The Jade Spring (Yuquan), one of the 'Eight Famous Sights of Peking', was an imperial retreat and pleasure ground. Originally a hunting park used by the Jin Emperor Zhang Zong, it was developed by the Manchu-Qing Kangxi Emperor. The spring provided water for the surrounding lakes and paddy fields and fresh spring drinking water, which was believed to have great curative powers. After 1949, Jade Spring Hill was chosen as the site for a convalescent home for high ranking Communist Party officials. Today it is a restricted area occupied by the air force.

This photograph was taken by Hedda Morrison on a winter morning. In 'A photographer in Old Peking' (p. 237), she noted the 'mist on the surface of the pool that never freezes'.

This is one of a large number of photographs that were taken by Hedda Morrison (1908-1991) during her years of residence in Peking (Beijing), China 1933-1946.

Exhibited in 'An Asian experience: 1933-67', organised by the Asian Studies Association of Australia, Fisher Library Foyer, University of Sydney, 12-30 May 1986.

Reproduced in Hedda Morrison, 'A photographer in Old Peking', Hong Kong, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1985, p. 237, with the caption: 'Winter morning at the Jade Fountain with mist on the surface of the pool that never freezes, the source of the stream feeding the Peking lakes'.

Black and white photograph showing a view of a misty lake in the foreground with pavilions on the other side of the lake. A wooded hill rises behind the buildings and the Huazang pagoda.

Photographed: Morrison, Hedda;

Made: 1933 - 1946

92/1414-229

339 mm

286 mm