The Jade Spring (Yuquan), one of the Â?Eight Famous Sights of PekingÂ?, 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 airforce.

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 'Peking: 1933-1946 - A photographic impression', Menzies Library, Australian National University, 17-30 June 1967.

Reproduced in Hedda Morrison, 'A photographer in Old Peking', Hong Kong, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1985, p. 236, with the caption: 'Pagodas at the Jade Fountain, just to the west of the Summer Palace'.

Black and white photograph showing a wall in the foreground on the left of the image. Behind this, two carved pagodas can be seen rising up behind a tree on the far side of the wall. The pagoda closest to the wall has three tiers, divided by paired tiled overhangs. Above each pair of overhangs is a balcony. The pagoda has a tiled roof on top, surmounted by a pair of bell-shaped devices. To the right of the image on the near side of the wall a grassy hill slopes upwards.

Photographed: Morrison, Hedda;

Made: 1933 - 1946

92/1414-234

339 mm

286 mm