conghua hot spring resort

conghua hot spring resort lies in hot spring town of conghua city, covering an area of 14.5 km2. it is renowned for sightseeing and hot spring rest, including hot spring tour zone and tianhu sightseeing zone. in 1989, hot spring sightseeing zone was awarded “excellent world in guangdong tourism ” by guangdong province.

the history of conghua hot spring can be dated back to ming and qing dynasties, when the “one-hundred-measure waterfall” was listed as eight scenes of conghua and also praised as the great environment for washing. the actual development did not start until 1930s. in 1931, professor xian yuqing investigated the spot and wrote an introduction article, which aroused general concern. in 1933, liu peiquan from southwest airlines discovered “one-hundred-measure waterfall” from airplane, after which he organized “hot spring development promotion committee” to develop the scenic spot and set a stone stele with “hot spring” on it beside the mouth (which is now beside the hedong cafeteria in hot spring hotel). dozens of private villas were built around 1936, among which the most famous one is the villa for chen jitang. the vips from kuomintang came to the spot in a continuous stream, including jiang jieshi and lin sen. after the founding of p.r.c., premier zhou enlai proposed to establish conghua hot spring into “winter resort”. in 50s and 60s, hotels, rest houses and sanitariums were built here.

in conghua hot spring resort, tourists can enjoy the scene of continuous green mountains, winding streams and fresh air. there are also pavilions and houses of different styles, including bilang bridge, dicui pavilion, cui stream, north stream, taoran hall, red building, bamboo farm, plum garden, pine garden and qingyin pavilion, which echo with the mountains and streams to form a beautiful natural scene. since 1930s, the resort is renowned home and abroad, with hot spring as its core and feature. the hot spring sources are plenty in conghua—altogether 13 fountains, distributed on the east and west side of the river. there are a lot of chemicals in the fountain, with a particular high density of radon. the temperature ranges from 73℃ to 30℃. because of the functions of chemicals and stimulations of heat, hot spring bath can restore energy, adjust the functions of different organs and cure the diseases.

conghua is also famous for lichee. in midsummer when lichee is ripe, people are coming in a stream to conghua, to enjoy the hot spring bath and fresh fruit, which has become the annual big occasion in conghua city.

tianhu sightseeing zone lies to the west of hot spring, famous for the forest, lake, waterfall and venison. tianhu lake is surrounded by mountains and trees, with an ever-pleasant climate all year around. guanpu pavilion, juxian pavilion, yuyu pavilion and huxin pavilion are built around the lake to make the mirror-like tianhu lake more beautiful. below tianhu lake, among the green mountains is the famous “hot spring tri waterfalls”, which is divided into 5 grades. from the 1st to the 3rd is the one-hundred-measure waterfall, the 4th grade is the flying rainbow waterfall and 5th grade is scent powder waterfall. the three-fold waterfall pours out of the col of tianhu lake in a continuum splendidly. when guo moruo visited here, he wrote, “one hundred measures is the waterfall, like numerous reed instruments playing. when waterfall runs, it’s like raining on the bank and splashes come off the stones.”. the 1st, 2nd and 3rd grades are connected to form great momentum. during the republic of china, the president of sun sat-sen university wrote “the pouring waterfall is like a leakage in the sky” and had it carved on the source rock. in 1962, zhu de, the chairman, wrote “dancing silver snake in the mountain” and had it carved on the cliff. the 4th grade is flying rainbow waterfall, which can show the appearance of rainbow in sunny days. the 5th grade is scent powder waterfall. when it runs down, the splashes look like powders to spread over the valley. local people use the waterfall force to make “scent powder”(made of a tree in the mountain, an ingredient for mosquito repellent incense). that is why the waterfall is name scent powder waterfall.

before the founding of p.r.c., along liuxi river, there were a lot of fountains with hot water, which was clear, hot and odorless. local people call it “soup fountain”. in 1960, scientific investigation was carried out to test the hot spring by guangdong geology department. the results showed that the hot spring contains the precious radon element, as well as other elements like silicon dioxide, calcium, kalium, natrium, magnesium, ammonia, chlorine and fluorine, which is highly valuable for medical use. the hot spring is proved effective for more than 30 diseases like skin diseases, periarthritis humeroscapularis, lumbar muscle strain and arthritis.

