Baotu Spring

The Baotu Spring is a culturally significant karst spring located in the city of Jinan, Shandong , China. It is
mentioned in the Spring and Autumn Annals, one of the Five Classics of Chinese literature and was declared the "Number One Spring under the Heaven"
by the Qing Dynasty Emperor Qian Long.

Spring

The Baotu Spring is the most renown among the more than 70 named
artesian springs in the downtown area of the city of Jinan. The water
of all these springs originates from an Ordovician
karst aquifer under the city. As the terrain around Jinan slopes from
the south down to the north, the recharge are for the aquifer is
located in the mountainous area to the south of the city. The recharge
area of the springs covers 1,500 square kilometers, out of which 550
km2 provide direct recharge and 950 km2 indirect recharge.

Altogether, the springs fed by the aquifer have a discharge of about
300,000-350,000 cubic meters per day . Since the
1970s, the springs have stopped flowing several time because too much
water has been taken out from the aquifer for human consumption .

Baotu Spring is part of a cluster of about 20 named springs. Age
estimates of its water suggest that the water from this spring
originates from shallow circulation .

The spring pool of the Baotu spring is fed by an underwater limestone
water through three outlets, the volume of the water coming out of the
spring can reach peak values up to 1.6 cubic meters per second . The water jets from the spring are said to have reached highs up to 26 meters. The water temperature remains constant of 18 degree Celsius through the entire
year.

History

The existence of the Baotu Spring has been dated back more than 3,500
years to the times of the Shang Dynasty. The spring is
mentioned in the Spring and Autumn Annals, the official chronicle
of the ancient State of Lu and one of the Five Classics of
Chinese literature. The Baotu Spring is also described in the Suijing Zhu
compiled by the geographer Li Daoyuan during the time of the
Northern Wei Dynasty. He writes that "spring gushes up, water
gushing like wheel".
During the time of Li Daoyuan, the Baotu Spring and adjacent springs formed the source of
the ancient Luo River.
The present-day name of the spring refers to the gushing up of the water. It dates back to the Song Dynasty;
previously the spring had been known under different names such as
"Baoliu" and "Lanquan".

The area of the Baotu Spring as well as some neighboring springs such
as the Jinxian Spring , the Huanghua
Spring , the Mapao Spring
, the Shiwan Spring
, Zhanlu Spring
, and the Manjing Spring
are protected by a public park
. The park was created in 1956
and covers now about 10.5 hectare.

Architecture

The spring water feeds into a rectangular spring pool that extends 30
meters from east to west and 18 meters from north to south. The spring
pool is surrounded by historical structures such as the Leyuan Hall
, the Guanlan Pavilion
, and the Laihe Bridge . Closeby, on the shore of the spring's runoff stands the Wangheting Teahouse. Other noteworthy structures are the Banbi Corridor and the Waterside Chamber. The largest architectural ensemble is the 10,000 Bamboo Garden. It comprises 186 buildings arranged around 13 courtyards as well as four pavilions and five bridges. Orginially built during the Yuan Dynasty, it served as the home to a famous poet. In 1912, Zhang Hauizhi, a commander of the local army who later becme governor of Shandong Province bought the garden and kept enlarging it from 1912 to 1927. Other gardens within the park are the Whanzhu Garden, the Cang Garden , the Luoyuan Garden, the Hundred Flowers Garden, and the Memorial Garden.

Culture

Baotu Spring has been a recurring subject of classic Chinese
literature and has been written about by authors such as Zeng Gong
, Zhao Mengfu , and Pu Songling . The spring was visited by the emperors Kang Xi and Qian Long who left inscriptions at the
site. Qian Long conferred on it the honorary title "First Spring under
the Heaven" .

The Baotu Spring public park also houses memorials to the local painters
Li Kuchan and Wang Xuetao as well as
to the poet Li Qingzhao. The latter has a memorial hall set in a traditional
courtyard dedicated to her.

The Baotu Spring is the site of an annual lantern festival , and a chrysanthemum show .

A local beer brand
is named after the spring and said to be brewed with water from the
spring.

Location

The Baotu Spring is located right to the southwest of the city center of Jinan, on the outer side of the old city moat and near the west end of Quancheng Road ; its street address is Baotu Spring South Road 1 , Jinan, Shandong.