Jinan Springs

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Springs are dense in and around the old city of Jinan, which is why it is called the City of Springs. Around the old city are four spring groups – Baotu Spring, Black Tiger Spring, Five Dragon Pool and Pearl Spring. Their water runs into the moat that rings the old city, collects in Daming Lake in the north of the old city, and flows on north from the lake into the Xiaoqing River. In the second chapter of Liu E's late-Qing novel The Travels of Lao Can, Lao Can enters Jinan and describes springs and weeping willows at every household. Lao She, who taught at Cheeloo University in Jinan, wrote “Winter in Jinan” and “Enjoying Baotu Spring”.

Baotu Spring, Black Tiger Spring, Five Dragon Pool, Daming Lake and the moat were grouped as the “First Spring under Heaven Scenic Area”, a national 5A tourist attraction. Pearl Spring and the nearby Wangfu Pool and Qushuiting Street, in the middle of the old city, are not part of that 5A area. The sights are mostly within 2 km of one another and can be linked on foot or by boat on the moat.

South of Jinan is the limestone country of the northern flank of Mount Tai. Rain soaks into the ground and flows north through the rock until, under the old city, it is blocked by impermeable igneous rock and forced to the surface, forming four spring groups: Baotu Spring, Black Tiger Spring, Five Dragon Pool and Pearl Spring. Their water feeds the moat and Daming Lake. As the city drew more groundwater, Baotu Spring stopped flowing, once for more than two years. Jinan then restricted groundwater pumping and recharged the aquifer in the southern hills, and the spring flowed again.

Baotu Spring

Baotu Spring lies just outside the south-west corner of the old city of Jinan, Shandong, on the south bank of the city moat. It is the first of Jinan's Seventy-two Famous Springs. The rectangular pool is about 30 m from east to west and 18 m from north to south, and three vents side by side push water up through it; the water stays at about 18°C all year. The pool is in the west of Baotu Spring Park, which also contains the Shuyu, Jinxian, Mapao, Huanghua and Dukang springs.

In “Enjoying Baotu Spring” Lao She wrote of the three springs tumbling day and night all year round, pure and tireless, a sight of nature’s power. In winter the spring water is warmer than the air, and he described the light white mist that rises from it and drifts over the dark-green waterweed.

The spring was anciently called Luo and is the source of the old Luo River. The Spring and Autumn Annals record that in 694 BC Duke Huan of Lu met Duke Xiang of Qi “at Luo”, its earliest mention in writing. According to the Zuo Zhuan, Duke Huan travelled with his wife Wen Jiang, Duke Xiang’s sister. Wen Jiang had an affair with her brother; when Duke Huan rebuked her, Duke Xiang gave him a banquet and afterwards had Prince Pengsheng help him into his carriage and kill him there. A few years later Duke Xiang himself was killed in an uprising in Qi, and Prince Xiaobai returned to take the throne as Duke Huan of Qi. The Mao commentary read “Southern Hill” in the Odes of Qi of the Book of Songs as a satire on Duke Xiang and Wen Jiang, and its later stanzas as a reproach to Duke Huan of Lu for leaving his wife unchecked. Two other Odes of Qi, “The Broken Basket” and “Driving Fast”, are traditionally taken to describe Wen Jiang’s journeys between Qi and Lu.

Li Daoyuan of the Northern Wei wrote in the Shuijing Zhu of the water welling up from its source like a turning wheel. Zeng Gong, prefect of Qizhou in the Northern Song, built the Luoyuan Hall beside it and in his Record of the Two Halls of Qizhou called it “the Baotu spring”, the name it has kept. The Yuan painter-calligrapher Zhao Mengfu wrote that its mist moistens Mount Huabuzhu and the sound of its waves shakes Daming Lake. The Qianlong Emperor, touring the south, wrote the characters “Jituan” (rushing torrent), now on a stele south-east of the pool; the spring is also known as the “First Spring under Heaven”.

The Luoyuan Hall stands on the north side of the pool and the Ming-dynasty Guanlan Pavilion on the west, with a “Baotu Spring” stele in the water in front of it and a “First Spring” stele, written by Wang Zhonglin in the Qing, at the poolside. Beside the Shuyu Spring is the Li Qingzhao Memorial Hall. The Wanzhu Garden in the west of the park, a courtyard residence, is a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level.

