On 23 September 2016, The Tale of Two Pagodas led by Sanpower Group, Sanpower’s subordinate House of Fraser (HoF), a century-old British department store, and British Historic Royal Palaces was held solemnly in London’s Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. At The Tale of Two Pagodas event, Sanpower Group and HoF officially announced their restoration project of the Chinese pagoda in Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew to start a new chapter on the dust-covered 254-year-long relationship between the two countries.

On the very day, Ms. Hu Pinghua, wife of Liu Xiaoming, the Chinese Ambassador to Britain; Xu Ning, a Municipal Standing Committee member and Minister of the Propaganda Department of Nanjing; Yue Lei, Senior Vice President of Sanpower Group; Frank Slevin, Senior Vice President of Sanpower Group and Chairman of House of Fraser UK; John Pearson, Deputy Head of the China Desk of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office; Rupert Gavin, President of the British Historic Royal Palaces; David Lennett, Senator of the Richmond region of Greater London; Michael Dell, CEO of the British Historic Royal Palaces; as well as important officials from both China and Britain and special guests gathered together in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew to welcome Master Da Chu, abbot of Nanjing Jianchu Temple to witness a traditional Chinese blessing ceremony on the site. Soon afterwards, the agreement on restoration of the Pagoda in the London Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew was officially signed.

Coinciding with Nanjing Week of The London Design Festival 2016 taking place in Britain, The Tale of Two Pagodas event has instilled important connotations and value in both Chinese and British cultures in the new era. The cooperation between Sanpower Group, British Historic Royal Palaces and British Royal Botanic Gardens will reinvigorate the Pagoda of Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and bring it back to magnificence. After the completion of the repair project, the Pagoda of Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew will be re-open to the public in 2018.

Frank Slevin, Senior Vice President of Sanpower Group and Chairman of British House of Fraser and Rupert Gavin, President of the Historic Royal Palaces officially signed the sponsor agreement on restoration of the Pagoda in the London Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Ms. Hu Pinghua, wife of Liu Xiaoming, the Chinese Ambassador to Britain; Yue Lei, Senior Vice President of Sanpower Group; and Michael Dell, CEO of Historic Royal Palaces witnessed the signing.

In the eighteenth century, a puff of Chinese style blew throughout Europe, and during that time, the Pagoda in Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew was designed and built by William Chambers, an architect of George III, King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Chambers had been to China at least two times, and he then published a work vigorously propagandizing Chinese styles in The Design of Chinese Buildings, Furniture, Dresses, Machines, and Utensils. Construction of the Pagoda in Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew was completed in 1762. This octangular brick pagoda contains 10 floors with a height of 163 feet in total (around 50 m). It is so high and particularly unusual that people back then couldn’t believe how the pagoda had stood for so long. Many researchers from all over the world all agree that the Pagoda in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a copy of the Porcelain Tower of Nanjing. A funny thing is that the Pagoda in the Royal Botanic Gardens and the Porcelain Tower of Nanjing (78.2 m) were both the highest buildings of their countries at the time, and they both belonged to the crowned rulers.

The pagoda is revered in Chinese traditional culture. Usually a pagoda is used for storing Buddhist relics and consecrating Buddha and scriptures and is a holy site for blessing. The process of the Porcelain Tower of Nanjing becoming popular in Europe and America dates back to 1654, when the Dutch East India Company decided to send a diplomatic envoy to visit China and asked the sketch artist with the group to draw the exotic and fantastic architecture that were seen along the way as much as possible. The person who held this post was Johan Nieuhof, and later his elder brother Henry Nieuhof published a book of Nieuhof’s travel notes, namely Notes on Visiting China. In the book, the Porcelain Tower of Nanjing is described as a great piece of architecture that can be mentioned in the same breath as the “seven wonders of the world”. People during that time treated this tower as a landmark of China and described it as “the greatest tower in all the land”. It is recorded that the predecessor of the Porcelain Tower is the Jianchu Temple built in 247 A.D. The Jianchu Temple is the first of all Buddhist towers and temples in the Jiangnan region, earning its name as the “First Temple in Jiangnan,” and it is now 1770 years old.

The pagoda in Royal Botanic Gardens was once fairly colourful, containing grey walls and red pavilions. Edges at the top of the tower were enwound with 80 colourful wood dragon posts. However, all posts were unfortunately removed in 1784 when the pagoda was renovated. In the following 200 years, the British Royal Palaces have been seeking new dragon posts or any good substitutes, but so far they have not succeeded. This time around, Sanpower and subordinate House of Fraser will bring back the original appearance of the Pagoda of Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and the most important part lies in the repair of 80 wood dragons on top of the tower to ensure the restoration of integral historical architecture.

The Pagoda of Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew on the day of the blessing ceremony

This is the first project protecting royal heritage launched by Sanpower Group in Britain, aimed at protecting overseas Chinese historical and cultural buildings, developing and expanding Chinese culture in Britain, promoting close cooperation between China and Britain in fields of culture and business, and deepening communication between Nanjing and London. Yue Lei, Senior Vice President of China Sanpower Group said, “Over the past few years, Sanpower has been proactively responding to the national strategy of the Belt and Road Initiative, and focusing on the pattern combining “go global” and “bring in” at all times to promote synergic development and transformative development of industries at home and abroad. To see from results, strategic expectations and goals have been realized at the fundamental level. What is praiseworthy is that, in the process of going global, Sanpower also attaches great importance to cultural exchange and civil cooperation with regions, such as the aforementioned The Tale of Two Pagodas and the Wildlife Protection Initiative jointly sponsored with the British royal family. They both achieved positive comments from both sides. The Belt and Road Initiative is a double-core strategy of developing economy, trade, and culture. Relationships between each country not only need tangible support in trade cooperation, but also require intangible assistance in cultural exchange. Sanpower Group’s acts and concepts in going global have also brought more referential significance and model significance for Chinese enterprises to develop overseas.”