The Second Spring or Second-best Spring under Heaven (

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

: , ''Tiānxià Dìèr Quán'') is the name of a

spring Spring(s) may refer to: Common uses * Spring (season), a season of the year * Spring (device), a mechanical device that stores energy * Spring (hydrology), a natural source of water * Spring (mathematics), a geometric surface in the shape of a ...

in Xihui Park at the foot of

Mount Hui Huishan National Forest Park () is a Chinese park in western Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, China. It is adjacent to Xihui Park. It includes and is named for Mount Hui (, ''Huìshān'', lit. "Kindhearted Hill"). The Huishan National Forest Park lies t ...

. The park is located in western

Wuxi Wuxi (, ) is a city in southern Jiangsu province, eastern China, by car to the northwest of downtown Shanghai, between Changzhou and Suzhou. In 2017 it had a population of 3,542,319, with 6,553,000 living in the entire prefecture-level city ar ...

in eastern

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, Postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an Eastern China, eastern coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is o ...

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

History

There are more than thirty springs located around Mount Hui. During the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...

, the mountain was considered holy. Jing Cheng (styled Yuan Shen), a county magistrate for

, constructed improvements around its springs. The present-day Second Spring was one of those he improved, under the name Huishan Spring (). The present name derives from the ''

Classic of Tea ''The Classic of Tea'' or ''Tea Classic'' () is the first known monograph on tea in the world, by Chinese writer Lu Yu between 760 CE and 762 CE, during the Tang dynasty. Lu Yu's original manuscript is lost; the earliest editions available date ...

'' written by

Lu Yu Lu Yu (; 733–804) or Lu Ji (陆疾), courtesy name Jici (季疵) was a Chinese tea master and writer. He is respected as the Sage of Tea for his contribution to Chinese tea culture. He is best known for his monumental book ''The Classic of ...

. In it, he divided all waters into 20 classes, ranking Huishan Spring's second

in the world ''In the World'' is an album by jazz saxophonist Clifford Jordan which was recorded in 1969 and released on the Strata-East label in 1972. The album was rereleased on CD as part of ''The Complete Clifford Jordan Strata-East Sessions'' by Mosaic Re ...

. The

Song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetitio ...

emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

Gaozong Gaozong () is the temple name of several Chinese monarchs. It can refer to: * Emperor Yuan of Han (reign: 49 BC–33 BC) * Emperor Gaozong of Tang (reign: 649–683) * Emperor Gaozong of Song (reign: 1127–1162) * Qianlong Emperor of the Qing dyn ...

erected a pavilion over the spring after visiting to drink water from it. The placards proclaimed it the "Second Spring Pavilion" and "Source of Running Water". Su Shi, a famous Song-era

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

, wrote several poems for the spring. Even after he moved to

Hangzhou Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay, whi ...

, he would write his friend in

to send him water for tea. The present name featured on the pavilion was engraved by the celebrated Yuan-era calligrapher

Zhao Mengfu Zhao Mengfu (; courtesy name Zi'ang (子昂); pseudonyms Songxue (松雪, "Pine Snow"), Oubo (鷗波, "Gull Waves"), and Shuijing-gong Dao-ren (水精宮道人, "Master of the Water Spirits Palace"); 1254–1322), was a Chinese calligrapher, pa ...

Architecture

The spring has three pools: an upper, middle, and lower. The upper pool is an octagon with water of the best quality. It has such a high surface tension that the water can brim several millimeters over a glass without spilling and the water is very clear and sweet. The middle square-shaped pool has the worst water quality. The lower rectangular pool is the largest and was excavated during the

Song dynasty The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...

. The pool wall features the head of a stone

dragon A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

carved by Yang Li in the 14th year of Hongzhi during the

Ming Dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

(AD 1501). The spring water runs out from the dragon's mouth into the pools. There are some

Taihu rocks Taihu stone () or porous stone is a kind of limestone produced at the foot of Dongting Mountain () in Suzhou, which is close to Lake Tai. Due to long-term surging by water, this kind of stone features pores and holes. These stones are very popula ...

in front of the pools, forming a statue: the Avalokitesvara standing on the back of a bixi turtle. The Avalokitesvara statue has another of the dragon's daughter on the left and

Shancai Sudhanakumāra (), mainly known as Sudhana and Shancai or Shancai Tongzi in Chinese, and translated as ''Child of Wealth'', is the protagonist in the last and longest chapter of the ''Avatamsaka Sutra''. Sudhana appears in Buddhist, Taoist and folk ...

on the right side. At the bottom of the stone is an inscription of four characters by Hui Yan, which were originally part of the villa of Gu Kexue, the Director of the Board of Rites during the Ming dynasty. It was moved to its present location during the reign of the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

Qianlong Emperor The Qianlong Emperor (25 September 17117 February 1799), also known by his temple name Emperor Gaozong of Qing, born Hongli, was the fifth Emperor of the Qing dynasty and the fourth Qing emperor to rule over China proper, reigning from 1735 t ...

. The large characters reading "Second Spring under Heaven" on the northern wall of the square pond are Wang Shu's.

Legacy

Hua Yanjun, a famous folk musician also called Blind

Abing Abing (; 17 August 1893 – 4 December 1950), born as Hua Yanjun (), was a blind Chinese musician specializing in the ''erhu'' and ''pipa''. Life Abing was born on August 17, 1893, in the eastern Chinese city of Wuxi to father Hua Qinghe, w ...

, spread the fame of the Second Spring in his song ''The Moon Over a Fountain'' 二泉映月. Although the usual English translation does not clarify what "fountain" is meant, the more literal translation would be "The Moon Reflected in the Waters of the Second Spring."

References

{{coord missing, Jiangsu Major National Historical and Cultural Sites in Jiangsu Springs of China Wuxi

History

Architecture

Legacy

See also

References