Improved water management brings old spring back to life

Visitors line up and take turns to wash their hands in the water gushing out of one of the fountainheads of Nanlao Spring at Jinci Temple in Taiyuan, Shanxi province, on March 24. (Photo by Zhu Xingxin/China Daily)

Over 1,200 years ago, renowned poet Li Bai wrote of Nanlao Spring at Jinci Temple: "The flowing water of Jinci is clean like jade."

Sadly, this flowing water dried up some 31 years ago due to the falling water table.

However, recently, several fountainheads of Nanlao Spring in Taiyuan, Shanxi province, have come back to life and the jade-like waters are flowing again, attracting numerous visitors.

Zhai Tianhu, 82, who has lived near Jinci Temple since childhood, welcomed the resurgence of the spring.

"The water flow is very strong this time," Zhai said.

"Seeing this water makes me very happy, so I often come back to take a look."

Excessive extraction of groundwater and the overdevelopment of coal mines in the surrounding areas led to the drying up of the spring in the 1990s.

After decades of persistent management and protection efforts, the spring finally began flowing again in May 2023, over three decades after it had stopped.

The groundwater level at Nanlao Spring, also known as the Never Aging Spring, is now over a meter over the height of several of the spring's fountainheads.

Also known as "the first spring of the Shanxi region", the spring has been used and admired for over 2,400 years.

It is located within Jinci, the earliest existing royal ancestral temple in China, established in the Western Zhou Dynasty (c.11th century-771 BC) to honor the founding marquis of the Jin State, Shuyu of Tang, and his mother, Yi Jiang.

At the end of last year, the Jinci Temple and Tianlong Mountain scenic area was designated a national 5A-level tourist attraction by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.