Sword pool

The most fascinating historic spot in Huqiu is the sword pool, which is said to be the tomb of King Helu of Wu. Looking north from the stone of thousand people, there are four big characters "Huqiu Jianchi" carved beside the round gate of "bieyoudongtian", which are thick and powerful. It was originally written by Yan Kai, the only son of Yan Zhenqing, a great calligrapher of Tang Dynasty. On the stone wall of the round cave, there is another inscription "Fenghe Yunquan", which is written by Mi Fu, one of the four greatest calligraphers in Song Dynasty. On the left wall of the cliff, there is the character "Jianchi", which is said to be written by Wang Xizhi, a great calligrapher. According to local records, the place where King Helu of Wu was buried was under the sword pool. Jianchi is about 45 meters wide and 6 meters deep. It is not dry all the year round. It is clear and can be drunk. In Tang Dynasty, Li Xiuqing was once regarded as "the fifth spring in the world".

Sword pool

Huqiu sword pool is more than 60 steps wide and about 20 feet deep. It is not dry all the year round. It is clear and can be drunk. According to the records of Suzhou Fu Zhi, Lu Yu lived in Huqiu for a long time, studying tea and writing the book of tea. He found that Huqiu mountain spring was sweet and delicious, and was rated as "the fifth spring in the world".

Development history

According to local records, under the sword pool is the burial place of King Helu of Wu. It is said that the reason why it is called Jianchi is that when he was buried, 3000 precious swords, such as "Zhuanzhu" and "Yuchang", which he loved during his lifetime, were used as sacrificial objects and buried in his tomb at the same time. However, "Yuanhe county annals" records: "the Qin emperor chiseled the mountain for treasure, but he didn't know where it was; Sun Quan didn't get anything from it, so the place where he chiseled it became a deep stream." Later evolved into sword pool. In a word, how the sword pool was formed and whether the tomb of King Wu was under the sword pool. There are many different opinions.

In 1955, Huqiu was renovated and Jianchi was dredged. At that time, he scrubbed the mosses and verified that there were stone inscriptions of Wu Xi, the magistrate of Changzhou, Wu County and Kunshan of Ming Dynasty, and Tang Yin, Wang Wei, etc. on the East Cliff of Jianchi, which contained the simple information about the tomb gate of King Wu found at the bottom of Jianchi in 1512. Later, he bailed out the water to clear the mud, and saw that the two walls of the sword pool were cut flat from top to bottom, and the bottom of the pool was also very flat. There was no high and low slope phenomenon. It was obviously made by manual cutting. There is an earth dam in the south of the pool, which is connected with the stone wall on three sides. The area is about the size of four eight immortals tables, three feet below the normal water level. It is built artificially to store water. Due to the narrowest place in the north of the pool, a cave and a tunnel extending about 10 meters to the north were found, which can allow the burly people to go in and out alone. When you raise your hand, you can reach the top, which is straight from top to bottom. It is not difficult to infer that it is also made by hand. At the end, there is a bell mouth. In front of it, there is a space of more than one meter, which can accommodate four people standing side by side without room for maneuver. In the front, there are four rectangular stone slabs made of hemp gravel, one of which is used as the base in the flat soil, and three of which are laid horizontally, like a large stone tablet. Each slab is about two and a half feet high and more than three feet wide. The first piece is dislocated and leans on the second piece. The stone quality of the second slate gate is different from that of the igneous rock in Benshan of Huqiu, and its surface is smooth. Due to the long-term erosion by the pool water, the transverse and oblique sparse stone bars are exposed. According to the shape analysis, this is a kind of cave tomb gate. Jianchi is a vertical cave with a north-south direction. The stone cave at the bottom of the pool is the access road, which is completely consistent with the tomb system in the spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period. According to the records, "the burial of Helu, through the soil for the mountain, accumulated soil for the hill, sent five counties of 100000 people, a total of thousands of miles, so that the elephant transport soil dig pool, around 60 miles wide, water depth of one Zhang Pour mercury into the pool for six feet, gold and precious jade for the goose This exaggerated description may not be credible, but as one of the five tyrants in the late spring and Autumn period, the tomb of King Wu must have a large scale of construction, and the design of the tomb chamber must be quite precise and hidden. Based on the analysis of the above-mentioned signs and the fact that the hill behind Huqiu is made of mud, the sword pool was probably designed to cover the tomb of Chengwang. There may be some kind of secret behind the door. However, whether the tomb of King Wu is in it or not is still an eternal mystery before it is confirmed by archaeological excavation.

