries past.
The walls of the City of Sing-chong, upwards of three miles in circumference, and of the average height of Chinese city walls, are solidly built of dressed granite, with brick battlements, and are in good preservation, flanging in somewhat like the sides of an old fashioned ship. The shape of the city is that of a long lozenge, smallest on its northern end. As customary, there are gates at each of the cardinal points. Much of the space within the walls, especially away from the centre, is occupied with mulberry trees, and vegetable gardens within neichune walled compounds, one and two hundred feet square. The battlements, lining a road-way from 12 to 15 feet wide, are pierced for gingalls only;—but none of these implements, nor any other kind of artillery, are mounted in peaceful times. The foreigner, as an object of curiosity, creates about him, as a matter of course, huge crowds of obstreperous boys and wonder seekers,—but they are not vicious, and give vent to no such obscene and insulting expressions as are continually heard in the south.
The street leading through the city from the gate at the nor' west corner, is well lined with market stalls, though not much has to be remarked of the wealth or business of the inhabitants. For instance, there is no silver-smith shop; the first established luxury dépôt in a fishing village in Kwang-tung. Still the people look fat and contented; and but few beggars are seen. At established money changers, Carolus dollars, 10 per cent better than Mexican, yield from 1020 to 1030 cash each—a trifle only under the rate obtainable at Ningpo. A respectable looking ten cash piece is current here and in the immediate neighbourhood; but it is useless for the traveller to burden himself with many of them; for a few miles further on they are received unwillingly, or are altogether rejected. These coins, though bearing the present Emperor's name both in Chinese and Manchou characters, are said to be the production of private mints;—the professed objection to their receipt being that they are cast of an inferior metal and below the Imperial touch. Only the Carolus dollar will be received in change at any of the cities,—Mexican or other stamps being repudiated.