Second Spring under Heaven

No. 2 Spring 天下第二泉
Location	Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, China

No. 2 Spring in China (Chinese: 天下第二泉) is the name of a spring at the foot of Mount Hui (惠山) in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, China.

History

It's said that there are nine dragons and 13 springs around Mountain Hui. However, 13 just means a lot here. More than 30 springs can be found and the No. 2 Spring is the most famous one among them. Its exposure dates back to the end of Dali era of Tang dynasty and its original name was Huishan Spring. Dugu Ji, the district magistrate of Changzhou in the Tang dynasty, wrote: "At the foot of the holy mountain in Wuxi lie many springs." Jing Cheng who styled himself Yuan Shen was the county magistrate of Wuxi. He engaged himself in archaeological studies and constructed the springs after settling all the small matters in his book Record of the New Springs in Huishan Temple.

The first man who called it "No. 2 Spring in China" was Lu Yu, the Tea Sage of the Tang Dynasty. In The Classic of Tea, he divided all waters into 20 classes, of which Huishan Spring ranked the second. Therefore, it is also named Luzi Spring. Zhao Gou, the Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty, had a pavilion built over the spring after drinking the water from it. He named it as "No. 2 Spring Pavilion", and left the inscription "Source of Running Water". Su Shi, a famous poet in Song Dynasty, wrote several poems for this spring. And even after he moved to Hangzhou, he still asked his friend to send some water for tea. Zhao Mengfu, a great calligrapher of the Yuan Dynasty, engraved the name as it features on the pavilion.

Architecture

The spring has three ponds: upper, middle and lower. The upper pond is an octangle 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, pond has the worst water quality. The lower pond is the largest. Rectangular, it was excavated in the Song Dynasty. The pool wall features the carved head of a stone Dragon by Yang Li in the 14th year during the Hongzhi era of the Ming Dynasty (AD 1501). The spring water runs out from the dragon's mouth into the ponds. There are some Taihu Rocks in front of the ponds, forming a statue---the Avalokitesvara standing on the back of a huge legendary turtle, which is commonly called the Avalokitesvara Stone with the daughter of the dragon on the left side and Shancai on the right side. At the bottom of the stone is an inscription of four characters by Hui Yan, which was the remains in the villa of Gu Kexue, the Director of the Board of Rites of the Ming Dynasty. It was moved here during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor. The big characters "No. 2 Spring in China" on the northern wall of the square pond, are Wang Shu’s calligraphy which are vigorous and simple.

In popular culture

Hua Yanjun, a famous folk musician also called Blind Abing, spread the fame of No. 2 Spring to the whole world by 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 No. 2 Spring."