lushan County is abundant in hot-spring resources. The five major hot-springs, namely the Shangtang, Zhongtang, Xiatang, Wentang and Shentang, are combined into a hot-spring cluster extending for scores of miles, benefiting the local people a lot. The water of an average temperature between 61℃ and 63℃ is ideal for bathing, containing a dozen of microelements such as boron, lithium, fluorine, radium and radon.
Li Daoyuan, the great geographer of the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534 A.D.), said that lushan hot-springs are “capable of curing a great many diseases” as recorded in his masterpiece. In history, lots of scholars wrote poets eulogizing lushan hot-springs. Fan Chunren, an outstanding scholar and the second son of Fan Zhongyan (a famous thinker and litterateur of the Song Dynasty a thousand years ago), once visited lushan when he was the magistrate of Xiancheng County (close to lushan County). In a poem named on lushan Hot-spring he wrote, “At the foot of hill is a fairy spring naturally heated, where the majesties once all crowded; yet the water is always the same, as seasons carry dynasties away in a historic game”, reflecting the popularity of hot-spring bathing in lushan.
What's more, lushan hot-spring is of special value in medical treatment. People of skin diseases may find them cured after some bathing here, without any medical treatment. Bathing in hot-spring here will make your skin clean and your hair black with healthy luster, without any shampoo. Setting out from the county seat of lushan and going west to reach Shangtang, you'll find numerous hot-spring resorts or hotels along the way, here or there, big or small. In Xiatang, a place once called “the royal spring” in old ages, hot-spring business is booming. Nearly all the hotels have hot-spring water. Some of them even have quite a few hot-spring swimming pools. The Foquan Temple (Buddha Spring Temple) got the name out of its “Top Temple Hot-spring” spurting upward for 15.58 meters, attracting thousands of visitors. The hot-spring of lushan, the heaven-sent treasure, is definitely the very thing that you can't miss.
