rileyuk.co.uk

This is from my own forum, for the benefit of those who don't visit it:

We are now talking about Shanghai and a small discovery that makes me realise that books still have an advantage over the internet.

I have been reading through an old Odhams publication "Wonders Of The World" - undated, but probably late 1940s/early 1950s. It has lots of pictures and text about far away wonders.

We are well familiar with the leaning tower at Pisa, but how about the leaning tower at Soo-Chow? This is also known as the Tiger Hill Pagoda.

With the image of the old photo in my mind, the tower shown leaning as it is, and covered with moss and foliage, I searched the dreaded and all-powerful Google. Sure enough the town still exists, although the place name is now recorded as Suzhou, and Tiger Hill is a Tourist Attraction. Somehow that very fact diminishes the power and romantic mystery of the building. It is now cleaned up, the colour photos of it reveal traces of red paint and it looks totally sterile. Not only that but all the photographers have straightened the building in their viewfinders.

The building remains, but its spirit is lost.

There is very little point actually straightening the tower. After all who goes to Pisa and straightens their famous tower?

Photographers do all sorts of strange things. There's a famous shot of the tower at Pisa with the tower straightened, but all the people bent over strangely!