Dead Sea towns around the lake. These towns had drinking water from the Ein Feshcha springs and other sweetwater springs in the vicinity. Intimately connected with the Judean wilderness to its northwest and west, the Dead Sea was a place of escape and refuge. The remoteness of the region attracted Greek Orthodox monks since the Byzantine era. Their monasteries, such as Saint George in Wadi Kelt and Mar Saba in the Judaean Desert, are places of pilgrimage. In the 19th century the River Jordan and the Dead Sea were explored by boat primarily by Christopher Costigan in 1835, Thomas Howard Molyneux in
The Spring River Flows East Anita Yuen, Carina Lau, and Chen Daoming, but the newer version is translated into English as "The River Flows Eastwards". An operatic adaptation by Hao Weiya under the title "Yi Jiang Chunshui", with libretto by Luo Zhou and Yu Jiang, was premiered at the Shanghai Grand Theater in October 2014. The Spring River Flows East The Spring River Flows East, also translated as The Tears of Yangtze, is a 1947 epic Chinese film written and directed by Cai Chusheng and Zheng Junli and produced by the Kunlun Film Company. It is considered one of the most influential and extraordinary Chinese