The Huishan Spring is in the Xihui Park at the foot of Mt. Huishan (Favorable Mountain) in western suburb of Wuxi City, Jiangsu Province. The spring is named after the mountain. The Huishan Spring gained its fame since mid Tang Dynasty (618 - 907). According to the spring taster Liu Bochu, the Huishan Spring in Wuxi was the second best among the top seven springs good for brewing tea. Because of this, the Huishan Spring is also known as the Second Spring. What a coincidence, Lu Yu, in his larger-scope evaluation, also ranked the Huishan Spring as the second best among the top 20 springs good for brewing tea.
The Huishan Spring originates in a mountain. It is filtered so fine by rock layers that it is pure, sweet, and light, containing little impurity. It is an ideal spring for brewing tea. Li Deyu, a prime minister in the Tang Dynasty (618 -907), once had Huishan Spring water transported by post horses to the capital for brewing tea. In the Song Dynasty (960 - 1279), the Huishan Spring was highly esteemed by emperors, princes, and scholars. They spared no efforts to transport Huishan Spring water to their capital Kaifeng, regardless of the cost. Emperor Qian Long of the Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1911) conferred the title No.2 Spring in the World on the Huishan Spring. Zhao Mengfu, a master calligrapher in the Yuan Dynasty (1279 - 1368), wrote the Chinese characters of No.2 Spring in the World on a board for the spring. Today, the board still hangs on the rock wall behind the spring pavilion. All past tea lovers cherished the Huishan Spring and wrote poems and odes for it. The most famous work for the Huishan Spring is Moonlight on Second Spring, an erhu fiddle tune by a blind folk musician A Bing. The tune is still popular nowadays.
The upper pond, middle pond, and lower pond of the Huishan Spring: The octagon upper pond is in the Second Spring Pavilion and has the best water quality. The irregular lower pond is in front of the Second Spring Pavilion. The Huishan Spring is the natural outcrop of underground water and is free of pollution. Filtered by sand and stone, the spring water congregates into a crystal-clear stream. In addition, as the stream flows through rocks, it contains several mineral nutrients conducive to human health.
