Su'ao Cold Spring

30-Second Overview: Located in Su'ao Township, Yilan County, the Su'ao Cold Spring maintains a year-round temperature of approximately 22°C. The water contains abundant carbon dioxide, creating fine bubbles at the pool's bottom. It is both a geological phenomenon and a living facility for the port town: people once washed clothes, bathed, and made soda by the springs; today, the Cold Spring Park and Ali Shi Cold Spring continue this local memory. ↩︎

The Su'ao Cold Spring is not hidden in deep mountains but lies about 300 meters in front of Su'ao Railway Station in the urban area. The Tourism Bureau of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications records it as a low-temperature mineral spring discovered in 1928. Local cultural memory, however, preserves the story of Chiu Chung-hsing drinking the spring water in 1895 and subsequently researching and developing it. Both dates exist in official records and cannot be crudely merged into a single, uncontested year. ^{1 2}

Its spring temperature is approximately 22°C. For a rainy small town in the Lanyang Plain, the physical sensation is indeed cool, but this does not mean the groundwater is physically "abnormally cold." The Lanyang Museum notes that shallow groundwater in the Lanyang Plain is generally around 22–25°C. What truly makes the Su'ao Cold Spring irreplaceable by other springs is the large amount of dissolved carbon dioxide in the water. ³

Su'ao Cold Spring Park and the surrounding mountain scenery. Photo: Vegafish, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.5. Image not modified.

This 2006 photo also preserves the urban scale of the cold spring: bathing pools, shade canopies, and hillsides appear simultaneously in the frame. The cold spring is not a resource to be understood only through geological cross-section diagrams; it is fixed concretely in Su'ao's urban area through cement boundaries, public facilities, and the bodies of residents. ⁴

The counter-intuitive core lies here: The most recognizable feature of the Su'ao Cold Spring is not that it is "cold," but that it "bubbles." The bubbles turn immersion into a sensation akin to a sugar-free soda bath, transforming the cold spring from a mere groundwater source into a local culture. ^{3 5}

Geological Cross-Section in the Urban Area

The Su'ao Cold Spring is distributed along the Cold Spring Creek (Lengquan Xi). The main public use areas include Cold Spring Park and Ali Shi Cold Spring, located less than 200 meters apart. The Lanyang Museum records that both sites are close to the Su'ao urban area and main roads, accessible on foot from Su'ao Station. This scale of "stepping out of the station and entering the water" is a key condition for its status as a mass attraction. ³

The formation of the cold spring requires two conditions to be met simultaneously: sufficient groundwater and rock layers that provide abundant carbon dioxide. Su'ao receives ample rainfall, allowing rainwater to infiltrate underground. The Tourism Bureau of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications links the water source, rock fractures, rising carbon dioxide, and surface emergence into a single geological process. ⁵

Simplified, mountain rainfall enters the underground, percolating downward along fractures. Carbonates and geological processes in deep rock layers provide carbon dioxide; gas-rich groundwater then rises along the fractures. As pressure decreases, carbon dioxide escapes from the water, causing people to see continuous fine bubbles rising in the spring pools. ^{3 5}

The Su'ao Cold Spring is not an isolated well. The Lanyang Museum explains the distribution of springs along the middle and lower reaches of Cold Spring Creek, noting that cold spring water and carbon dioxide outcrops once extended along the creek. Today, some creek sections are covered, and public bathing pools and parks transform these underground phenomena into accessible urban spaces. ³

This also explains why "Cold Spring Park" and "Ali Shi Cold Spring" cannot be treated merely as two homogeneous hot spring spots. The former is a planned park with a paid bathing pool; the latter retains a public bathing pool character closer to daily use. Both share the cold spring water vein but serve different urban functions. Data from the Tourism Bureau of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications places them within the broader tourism context of the Su'ao small town, illustrating that the cold spring, the harbor, the railway, and the mountain-sea landscape are not isolated from one another. ^{3 5}

