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The Upper and Lower Wells on Songtai Mountain and Cliff Inscriptions

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The Upper and Lower Wells on Songtai Mountain refer to the Immortal Well at the mountain peak and the Golden Sand Well at the eastern foothills. They are two of the “Twenty-Eight Wells carved to represent the twenty-eight lunar mansions” built when the city was established during the Taining era of the Jin Dynasty. The Upper Well is round, with a stone railing built from blocks; it has an inner diameter of 0.7 meters. The well walls are cylindrical, built from stone blocks, with an inner diameter of 2 meters and a depth of 4.5 meters. The railing wall is inscribed with characters such as “Winter of the Jiyou Year (1845), Immortal Well of Songtai, inscribed by Mei Quan…”; the Lower Well, also known as the Bagua Well, has an octagonal stone railing made by joining eight bluestone slabs, adorned with carvings of peonies and a white deer holding a flower. It has an inner diameter of 2.4 meters, is 5 meters deep, and its walls are constructed from granite blocks. The water from both wells is sweet and remains unfailing even during prolonged droughts.

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The Upper and Lower Wells on Songtai Mountain and Cliff Inscriptions are cultural heritage sites protected by Wenzhou Municipality.

The Upper and Lower Wells on Songtai Mountain refer to the Immortal Well at the mountain peak and the Golden Sand Well at the eastern foothills. They are two of the “Twenty-Eight Wells carved to represent the twenty-eight lunar mansions” built when the city was established during the Taining era of the Jin Dynasty. The Upper Well is round, with a stone railing built from blocks; it has an inner diameter of 0.7 meters. The well walls are cylindrical, built from stone blocks, with an inner diameter of 2 meters and a depth of 4.5 meters. The railing wall is inscribed with characters such as “Winter of the Jiyou Year (1845), Immortal Well of Songtai, inscribed by Mei Quan”; the Lower Well, also known as the Bagua Well, has an octagonal stone railing made by joining eight bluestone slabs, adorned with carvings of peonies and a white deer holding a flower. It has an inner diameter of 2.4 meters, is 5 meters deep, and its walls are constructed from granite blocks. The water from both wells is sweet and remains unfailing even during prolonged droughts.

The cliff inscriptions are located on the rock face west of the Immortal Well. Existing inscriptions include “Lingyan (Spiritual Cliff)” by Liang Qing in the mid-summer of the Guiyou Year; “Pingfeng (Screen)” by Xian Hong in the mid-summer of the Guiyou Year; and “Shibi (Stone Cliff)” by a Jin Dynasty monk in the early summer (Gaoyue) of the Jiyou Year, inscribed under the 438th Jupiter cycle.