After we left Tiger Leaping Gorge, we arrived at Lijiang city. Our first stop was The Black Dragon Pool.
The Black Dragon Pool (simplified Chinese: 黑龙潭; traditional Chinese: 黑龍潭; pinyin: Hēilóngtán) is a famous pond in the scenic Jade Spring Park (Yu Quan Gong Yuan) located at the foot of Elephant Hill, a short walk north of the Old Town of Lijiang in Yunnan province, China. It was built in 1737 during the Qing Dynasty and offers a spectacular view on the region’s tallest mountain, Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, over its white marble bridge. The park features several smaller temples and pavilions:
- The Moon-Embracing Pavilion (simplified Chinese: 得月楼; traditional Chinese: 得月樓; pinyin: Déyuè Lóu), which was originally built in the late Ming Dynasty. The current structure is a reproduction from 1963 after a fire in 1950.
- The Dragon God Temple (Longshen Temple) was constructed by local Naxi people in 1737 and is located to the east of the park. It was given the name Dragon God of Jade Spring by Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty in the same year.
- The threefold overlap Five-Phoenix Tower (Wufeng Tower) was built during the Ming Dynasty (1601), and today located at the north end of the park. The tower was originally situated at the Fuguo Temple, which is 30 kilometers to the west, but was moved to Jade Spring Park in 1979.
The park is further home to the Dongba Culture Research Institute and the Dongba Culture Museum. source : wikipedia.org
The pool is the water source for the famous Old Town of Lijiang. It is a nice stroll and walking along the path leads you directly to the Old Town. On a good clear day, you can see the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain in the background behind the pond with a nice reflection on the surface of the pond. Unfortunately, on the day we were there, the snow mountain was blocked by clouds.
All photos were shot in RAW with Canon EOS 5D Mark II with Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L USM. All photos were shot in RAW and converted to TIFF with Capture One Pro with further processing by Photoshop CS5 before final output to the web.
Really beautiful shots!