Jinan's spring-water lanes, one street east of the snack crowds

One lane east of Jinan's Furong Street (芙蓉街), the snack stalls stop and the water starts. Spring-fed channels run past front doors here, and the neighbourhood still treats them as plumbing rather than scenery.

The lanes behind Furong Street

Qifengqiao Street (起凤桥街) leaves Furong Street heading east and narrows to a couple of metres within a minute. It leads to Wangfu Chizi (王府池子), a spring pool once enclosed by a Ming prince's residence, where residents swim in every season. The water holds at about 18°C all year, so on January mornings it steams.

Qushuiting Street, along the channel

A block further east, Qushuiting Street (曲水亭街) follows a clear channel north toward Daming Lake. Willows lean over grey-brick houses, waterweed bends with the current, and households set low tables at the edge to sell spring-water tea by the bowl for a few yuan. Sit at one and the street passes at walking pace: a chess game, a bucket lowered on a rope, bicycles walked rather than ridden.

The novelist Liu E, writing in the 1900s, gave the city its lasting description: jia jia quan shui, hu hu chui yang, spring water at every house and willows at every door. On this street it remains a literal account.

家家泉水，户户垂杨。

When to go

The springs run fullest from late summer into autumn, after the rains; in a dry spring the level drops noticeably. Arrive before nine, when the lanes belong to swimmers and people filling kettles. Jinan is about two hours from Beijing by high-speed train, which makes it a plausible overnight stop on the way to Shanghai.