Lu Pan occupies central position in ▸ the temple. However, in the Chinese manner, several other deities share the building. In the right corner is the Chinese God of Wealth.
house whose design originality.
necessitated
The contractor was at his wits end to discover some novelty as the fai- lure to execute Imperial commands in those days could entail execution.
One day a poor workman in his employ dropped into a tea house to refresh himself and met an old man sitting at a table holding an empty birdcage of unusual design. The employee saw at once that it was what his master was looking for so he asked the price. The old man said he would sell it for a thousand taels, an impossible price for the workman. When the workman reach- ed home he found the birdcage on the table. It had been left there by the same old man with a message to the effect that the workman would know what to do with it. Next morning the workman took it to the contractor who was so delighted with the solution to his problem that he paid a thousand taels without а murmur. The benefactor was, of course. Lu Pan.
Repair Work
During the Ming dynasty, the famous pagoda Pai Ta-ssu outside the Ping Tse Men gate of Peking developed a large crack and was in danger of collapsing. At this critical moment a strange workman appear- ed and started walking around the monument shouting: "Mend the big thing!" at the top of his voice. few hours later it was seen that the fissure had been filled and that the structure was again sound. The people attributed the "miracle" to Lu Pan, as no one else could have made such a good job of it. The event is commemorated in a street song.
A
It is said that for a bet Lu Pan built the Chao Chow bridge, one of China's best known monuments to the art of bridgebuilding, in one night. Records show however that the bridge was built in the Sui dynas- ty (589-618 A.D.) by another crafts.
man.
(Continued on page 88)
Mr. Ng Wing Hong, President of the ▸ Building Contractors' Association is shown here speaking at the recent annual dinner held in honor of Lu Pan.
THE HONG KONG & FAR EAST BUILDER--VOLUME 19, NUMBER 3
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