Longtan, Taiwan

Longtan,the pond of the dragon, got its name from a large pond at the city center. The pond, having a surface area of 45,000 pings(148,500m2) or,forit used to be filled with wild water chestnut plants, was known as Ling Tan Bi, the pond with water hestnuts) during the old times. To the south of the pond, there used to be a fountain with a hite chunk of rock at the center. Legend has it that every time when water ng and dewdrops streamed from the chunk of rock, it rained and even during the dry season, the pond was still full of ater and would never dry up. During a long drought, locals could always get timely rainfall by raying beside the pond. For such efficacy, people called the pond Ling Tan Bi, the efficacious water pond). Some say a yellow dragon would spring uten winds blew and rain fell so the pond was renamed Long Tan Bi ,the water pond of dragons) and later Long anJhuang , the village of the pond of the dragon). Some believe that in Taiwanese,