The cold spring also offers an entry point to understanding Su'ao's geography. To the east lies Nanfang'ao and the Pacific Ocean; to the northwest lie Qixing Ridge and the Lanyang Plain. Rain, hillsides, underground fractures, and urban bathing pools connect into an invisible waterway within a short distance. This scale allows visitors to easily mistake "nature" for a facility within the park; in reality, the park is merely a short segment of the groundwater cycle that has been reorganized by humans after emerging to the surface. ^{3 5}

"Washing Sulfur Water": Daily Life First, Tourism Second

Before tourism slogans appeared, the cold spring was already basic infrastructure for Su'ao residents. During the Japanese colonial period, there were bathhouses, laundry tables, and steps along Cold Spring Creek; women could wash clothes and vegetables by the stream, and children played in the downstream pools. These details make the cold spring not just a "scenic spot" but a public place repeatedly used by small-town residents. ³

Local cultural worker Chuang Wen-sheng mentioned in an interview with Taiwan Panorama that Su'ao people did not necessarily say "washing cold spring" but would say "washing sulfur water" (xi huang shui). This term keeps the mineral smell of the spring, bodily sensations, and local colloquialisms within the same word, reminding people that cold spring culture is not a label later attached by tourism operators, but a habit accumulated by residents through their own bodies. ⁶

The modern tourism of the cold spring did not rise in a straight line. The Lanyang Museum records that public bathhouses and bathing houses appeared during the Japanese colonial period; after the war, there was a period of developmental stagnation until the local government re-planned Cold Spring Park in the 1980s–1990s, when the cold spring was repackaged as a leisure and tourism resource. ^{3 6}

The key to this transformation was not making the spring water more special, but rearranging the originally scattered uses along the stream into parks, bathing pools, walking trails, and service facilities. Current attraction data from the Yilan County Government describes Cold Spring Park as a public field兼具 bathing, drinking, and geological educational significance. ⁷

From Spring Water to Soda, Then to Sheep's Curd

The most interesting industrial history of the Su'ao Cold Spring is that the water was not left in the bathing pools. Due to the carbon dioxide content, someone made refreshing beverages using the cold spring water during the Japanese colonial period; the Lanyang Museum records that there was once a soda factory, linking the "Namnei Soda" (marble soda) with its glass marble stopper to Su'ao. ³

Local data preserved in the National Cultural Memory Bank identifies Chiu Chung-hsing as an important figure in the development of the cold spring, recording his later use of spring water to make beverages and soda. However, this data carries the nature of oral history and local narrative; thus, the safer approach is to state that "official cultural data preserves this memory" rather than claiming all details are equally proven by archival evidence. ²

The Tourism Bureau of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications' attraction page also records another industrial line: Su'ao Sheep's Curd (Yanggao) was once prepared using cold spring water, becoming a representative local specialty; the marble soda has ceased production. The cold spring thus provides not only a bathing experience but also enters the realm of souvenirs, shops, and city identity. ¹

The entrance to Su'ao Cold Spring Park in 2022. Photo: Taiwankengo, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Image not modified.

These two photos, sixteen years apart, cannot directly prove how park facilities have changed, but they help readers see one thing: what is preserved in the cold spring is not just the water itself, but also the entrance, the stone tablet, the poolside circulation, and the local memory of "I have been here." This is the intermediate layer most easily ignored before natural resources become cultural assets. ⁸

Curator's Note: The industrial history of the Su'ao Cold Spring is not simply "turning natural resources into commodities"; it is more like a waterway, flowing from underground to the bathing pool, then into soda bottles, sheep's curd shops, and the colloquial language of residents.

