Welcome to the beautiful city JiNan which is the capital of ShanDong Province. Now we are in the BaoTu spring park in the center of JiNan .Built in 1956, the BaoTu spring park is named after the BaoTu spring. Covering a total area of 54945 square Meters including 12221 square meters, the park is a traditional Chinese garden characterized by spring. The park has three gates, of which the EastGate is the main gate.
On the doorhead is inscribed three Chinese characters written by Mr GuoMoruo. The park features sightseeing, fish watching,tea sampling,stones and culture,especiallyNoted for its exquisiteness, cleanliness peacefulness, simplicity and elegance.The park is divided into ten major viewing areas, such as the BaoTu spring, theThree Halls, the Shangzhi Hall, the Jade Rinsing and the BaoTu Garden.
Now let’s go into the park. Enter the main gate and we will find a rockery in front of us, which was set up in 1964 with stones which are known as North Taihu stone because of their similarity in quality and color to Taihu Lake Stone produced in WuXi, JiangSu Province,.30 metres from north to south and 13 meters from west to east. The Rockery has a 4 meters high side peak. There is a cave under the Rockery with an area of about 16 square metres where visitors can take a short rest before they go inside the park. The cave of the Rockery is designed successfully with a large piece of stone. On the cave wall there are enough rifts with allow light and air to go into the cave where it is not too dark or humid. The Rockery is an excellent work of its kind in JiNan which has been highly praised by gardeners.
Located in the west park of the park, also called Luo Spring in ancient times, the BaoTu Spring has a long history of more than 3500 years, According to historical records, HuangongKing of the Lu State, met with King of the Qi State at Ouo in 694 BC. In the Northern Wei Dyansty, it was called Eying Spring because of the Eying Temple by the spring. In the North Song Dynasty, Zeng Gong, a famous writer, wrote an article entitled records of two halls in Qi prefecture, in which the spring was formally called the baoTu spring. In the JinDynasty, a stele was erected by the spring, saying that the BaoTu Spring was first among the 72 famous springs.
The BaoTu Spring bubbled up day and nighe from three jets and splashesAll over, sounding like a distant roll of thunder, looking like boiling waves and presenting a magnificent sight named the BaoTu gushing into the sky, one of the eight major scenes of Jinan.Many poems and articles in praising of the Baotu Spring have been left behind by emperors and numerous scholars and men of letters of different dynasties, such as Zeng gong, yuan Haowen, ZhangYanghao, Wang Shouren, Pu Songling, Emperor Kangxi and Emperor QianLong.
By the spring there are many inscriptions by celebrities. The two Chinese characters on the west wall of the Pavilion were written by Jinqin, a calligrapher in the Ming DynastyThe three Chinese characters 趵突泉 inscribed on the stele in the spring water were written by Hu Zanzong, Governor of Shandong in the Ming Dynasty. The other three ChineseCharacters 第一泉was written by Wang Zhonglin, a calligrapher in the Qing Dynasty. Any question?
A common saying goes that if you don’t drink the spring water when you come to JiNan. It is a pity! Now lets have a taste. En Wonderful !