Golden Metropolis Hot Spring International Resort by Shuiyi Fang

Shuiyi Fang Golden Metropolis Hot Spring International Resort

Shuiyi Fang Golden Metropolis Hot Spring International Resort is a national AA-level tourist attraction.

The Golden Metropolis Hot Spring is located at the foot of Gunquan Mountain in the urban area, covering a spring area of 2 square kilometers. As an ancient saying goes: “In the west stands Mount Tai, proud under the vast sky; in the east lies the hot springs of Zhaoyi, unrivaled in the world.” The springs gush abundantly with rising mist. According to the county annals: “Among hot springs, Lishan is the most famous, Qingxi the most fragrant, and Zunhua the hottest. Yet the Zhaoyuan hot springs rival Zunhua in heat, with both warm and cool streams intermingling—a spectacle unmatched in the world.” Here, multiple springs bubble and surge, cascading along the stream and flowing downhill, merging with nearby cold water to form a small creek named “Mandarin Duck River.” A bridge crosses the river. Due to the geothermal influence, this bridge remains frost-free in autumn and snowless in winter, creating a remarkable phenomenon, hence anciently called the “Frost-Breaking Bridge.”

The Golden Metropolis Hot Spring boasts a long history, high water temperature, and excellent water quality, offering significant therapeutic value to the human body. It has been revered as a “water deity” or “water doctor” that requires no incense, enjoying fame both in China and abroad throughout history. The county annals record: “Its heat rivals burning charcoal, soaking your feet makes the warmth even more intense. It can boil water across a distance and cook vegetables in a basket. Truly comparable to a cauldron of soup, it is the best for bathing.” This water can treat scabies, drive away plagues, relieve bloating, soothe fatigue, dispel the cold in deep winter, and alleviate summer heat. The benefits are too numerous to list, but chief among them is its use in bathing to cleanse the body and renew the spirit—especially meaningful. The Tang Dynasty poet Wang Yu visited and wrote a seven-character poem about it. The Ming Dynasty Hanlin academician and Ministry of Rites vice-minister Yang Guanguang also composed works on it. The Ming Dynasty county magistrate Xu Zhao wrote in his writings: “Is it near the Salt Pool, where the earth is sunbathed daily? Is it by the sea, quenched by scorched stones? Perhaps a red dragon lurks beneath, or perhaps it’s fired by subterranean flames?” Other records claim it is “traversed by the equator” or “where the sun god passes.” Geologists believe it is caused by the heat and pressure generated from tectonic fault activities deep underground, which increases the temperature of groundwater and forces it to the surface. The Golden Metropolis Hot Spring is also known as Gunquan. Locals simply call it the Hot Spring. A local legend tells that the hot spring is a divine creation. Beneath Gunquan Mountain lives a fire god tasked with generating geothermal energy. Should anyone offend it, minor offenses might result in bursts of divine flames, while major ones could trigger landslides and earthquakes. Such terrifying power made people feel as if they lived on a volcano, thus worshipping and fearing it. To pray for blessings and avoid disaster, people earnestly built temples here to worship and offer sacrifices. During the Song Dynasty’s Zhenzong era, a Fire God Temple was built north of Gunquan Mountain, and June 23rd was designated as the annual temple worship day. This tradition continued uninterrupted for centuries, with incense burning ceaselessly in the temple. Meanwhile, at the foot of Gunquan Mountain, the Temple of the Emperor of Mount Tai, the Temple of the Eastern Sacred Mountain, the Temple of the Heavenly Emperor, the Jade Emperor Temple, the Jade Mother Temple, and the Sunlight Temple were also successively constructed. Since then, the hot spring area has been surrounded by orderly palaces and temples, grand pavilions with painted beams and carved rafters, vivid statues and sculptures, creating a once-spectacular scene of grandeur. Bathing in the hot spring and worshiping became a major historical event. Unfortunately, these scenic relics were later destroyed in wars, and today only remnants of tiles and bricks can be found amid the ruins.

On the surface of the hot spring area, there were three vigorously gushing springs at Gunquan, perpetually shrouded in mist, resembling spring haze. Someone once poetically depicted this scene vividly: “Rising steam billows, white clouds swirl; it seems to emerge from a furnace, tirelessly day and night.” This landscape was thus listed as one of Zhaoyuan’s ancient eight scenic spots—“Evening Baths at the Hot Spring.”

Three of the city’s renowned Eight Minor Scenic Spots are found here: “Self-Bubbling Hot Spring”—a pool about 4 square meters and 50 centimeters deep was built in the village, where 98-degree hot water surges upward, rivaling the scenery of Jinan’s Baotu Spring; “Mandarin Duck River”—the hot water from the Self-Bubbling Spring flows down the stream and merges with the cold water from the south at the northwest of the village, flowing eastward with mixed temperatures, murmuring as it goes, hence called “Yin-Yang Water”; “Frost-Breaking Bridge”—at the northwest of the village stands a stone bridge where hot water rushes year-round beneath. The bridge, heated by the thermal water, remains frost-free in autumn and snowless in winter, hence named the “Frost-Breaking Bridge.” The surrounding villages were also divided by the hot and cold waters: those to the south are called Tangqian and Tanghou, to the north is Lengjiazhuang, and to the east is Tangdonggou. This unique natural wonder attracted “pilgrims” from far and wide. Local legends say that Yang Guifei of the Tang Dynasty once built the Guifei Pool at Lishan Hot Spring to bathe with Emperor Minghuang. But she found the water temperature, quality, and volume there inferior to those of Dengzhou Prefecture (then governing Zhaoyuan’s Gunquan in Jiaodong), and she intended to visit this spring one day to bathe her jade-like body. Sadly, the peerless beauty never got her wish, as she was forced to commit suicide at Mawei Slope during the Anshi Rebellion. Consequently, Gunquan in Zhaoyuan regrettably missed the chance to gain fame through her. However, the naturally beautiful Golden Metropolis Hot Spring has not diminished its intrinsic value because of this. For thousands of years, both officials and commoners have developed and utilized this precious geothermal resource across generations, building baths and enhancing the land for the benefit of the people, allowing everyone to enjoy the gifts of the hot spring.

The Golden Metropolis Hot Spring features high water temperature—with surface temperatures reaching up to 98 degrees Celsius, abundant water volume, excellent quality, and natural self-boiling. It is the hottest, highest-quality, and most abundant hot spring in northern China. The spring water is rich in over twenty minerals including calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, sulfur, iron, chlorine, and bromine, as well as the radium and radon—radioactive elements of significant medical value—that benefit the human nervous, skin, digestive, cardiovascular, and respiratory systems. Bathing in the spring water is highly effective in treating chronic rheumatism, trauma, hypertrophic arthritis, light-sensitive dermatitis, psoriasis, sciatica, chronic gastritis, hypertension, coronary heart disease, and arteriosclerosis, among many other conditions.