Black Tiger Spring

Black Tiger Spring lies outside the south-east corner of the old city, on the south bank of the southern moat, facing Liberation Pavilion across the water. The water comes out of a cave at the foot of a rock face and spouts through three carved stone tiger heads, side by side, into a stone-lined pool about 13 m long and 9 m wide, then pours over the north side of the pool into the moat. Its flow among Jinan's famous springs is second only to Baotu Spring. People from the neighbourhood often come here to fill bottles with spring water.

The name is already recorded on the Jin-dynasty Stele of Famous Springs. The usual explanation is that a moss-covered black boulder in the cave looks like a crouching tiger and the water striking it sounds like a tiger's roar. A Black Tiger Temple built over the cave in the Ming later collapsed; when the pool was walled in the Qing, a stone tiger head was used as the spout, and an enlargement in the Republican era increased the heads to three. The Black Tiger Spring group lines both banks of the southern moat for about 700 m westward from Liberation Pavilion and has 14 spring pools, among them the Pipa, Agate, White Stone and Nine Maidens springs; it is the second-largest spring group in Jinan.

Five Dragon Pool

Five Dragon Pool is about 500 m north of Baotu Spring, on the west bank of the western moat, formerly outside the west gate of the old city. The pool is about 70 m long, 35 m wide and 6 m deep, the deepest spring pool in Jinan. According to records, a temple to the dragon gods of the five directions was built beside it in the Yuan dynasty, giving the pool its name. Legend has it that the mansion of the Tang general Qin Qiong (Qin Shubao) stood here and sank to form the pool; a Qin Qiong Shrine stands in the north of the park.

The park has a number of springs, among them the Ancient Warm Spring, Xianqing Spring and Crescent Spring (Yueya Quan). The Crescent Spring needs the highest groundwater of any spring in old Jinan: it usually starts flowing only when the water table at Baotu Spring reaches about 29 m, falling over the rocks as the “Crescent Waterfall”. The original Lixia Pavilion, where Du Fu attended a banquet, is generally thought to have stood near Five Dragon Pool and was moved to Daming Lake after the Song.

Pearl Spring

Pearl Spring is in the middle of the old city, north of Quancheng Road, inside a walled compound. Strings of bubbles rise continuously from the bottom of the pool like pearls, hence the name. Several other springs, such as Sanshui and Xiting, are in the same compound. Wangfu Pool lies just outside its west wall.

In the Ming dynasty this was the palace of the Prince of De, with the spring inside its grounds. The palace was destroyed when Qing troops took Jinan at the end of the Ming. Early in the Qing the governor of Shandong built his yamen on the site, and until the outbreak of the war with Japan it remained the seat of the Shandong provincial government. It now houses the Standing Committee of the Shandong Provincial People's Congress; the offices are kept separate from a visitor area, which is open to the public. The whole compound is a Shandong provincial protected site.

Wangfu Pool and Qushuiting Street

Wangfu Pool – properly Zhuoying Spring – lies just outside the west wall of the Pearl Spring compound. When the Prince of De's palace was built in the Ming, the spring was enclosed within it and came to be called the Prince's Pool; when the site became the Qing governor's yamen, it was left outside the wall. The pool has stone banks, with houses right up to its east and west sides. The name, “washing hat-strings”, comes from an old song quoted in Mencius about washing one’s hat-strings in clear water. Local people used to do their washing and swim in the pool; both are now banned to protect the water.

The water of Wangfu Pool and Pearl Spring flows north as a small stream, and the flagstone lane beside it is Qushuiting Street. The stream is on one side of the lane and old houses on the other; residents once washed rice and clothes in it, and today it draws many visitors. The stream runs into Baihuazhou, the pond to the east of the street's north end, and from there into Daming Lake; the area around Baihuazhou has been restored as a historic quarter.

Daming Lake

Daming Lake, in the north of the old city, is fed by water from the Baotu, Pearl and other spring groups and by the moat. Its water surface is about 0.5 km²; the water leaves through a sluice gate on the north side and flows north into the Xiaoqing River. The name “Daming Lake” already appears in the Northern Wei Shuijing Zhu, but it is generally thought to refer there to another body of water west of the city. The present lake was called Lianzi (Lotus Seed) Lake in the Tang; Zeng Gong, prefect of Qizhou in the Northern Song, called it West Lake and built causeways and bridges on it; from Yuan Haowen's Record of a Journey to Jinan in the Jin dynasty it has been called Daming Lake. It is now a park of about 103 ha. On a raised terrace on the north shore, the Beiji Pavilion is a Taoist temple first built in the Yuan and rebuilt in the Yongle reign of the Ming. On the south shore, the Jiaxuan Shrine, converted from a shrine to Li Hongzhang, commemorates the Southern Song poet Xin Qiji, a native of Licheng in Jinan. On the east shore, the Chaoran Tower, a recent building about 52 m high, takes its name from a Yuan-dynasty tower that once stood by the lake.