geographical position

Huqiu mountain, located in the northwest corner of Suzhou ancient city, has a long history of more than 2500 years and is known as "the first scenic spot in Wuzhong",

Su Dongpo, a great poet of Song Dynasty, once recited: "it's a pity not to visit Huqiu in Suzhou!" Therefore, Huqiu has become a tourist attraction. With an area of 100 hectares and a reserve area of 475.9 hectares, Huqiu, as an important tourist window in Suzhou, has won many awards. It has been rated as one of the first ten best civilized scenic spots in China and national AAAA scenic spot. In December 2001, it passed the double system certification of iso9001-14001.

Huqiu, formerly known as Haiyong mountain, according to the records of the historian, was buried here by Helu, king of Wu. It is said that three days after the burial, there was a white tiger squatting on it, so it was named.

Tiger Hill sword pool

The most mysterious and attractive historic site of Huqiu in Suzhou is the sword pool.

Entering the "unique cave" round entrance, I suddenly feel "cold air from dark pool" and "deep sword air from empty mountain", and the weather has changed. When you look up, you can see two steep rock cliffs rising, locking up a pool of green water. The shape of the pool is long and narrow, a little wider in the South and a little narrower in the north. It looks like a sword lying flat. When the sunlight slants on the water, it gives people the feeling of cold and shining. Even in hot summer, it will feel chilly. The water reflected the shadow of a stone bridge. Looking up, the arched stone bridge is flying high in the air, which is very dangerous. The stone walls were covered with moss, and the wild flowers hung upside down like streamers. Looking up at the top of the tower through the towering cliff, it feels like facing the abyss. This is the famous ancient sword pool site at home and abroad.

The tomb of King Helu of Wu is an unsolved mystery in the mausoleum of ancient Chinese emperors. According to legend, in the spring and Autumn period, Huqiu was where Helu left his palace. In 496 BC, Helu died after being wounded in the battle of Wu and Yue. His son Fu Chai buried his body in Huqiu. According to historical records, at that time, 100000 soldiers and civilians were recruited to carry out the construction, and even elephants were used to transport them. The earth was dug into a pool to form a mound. Helu's coffin was covered with three layers of copper coffin. The pool was filled with mercury, and buried with gold Fu and jade geese. Three thousand swords, which Helu loved during his lifetime, were hidden in the depths of the secluded palace.

There are two inscriptions of "seeing the tomb gate of King Wu" in the seventh year of Zhengde of Ming Dynasty (15l2) on the cliff stone inscriptions in Jianchi of Huqiu. One of them is the ten lines written by Wang Shanchun and others, which read: "once the secret of a thousand years is revealed, you can mourn it already!" Other tourists are Wang Wei, Tang Bohu and others. The second is the seven lines of the book entitled by Wu Xi, which records the scene of "hearing the withered sword pool, seeing the tomb gate of the king of Wu, and going to see Yan with him", and thinks that "once you are seen, it's not counting! "Life conceals" is to bury the entrance of the tomb with soil.

Address: No.8 Huqiu mountain

Longitude: 120.58043523314

Latitude: 31.335792826945

Ticket information: Tickets: 60 yuan in peak season (April 16 - October 30); 40 yuan in off season (October 31 - April 15).

Opening hours: 7:30-18:00

Chinese PinYin : Jian Chi