Road to the Yellow Springs

The springs beneath the earth

Huangquan, literally Yellow Springs, is an old Chinese expression for the depths below ground and, by extension, the abode of the dead. The Zuo Tradition's account of Duke Zhuang of Zheng and his mother famously turns an oath about meeting only at the Yellow Springs into a reunion in an underground passage. It does not describe a mapped road through later underworld courts.

From expression to landscape

Later speech and storytelling made the Road to the Yellow Springs a journey toward death. Its position before or after the Gate of Ghosts varies. Temple and scenic landscapes at Fengdu and Mount Tai give the imagined road physical form. Precise modern claims about its mileage, a compulsory seven-day walk, or a permanent border of red spider lilies require separate evidence; they should not be presented as details fixed by early classical texts.