The present buildings of Lixia Pavilion, on an island in the lake, date from a rebuilding in the Kangxi reign of the Qing. In the Tang, Li Yong, governor of Beihai, gave a banquet for Du Fu at Lixia Pavilion, and Du Fu wrote the poem Attending Li Beihai's Banquet at Lixia Pavilion. Two of its lines, on the old pavilion and Jinan’s many men of renown, written out by the Qing calligrapher He Shaoji, hang as a couplet in front of the pavilion.

The Tiegong Shrine on the north shore honours Tie Xuan of the early Ming. In 1400 Zhu Di, Prince of Yan, marched south to seize the throne and laid siege to Jinan. Tie Xuan, then an administrator of Shandong, held the city with the general Sheng Yong for three months; even flooding the city failed, and the Yan army withdrew. Two years later Zhu Di took Nanjing and made himself emperor. Tie Xuan was captured, refused to submit, and was put to death in Nanjing. Later generations honoured his loyalty, and in the Qianlong reign of the Qing this shrine was built on the north shore. The garden gate beside it carries a famous couplet by the Qing writer Liu Fenggao on lotus all round the lake, willows along its banks, the Thousand Buddha Mountain seen from within the city, and the lake taking up half the town. In the second chapter of The Travels of Lao Can, Liu E has Lao Can see this couplet at the Tiegong Shrine, and it has been widely quoted as a summary of Jinan ever since.

City Moat

The moat runs round the east, south and west sides of the old city of Jinan, and both ends join Daming Lake in the north; measured on the map, the three sides come to about 5 km. Its water comes mainly from the springs along its banks – the Black Tiger Spring group and Baotu Spring on the south side, Five Dragon Pool on the west – and flows north into Daming Lake. The city wall was later pulled down, and Huancheng (Ring-the-City) Park was laid out along the eastern and southern moat. Liberation Pavilion at the south-east corner stands on the old wall at the point where the attackers broke through in the Battle of Jinan in 1948.

Boats run on the moat. Many visitors board at the pier on the moat a short way west of Black Tiger Spring. The boats go west along the southern moat past Quancheng Square and Baotu Spring, turn north up the western moat past Five Dragon Pool, and pass through a lock into Daming Lake. From the boat you can see the water of Black Tiger Spring gushing from the stone tiger heads and the spring pools along the banks running into the moat, willows and stone embankments on both sides, and, up at the south-east corner, Liberation Pavilion on the old city wall.

Travel tips

Location and transport: all these sights are in or right next to the old city of Jinan and close to one another, so they are easy to link on foot. Public transport is convenient, with many bus routes past Quancheng Square and Daming Lake. Traffic in the old city is often congested and parking is hard to find, so it is best not to drive.

Tickets: Baotu Spring Park charges admission; Five Dragon Pool, Black Tiger Spring, Daming Lake and Pearl Spring are free.

On foot: from the north gate of Baotu Spring to Five Dragon Pool is about 300 m; from the east gate of Baotu Spring east along the southern moat, past Quancheng Square, to Black Tiger Spring is about 1.5 km; Black Tiger Spring to Pearl Spring is about 1 km; from the east gate of Baotu Spring north-east to Wangfu Pool is about 1 km, by way of the old Furong Street; Wangfu Pool to Pearl Spring is about 100 m; about 200 m north of Wangfu Pool is Qushuiting Street, about 300 m long, whose north end faces the south gate of Daming Lake; Five Dragon Pool north along the western moat to the south-west gate of Daming Lake is about 800 m. A circuit of Daming Lake is about 4.5 km.

Boats: there is a pier on the moat a short way west of Black Tiger Spring; boats go west past Quancheng Square and Baotu Spring, then north past Five Dragon Pool and through a lock into Daming Lake. There are also piers at Baotu Spring, Five Dragon Pool and elsewhere. Boats on the lake itself call at piers for Lixia Pavilion, the Tiegong Shrine, Beiji Pavilion, the Jiaxuan Shrine and others.

