Three-Day Trip to Nanjing, Part 5: Nanjing Pearl Spring – Indescribably Wonderful
When Nanjing comes to mind, people usually mention the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum, Confucius Temple, Laomendong, and Xuanwu Lake. In fact, Pearl Spring is also a scenic spot well worth a visit.
Located at the southwestern foot of Dingshan Mountain in Pukou District, Nanjing, Pearl Spring faces the Yangtze River and backs onto Laoshan Mountain. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, it was renowned as "the foremost sightseeing destination north of the Yangtze River". Although not large in area, it boasts green mountains, clear waters, fantastic springs, and beautiful rocks, with splendid scenery and a fine ecological environment, making it an excellent place for relaxation, cooling off, spring outings, and flower appreciation.
Walking into the park, strolling in a clockwise direction, leisurely enjoying the scenery along the way, you can't help but click your tongue in admiration.
By the time of Qingming Festival, the forest flowers have shed their spring red — it's already past the season when flowers vie for beauty. Still, the emerald camphor trees, gorgeous Japanese red maples, swaying willow branches, budding plane trees, purple azaleas, and various unknown wildflowers are all delightfully refreshing.
The green hills, trees, and flower clusters reflected in the water make you mistake it for a watercolor painting, with water as paper and nature as ink, harmonious and beautiful. A small white house, nothing special originally, becomes a lovely landscape simply because it sits by the water, a simple Huizhou-style building with whitewashed walls, black tiles, and lattice windows, neighbor to the trees, using water as a mirror and the mountain as a backdrop.
A few larger stones placed in the water connect the two banks, drawing many adults and children to come and catch fish and tadpoles.
At the source of Pearl Spring, spring water gushes from the limestone fissures at the bottom of the pool. The bubbles are like pearls, string after string, round, lustrous, and ceaseless. The crystal-clear pool water, the glistening pearls of bubbles, and the dynamic upward surge resemble a golden dragon spitting pearls, a fairy clam offering treasures, or a celestial maiden whispering softly — hence the name "Pearl Spring". Visitors watch quietly or listen intently, gradually entering a delightful state; the elegance of the scene is truly indescribable. Moreover, the bursting bubbles at the water's surface create droplets that jump like fine raindrops, accompanied by mist, resembling a drizzling rain or a water droplet dance, so it is also called "Rain-and-Shine Spring". At the source, tourists clap their hands, shout, or sing loudly in curiosity, causing the water beads to gush even more, faster and more abundantly, hence the name "Guest-Welcoming Spring". Truly, one spring offers three views, a wonderful marvel.
Besides the extraordinary spring, the water of Pearl Spring is also unique: crystal clear to the bottom, with no obstruction to the view. Floating clouds, lovely mountains, graceful trees, and jagged rocks are reflected hazily in the water, like the elegant River Cam, "where rainbow-like dreams settle," like the enchanting Jiuzhaigou with its riot of colors — light green, dark green, indigo, lake blue, ochre yellow intermingling — and also like a piece of Yunjin brocade, so beautiful that you can't help wanting to make a cheongsam or cut a shawl from it.
Of course, the water plants here are not as lush as those in Xu Zhimo's River Cam, nor is there a pole for me to pole "toward where the green grass is even greener." However, it evokes Li Bai's feeling of "a traveler's heart cleansed by flowing water" — my own wandering heart feels truly washed by the flowing water, light, joyful, and happy. It brings to mind the feeling of Wu Jun drifting downstream from Fuyang to Tonglu, letting the current carry him wherever it pleased, truly "gazing into the valley, forgetting to return." And also Su Dongpo's sentiment: "When can I go back, to be an idler, with a long zither, a flask of wine, and a stream of clouds?" Now I am indeed an idler, able to calmly enjoy "a stream of clouds," wandering through beautiful scenes with the contentment and satisfaction of a leisurely cloud or a wild crane.
Liu Yuxi once said, "A mountain need not be high; its fame comes from immortals. A water need not be deep; its magic comes from dragons." The mountain here is not high, and perhaps there are no immortals; the water is not deep, and perhaps there are no dragons. Yet it's truly worth a visit, for coming here indeed helps you forget earthly worries and even stirs the urge to build a house and live here for a long time.