there are 10 fountains of hot spring developed, with an average daily artesian flow of 1400 m3 and the climax daily flow as 3000 m3.

dicui pavilion lies at the left side of bilang bridge to the west of the river, with red pillows and green tiles, on the side of liuxi river. it was built in 30s, with several christmatite stones as table and chair. there are several tall maple trees beside the pavilion. in spring, the green leaves look like a cover; in autumn, when maple leaves turn red, tourists can feel “maple leaves are redder than the flower in spring”. guo moruo named the pavilion “dicui pavilion” in his visit to the hot spring resort.

liuchun pavilion lies in the center of east river, which is originally a fish pond and then transformed into a round lake. there are two hot spring mouths in the lake, one of which was built into a round platform and the other is built into an exquisite foursquare pavilion. the reflected images of red wall, green glazed tiles, connecting bridges, villas, blue sky and green trees seem to try their best to keep the spring. therefore, the pavilion is named “liuchun (keep the spring) pavilion”.  

qingyin pavilion is in the south side of west river, at the side of liuxi river, along the pathway to tianhu lake. there used to be bamboo pavilion named “erli pavilion”. in 1957, the six-square pavilion was rebuilt here with smooth chrismatite stones. the tourists can have a rest here on their way climbing the mountain,. the lake is clear, the air is refreshing, the mountains are silent and only birds twitter and insects sing. in 1963, dong biwu named the pavilion “qingyin pavilion”.

bilang bridge is in the center of the scenic spot, across liuxi river, which is 80m long and 8m wide. it is a stone arch bridge, under which the tide is glittering and fishes and swimming. tourists can enjoy the unification and mountain and water and in nights the splendid colors reflected on the water. in 1961, guo moruo named the bridge “bilang bridge”.

hot spring lake was built in 1960, when the water level was raised due to the dam construction in shagang and a lake was formed covering a diameter of several hundreds of meters. the lake brings charm to the scenic spot with golden sand beach and clear water. tourists can also row a boat on the lake to enjoy the beautiful natural scenes of hot spring.

tianhu lake lies on the peak of waterfall—tianjia mountain, which was built in 1972 as one of the 5 water projects. because it was built on top of the lofty mountain, it was named “tianhu”(sky lake). tianhu covers about 1 km2, 7 km from front to aft, with a storage capacity of 10,340,000 m3. there is lake center pavilion in the lake, fairy pool under the dam and also a fairy lady statue in the pond by tang daxi, a sculptor in guangzhou. the fairy lady stands on lotus platform with one hand holding the dress. the vivid statue seems like she is going to play with water. below the fairy lady pond is the famous hot spring waterfall. there are also yachts in tianhu lake for tourists to have a tour around and enjoy the lake and mountain sceneries.

heavenly doctor lies 400 m behind songyuan cafeteria, where the environment is quiet and delicate with murmurs of streams and quite woods. beside the stream, there is a huge stone (4m long and 3m high) on which three characters “heavenly doctor place” were carved on the surface. below it is the posy, “heavenly doctors are needed when medicine cannot cure the disease, which little people know. the dirty environment and mixed use of medicines sometimes kill the patients rather than the disease itself. pearl river yiyang garden opened a branch here because it is suitable for good care. it is helpful for the treatment as well. people coming here most likely agree with the opinion. the words here, however, are for propaganda to the crowd. to remind yourself of the goal and to be persisting, you will find yourself listed as one of those long-lived people. this is also the intent of the motto for ancient people. founded jan, 26th year of the republic of china, liang peiji, shunde”. liang peiji propose the adoption of “heavenly doctor” to cure diseases in quiet environment. he noticed the hot spring, where the environment is suitable because of the quiet and dense woods and hot spring. therefore, a branch of yiyang garden was opened in song garden. 

guanpu pavilion lies in the pinewoods in the middle of the hill to tianhu lake. it was first built in 50s, which was then abolished because of the construction of tianhu lake. guanpu pavilion was rebuilt in 1985, which is rectangular, with stone railings and chairs and brownish red glazed tiles. tourists can enjoy the whole scene of the waterfall—“one-hundred-measure waterfall is like a leakage in the sky”, as well as the beautiful sights of the lake and the mountains.