There is a pagoda in China which is among the Seven Wonders of the World in the Middle Ages, built with the whole nation's resources through three generations of emperors, and has been the tallest one in China from its erection to destruction. It has driven the whole Europe crazy in the 18^th Century so that you can still see it printed on the cover of some Chinese fast food boxes in the USA. It is the Porcelain Pagoda of Nanjing built during Yongle Reign of the Ming Dynasty.

 

There also lies the only Chinese pagoda in Royal Botanical Garden built by royal family, Great Pagoda at Kew Gardens, the “London brother” of Porcelain Pagoda of Nanjing. It has been closed for almost half a century because of disrepair.

Comparison between Great Pagoda at Kew Gardens (right) and Porcelain Pagoda of Nanjing (left)

On November 10 (London time), Wood Dragon Unveiling Ceremony of Great Pagoda at Kew Gardens kicked off at Royal Botanical Garden of Kew Gardens. Xiang Xiaowei, Minister-Counselor of Cultural Office of the Chinese Embassy in the UK, Yue Lei, Global Vice Executive President of Sanpower Group, Frank SLEVIN, Chairman of House of Fraser, John Barnes, CEO of Historic Royal Palaces (the UK), and Adrian Philips, Palace and Collection Director of Historic Royal Palaces and others attended the unveiling ceremony.

 

Great Pagoda at Kew Gardens under restoration

 

At the unveiling ceremony, Xiang Xiaowei said that with the completion ofrenovation of the Great Pagoda at Kew Gardens, it will be more intuitive to convey to the British people the historical friendship between China and Britain more than 200 years ago, thus promoting mutual understanding between the citizens of London and Nanjing, and deepening the cultural exchanges and cooperation between the two cities.

 

“We are going through an important historical moment today, and the unremitting efforts of our two countries enables us to approach our goal. At this time last year, Sanpower started the renovation ceremony of the project. Now when we stand here in Kew Gardens again, we are glad to see that all of the progress of the project are proceeding step by step in accordance with the agreed plans and expectations. I think that the Great Pagoda at Kew Gardens will be open to the public next summer, so that people will be able to feel, understand and appreciate the long dusty Chinese architecture and Chinese culture”, said Yue Lei.

 

Unveiling ceremony: Xiang Xiaowei (first from right), Minister-Counselor of Cultural Office of theChinese Embassy in the UK, Yue Lei (second from right), Vice Global Executive President of Sanpower Group 

 Adrian Philips (first from left), Palace and Collection Director of Historic Royal Palaces, John Barnes (second from left), CEO of Historic Royal Palaces, Frank Slevin (third from left), Chairman of House of Fraser

 

 

 

The unveiled magic dragon

 

 

As one of the most famous Chinese pagodas in the UK, the renovation of the Great Pagoda attracted many attention. The most important part is the design and restoration of the eighty divinedragons on the pagoda. In May 2017, Historic Royal Palaces teamed up with CBBC to carry out a divine dragon design contest orienting at national Children between 6 and 15 years old for the restoration of Great Pagoda at Kew Gardens in the famous children's program Blue Peter, which received active response from British citizensand received a total of more than 9,000 works. The unveiling of the magic dragon marks that the restoration of the pagoda has entered into the core stage.

 

It is learned that the Great Pagoda at Kew Gardens was designed and built in 1762 by the Royal Architect William Chambers during the reign of King George III, which was the tallest building in British at that time. The planned completion of the renovation project is in the summer of 2018, when the Great Pagoda will be reopened to the public. Statistics predict that the annual tourist arrivals in Kew Gardens will reach 1.7 million people. By that time, the unveiled Great Pagoda at Kew Gardens will show the world the close Sino-British relations of more than 200 years ago.

 

 

 

On September 23, 2016, Sanpower Group initiated the China-British “Twin Towers Meeting”, and established renovation project of the Great Pagoda at Kew Gardens.