[VOL III] THE TAI-WANG-KOW, OR YELLOW PAGODA FORT, CANTON RIVER

THE TAI-WANG-KOW, OR YELLOW PAGODA FORT, CANTON RIVER

Cover Image: The Tai-wang-kow, or Yellow Pagoda Fort, Cantong River / GuangZhou GuangDong China / Drawn by T. Allom Engraved by Le Petit – ALAMY Image ID:2X55N2F

*The Tai-wang-kow（Da Huang Jiao） Fort, also known as the Che Wai Fort, was initially constructed in the twenty-second year of the Jiaqing reign during the Qing Dynasty (1817). Situated on Shamian Island in the middle of the Pearl River in Guangzhou, it served as a crucial coastal defense fortification during the Qing Dynasty. / From a Drawing in the possession of Sir Geo. Staunton, Bart.

Haste, bring them forth! and raze
From turret to foundation-stone, the keep
Whence rose no song of praise
From weary captives wont to doubt and weep.

THE CHRISTIAN CAPTIVE

IN many places the banks of the Canton or Pearl river are eminently picturesque, and the separation of its waters into numerous channels, while it perplexes the foreign navigator, is a source of endless gratification and real advantage to those acquainted with the different branches, and who dwell along their refreshing borders. Mile after mile of the river littoral below Canton is clothed with the densest and most brilliant foliage, save where population equally compact has hewn out a site for a settlement. There villages peep forth from the thick dark shelter of an ancient grove, which at one time is in immediate contact with the grotesque dwellings, at another removed only by the area of an orchard, a garden, or a pleasure-ground. The noblest forest-trees that grow in China are intermixed with fruit-trees of rarity and richness; amongst these are the peach, almond, plum, and many whose blossoms impart to the landscape a colouring that even Chinese dexterity often fails to imitate effectually. Orange, citron, and other varieties of Oriental fruits, luxuriate along the gently waving banks of these sunny waters, with a bloom and a beauty that art and cultivation in vain endeavour to attain.

An island that seems to float in the channel, called by Europeans the Macao Passage, serves as the foundation for the fortified pagoda of the Tai-wang-kow. A tower of four stories is enclosed by a strongly built curtain of granite stone, pierced with loopholes, and finished with battlements. The primitive object of the Pagoda is not easily explicable on rational principles; but, in connection with the Chinese system of military discipline, and their art of war, admits of explanation. From the elevation of its turreted stories, watchmen can discover the approaching enemy, and give the word of command to the gunners within the ramparts. This plan, however, is subject to one inconvenience, namely, discovery of the fort itself by the foe, and, therefore, exposure of the Pagoda itself to the fire of an enemy’s ship, which might throw down the whole building upon the gunners at its foot. In this case, the gingalls, matchlocks, and men of all arms, would in all probability be buried in the ruins. The area of the island, about an English acre, is dedicated to military works, with the exception of the space occupied by some lofty trees of the banyan species, whose shelter proves particularly grateful to the soldier sinking under the weight of his armour, and who would otherwise often be exhausted by the scorching rays of a tropical sun. The practice of embowering a fortress is not confined to Tai-wang-kow, it prevails universally in Chinese defensive posts, engineers being of opinion, that the shade of a banyan tree will protect the soldier not only from the burning rays of the sun, but also from the red artillery of an enemy. And it was this principle of self-sufficiency or self-deception, so prevalent in this vast empire, that induced the erection of a pagoda in the middle of a battery, which, to be useful, should be concealed, — the author of the design imagining that its haughty height would warn the enemy against too near an approach.

Upon the first appearance of a rupture with China, this picturesque defence was occupied by a detachment of the royal marines, who kept entire possession of it until the resumption of hostilities on the 23rd of June, 1841. Although within reach of assistance from Canton, from which it is only two miles distant, no resistance was offered to our occupation; yet our officers assert, that had they been attacked in turn, they could have repulsed the best efforts of the enemy to dislodge them. As a toll-house or watch-tower, the Tai-wang is valuable, and in other hands, by its means, the approach of an enemy to Canton might be successfully impeded. When our troops surprised it, a communication was formed with both banks of the river by rafts that completely obstructed the passages. Each flotilla, or rather section of the pontoon, consisted of ten layers of timber, ten feet square, strongly bound together with iron bolts, and anchored securely at each corner. There was little ingenuity in the design, and when our troops entered the fort, and occupied it, the control of the clumsy impediment passed into their hands, to the prejudice of its authors. But the destination of the Tai-wang will henceforth be changed: the clang of arms will no more be heard within its towers, nor the flash of artillery be witnessed from its ramparts; taught the blessings of peace by the horrors of war, these civilized idolaters now leave the highway of commerce, which the Almighty formed for the happiness of his creatures, open to the merchants and mariners of all nations.