Black Dragon Pool Park - Jade Spring Park, Lijiang, China

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Black Dragon Pool - Jade Spring Park

 

By some quirk, the Jade Spring Park, which is more commonly called the Black Dragon Pool, gets its name from the clear jade-like sparkling waters in Lijiang’s northern area. The whole park is verdant with grass and protected by willow trees swaying in the cool breeze. There is a waterfall under the Shuocui Bridge which makes a continuous roaring sound as it makes its way downstream.

On the pool’s far side are buildings that were renovated and serve as venues for exhibiting art.

These are the Moon-Embracing Pavilion with which has a white bridge made of marble spanning the water, and the one built in the Ming Dynasty era called the Five-Phoenix Temple.

The renovated hillside complex houses the Dongba Research Institute. This area also has a small museum containing Dongba relics and scrolls on display, such as the invaluable "Art of Dongba Painting” and "Dongba Scroll Painting." The culture in Dongba began primarily in the Naxi polytheistic religion.

This religion adopted elements of Buddhism, Lamaism, and Daoism and incorporated them.

The scriptures of Dongba is made up of a series of over twenty thousand books rendered in Naxi pictographs as well as with over two thousand hieroglyphs which were a form of calligraphy developed

by the people of Naxi people over a thousand years ago.