Visitors to Hankow who limit their sight-seeing to the Concession Atea and the Race Club grounds will be surprised to know that ten properties have already been voted to be Historic Buildings and entrusted to the Commission. Among the ten none of the great Guild Halls fora included since' these are in the care of the Merchant Guilds, and all Buddhi Taoist Temples aye at present excluded as some of them are now regarded as rightful-rident on the offerings of the the rest are about to be adapted to new uses. It may be interesting to go through the list and give some idea of the locality of each of the buildings and some notes on its history, These notes will be a blend of the Historical, the mythical and the miraculous, and the writer must not of course be regarded as believing all that he records. But one cannot attempt to trace the history of a Pagoda or a mountain in" China without finding oneself moving in a Wonderful world of heroes and immortals who are linked to the world ordinary people in a fascinating way. Men become immortals and immortals behave like happy child. ren, whilst sites are chosen ud Buildings are erected for reason: which seem grotesque but are quite comprehensible when one regards nature through the eyes of an anim= ist.
Lot us take our plunge into the world of the unreal by crossing to Wuchang and secking out the first Of the scheduled Historic Buildings.
the Yellow Crane Tower at the "heal of the Snake Mill on the Bank of the Yangtze by the Wuchang city wall. It is no less than 9 Chinese feet high, the hundredth foot being carefully left off for fear that the spirits as they rush through the air might be annoyed cly a building a full hundred fect high. At that point in our narrative we pause to assure the residents of Hankow that we are not lying. The Yellow Crane Tower was totally destroyed by fire in the reign of the Emperor Kuang Lis, but it is nevertheless duly entered as a his. toric building. For on the site of the wonderful tower, comprising three octagonal stories, constructed of carved stone around A wooden framework consisting of great wooden pillars ed with a bronze roof, there now stands a miserable eye-sore in red rick which jg often mistaken by travellers on the Tehang steamers for a hideous church erected by a misguided missionary. It is this modern building which passes into the care of the Commission because iL stands on a valuable historic site from which a good revenue can be derived. i The Sage Fei Wet But tet us close our eyes to ugly lities and transport ourselves lis ci to the tim when the residents they were in danger of a_ great calamity. The prosperity of Hankow depended on its trade long before Concessions were granted and steamers were seen on inland water. ways. From far Szechuan and pro life Hunan came the sailing craft of varied design with their cargoes, and if the day ever came when the nake at Wuchang should protrude its head either to caress or attack the Tortoise at Hanyang the river would cease to flow, a large part of Hupeh would be turned into a great lake and disaster would ensue. The Snake must be propitiated and at the same time reminded of its duty to lie still. So why not erect a beautiful tower as a sort of crown fon its head" and in so doing press that head down in perpetuity? That why the tower depicted in old pictures of Wuchang was erected at no small cost by a cautious mer-
But why should the tower be given name having no relation to the Snake under the hill on which it stands or roundings? Tt might well have been linked in some way to the Great River flowing near its base or to the Provincial Capital which it graced. The answer to the question is that the Tower won the approval of a sage named Fei Wei, who lived about 200 years after Christ, in the most romantic years of China's history. He did not attain to the rank of the Eight Immortals, but he did attain to immortality and was therefore entitled to ride on one of the "horses of the gods." These "horses" are the cranes of varied hues which are one of the symbols of immortality. Though the Yellow Crane Tower wag erected long after his earthly pilgrimage was done, Fei, being an immortal, took notice ofts graceful architecture and beautiful situation on the head of the Snake and showed his appreciation by visiting it from time to time, flying to it on his yellow Now when one is moving in a world of myths consistency' is the last thing to be expected or to be found. And so the reader must not be surprised if, on asking another scholar about' the name of the Tower, he gets a very different story. The yellow crane will remain, but his rider will have a different name and a yet more detailed his-snd evidence will Te found in the tower itself that it was not the mortal, but In, one of the famous Eight' Immortals, the Tower its name. And rep as an tance of the strange way in which fact and fet can be suc-in an Easter land,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.