Chinese pagoda unveiled in Saskatoon

The structure hidden inside a large, mysterious-looking white tarp in Saskatoon's Victoria Park has been revealed. On Saturday, members of the city's Chinese community unveiled a new zhongshan ting. In the Chinese culture a zhongshan ting is a communal place of worship and fellowship. In English it's known as a pagoda. The structure looks similar to a North American-style gazebo.   

• Chinese community to donate pagoda to Saskatoon

The Zhongshan Ting Committee donated the new pagoda, a gift to the city valued at over $120,000. It was built to commemorate the first Chinese immigrants and their contributions to early Saskatoon.

"The ting is common to traditional Chinese architecture," explained committee member Dawn Zhou.  

Zhou said a ting is usually found in parks, near bodies of water, and is used as a place of reflection, celebration and commemoration.

Zhou said the process of choosing a design and building the ting took about five years. The group considered many design options and settled on an imperial style.

"[We wanted] not to just keep the traditional style, but to adapt it to the weather [in Saskatoon]," she said. "So we hope it would be easy for the city to maintain."

Zhou said the protective tarp will be taken off next week, when the paint is completely dry.