Route: from Black Tiger Spring walk west along the southern moat to Baotu Spring, leave by its north gate for Five Dragon Pool, then go east to Wangfu Pool and Pearl Spring, and north through Qushuiting Street to the south gate of Daming Lake and the lake. Alternatively, take a moat boat from Black Tiger Spring past Baotu Spring and Five Dragon Pool into Daming Lake, and walk back by Qushuiting Street, Wangfu Pool and Pearl Spring.

Time: half a day for Baotu Spring; a full day on foot to link Black Tiger Spring, Baotu Spring, Five Dragon Pool, Pearl Spring, Wangfu Pool, Qushuiting Street and Daming Lake, with another half day to see Daming Lake properly.

Season: groundwater is highest after the summer–autumn rains, when the springs flow strongest; the lotus on Daming Lake is at its best in July and August; in spring the willows along the moat and the lake come into leaf.

Jinan's Seventy-two Famous Springs

Jinan has long spoken of its seventy-two famous springs; the Jin-dynasty Stele of Famous Springs already listed 72. Below is the new list of Seventy-two Famous Springs published by Jinan in 2004, arranged by spring group. The Baotu Spring, Pearl Spring, Black Tiger Spring and Five Dragon Pool groups are in and around the old city; the others are outside the city centre, in Licheng, Zhangqiu, Changqing, Pingyin and elsewhere. (Quan = spring, Chi = pool, Tan = deep pool, Jing = well, Wan = bay.)

Baotu Spring group (Baotu Quan Quanqun) (14): 趵突泉 Baotu, 金线泉 Jinxian, 皇华泉 Huanghua, 柳絮泉 Liuxu, 卧牛泉 Woniu, 漱玉泉 Shuyu, 马跑泉 Mapao, 无忧泉 Wuyou, 石湾泉 Shiwan, 湛露泉 Zhanlu, 满井泉 Manjing, 登州泉 Dengzhou, 杜康泉 Dukang, 望水泉 Wangshui

Pearl Spring group (Zhenzhu Quan Quanqun) (10): 珍珠泉 Zhenzhu, 散水泉 Sanshui, 溪亭泉 Xiting, 濋泉 Chu, 濯缨泉（王府池子） Zhuoying (Wangfu Chizi), 玉环泉 Yuhuan, 芙蓉泉 Furong, 舜井 Shun Jing, 腾蛟泉 Tengjiao, 双忠泉 Shuangzhong

Black Tiger Spring group (Heihu Quan Quanqun) (5): 黑虎泉 Heihu, 琵琶泉 Pipa, 玛瑙泉 Manao, 白石泉 Baishi, 九女泉 Jiunü

Five Dragon Pool group (Wulong Tan Quanqun) (11): 五龙潭 Wulong Tan, 古温泉 Guwen, 贤清泉 Xianqing, 天镜泉（江家池） Tianjing (Jiangjia Chi), 月牙泉 Yueya, 西蜜脂泉 Ximizhi, 官家池 Guanjia Chi, 回马泉 Huima, 虬溪泉 Qiuxi, 玉泉 Yu, 濂泉 Lian

Bai Spring group (Bai Quan Quanqun) (2): 华泉 Hua, 白泉 Bai

Yong Spring group (Yong Quan Quanqun) (8): 涌泉 Yong, 苦苣泉 Kuju, 避暑泉 Bishu, 突泉 Tu, 泥淤泉 Niyu, 大泉 Da, 圣水泉 Shengshui, 缎华泉 Duanhua

Yuhe Spring group (Yuhe Quan Quanqun) (1): 玉河泉 Yuhe

Baimai Spring group (Baimai Quan Quanqun) (6): 百脉泉 Baimai, 东麻湾 Dong Mawan, 西麻湾 Xi Mawan, 墨泉 Mo, 梅花泉 Meihua, 净明泉 Jingming

Jiasha Spring group (Jiasha Quan Quanqun) (5): 袈裟泉 Jiasha, 卓锡泉 Zhuoxi, 清泠泉 Qingling, 檀抱泉 Tanbao, 晓露泉 Xiaolu

Hongfan Pool group (Hongfan Chi Quanqun) (4): 洪范池 Hongfan Chi, 书院泉（东流泉） Shuyuan (Dongliu), 扈泉 Hu, 日月泉 Riyue

Others (6): 浆水泉 Jiangshui, 砚池 Yan Chi, 甘露泉 Ganlu, 林汲泉 Linji, 斗母泉 Doumu, 无影潭 Wuying Tan

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