One Date, Two Memories

The "discovery history" of the Su'ao Cold Spring is worth preserving in its ambiguity rather than rushing to select a single correct answer. The Tourism Bureau of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications' attraction data writes that it was discovered in 1928; the Tourism Bureau's small town articles and the National Cultural Memory Bank place the story of Chiu Chung-hsing contacting and researching the cold spring around 1895 at the core. ^{1 2 5}

This may reflect that "local residents already knew the spring water" and "it was formally recorded or developed" are different events, or it may be a chronological difference left by different data transmissions. Existing directly verifiable sources are insufficient for this article to assert how the two must correspond; therefore, the article lists the data side by side without rewriting one date into the sole answer.

This uncertainty does not weaken the importance of the cold spring; rather, it shows that the history of natural landscapes is often pieced together from multiple materials: official attraction data records development nodes, local cultural data preserves figures and family memories, and museum articles return geology and daily life to the same stream. What readers see is not a seamless story, but how a small town remembers its water. ^{2 3 6}

The Boundaries of Tourism, Also in the Water

Just because the cold spring can be used for bathing does not mean any pool or any time is suitable for entering the water. The Yilan County Government's attraction page lists that patients with heart disease, myocardial infarction, asthma, stroke, respiratory diseases, as well as pregnant women and the elderly/weak, should not enter the pool. The Lanyang Museum and Taiwan Panorama also remind that cold spring spaces containing carbon dioxide must maintain ventilation to avoid dangerous gas accumulation. ^{3 6 7}

These reminders are not attached travel fine print; they are the other side of the cold spring's geological characteristics: the gas that makes the surface bubble may also become a safety issue in poorly ventilated areas. The charm and limitations of the cold spring come from the same source; one cannot keep only the part that is "fun like soda." ^{3 6}

The Su'ao Cold Spring faces longer-term management issues. Analysis of service quality and tourist needs in academic research shows that preserving the cold spring is not just about the water source itself, but also about how public facilities, usage safety, and tourism management are maintained together. ⁹

Academic research also treats the cold spring as an object of local service and tourism management, not just a natural wonder. A 2010 study based on 500 questionnaires (424 valid) analyzed 20 service quality variables of Su'ao Cold Spring Park and proposed improvement directions of different priorities. ⁹ This indicates that the future of the cold spring depends not only on whether the water continues to bubble, but also on how the park cares for users, residents, and the resource itself.

Viewing the Su'ao Cold Spring Today

Open data from the Tourism Bureau of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications positions Su'ao Cold Spring Park as a hot spring-type attraction in Su'ao Township, providing coordinates, address, and attraction descriptions. The Yilan County Government places it within the local tourism system as a public attraction accessible on foot from the railway station. ^{7 10}

But if we only write it as a "22°C summer cooling spot," we miss the most important part. Here, the groundwater cycle, the geological relationship between limestone and carbon dioxide, the history of life involving laundry tables, bathhouses, and public pools, and the memory of how soda and sheep's curd grew out of spring water are all preserved. ^{3 5 6}

The value of the Su'ao Cold Spring lies precisely in the fact that it has not been isolated into a natural exhibition hall far from life. It is beside the railway station, under the urban stream, in local colloquialisms and public bathing pools. When people enter the water, they encounter not only a 22°C temperature, but also how a port town transforms underground gas into a daily resource that can be shared and must be carefully managed.

Further Reading

• Taiwan Hot Spring Landscapes: Understand the island-wide geothermal context in which the Su'ao Cold Spring is situated, from plate tectonics and hot spring types to public bathhouses.
• Su'ao Cold Spring Park: Yilan County Government Attraction Page: View current public facilities, opening hours, and pool entry reminders.

Image Sources

This article uses 2 images, embedding direct file URLs from Wikimedia Commons without downloading or caching images to the repository. Both images are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike; the article has not modified them. If they are cropped, color-adjusted, or re-edited in the future, the original author's attribution, license link, and release under the same or compatible license must still be retained.

• Taiwan SuAo Cold Spring.JPG — Photo: Vegafish; CC BY-SA 2.5.
• 2022 Su'ao Cold Spring s3.jpg — Photo: Taiwankengo; CC BY-SA 4.0.

References