Shuhe Ancient Town is located in the northwest of Lijiang Ancient Town, about four kilometers far away. If you attend to Chinese school in Kunming to study Chinese, teachers would tell you that Shuhe Ancient Town was one of the earliest settlement places of the ancestors of Naxi people in the plain area of Lijiang. It is famous because of the eight top scenes such as the willow, the bridge, the night market, red autumn leaves, and fish and so on.
On the lakeside of Jiuding Dragon Pool, there is a pavilion named San Sheng Pavilion that was originally constructed in Qing Dynasty. It is also called Dragon Spring Temple. Many statues of the sages are consecrated in this temple such as the Goddess of Mercy, the Manjuist Godess and Samantabhadra. Later, the statues of Xuanyuan Emperor and the white eyebrow monk were consecrated. Before stepping into the temple, you can see there is a horizontal inscribed board with three characters Ban Ri Xian.
As a matter of fact, the name Dragon Spring Temple originated from the Dragon Spring Lake close to it. The temple was built along the lake. The water in the lake is crystal-clear and the attractive scenery will come into your eyes when you see it from the second floor. You may have scanned some pictures of it when you study Mandarin online. The lake water flows through the small river across the ancient streets and the villagers use the water directly because it is clearer than that in Lijiang Ancient Town.
Nearby the ancient street of Shuhe Village, some palaces with different scales are spread, all of which were built in the late of Ming Dynasty. Despite of the various sizes, the architectural structure is symmetrical and harmonious. Students who study in intensive Mandarin course in China are told that the horizontal tablets, the columns and beams are decorated with the relief with the patterns of birds and animals. There are some wall paintings in the palaces, covering a total area of 26 square meters.
The environment of Dragon Spring Temple is so quiet and peaceful that Naxi people in Lijiang Ancient Town often regard it as the best place to go spring outing. The ancient streets in Shuhe are very similar to those in Lijiang Ancient Town in the layout that centers on a quadrate square. But the scale is a litter smaller than that of Lijiang Ancient Town.