Huaqing Palace
Huaqing Palace (Huaqing Pool • Lishan Mountain) Scenic Area is located 30 kilometers east of Xi'an and is adjacent to the Terracotta Army. Renowned at home and abroad for its timeless hot - spring resources and numerous historical events, it has become a landmark scenic area for the cultural tourism of the Tang Dynasty palaces in China.
### Attractions in the Palace
Huaqing Palace has a long history. Emperors of the Zhou, Qin, Han, Sui, and Tang dynasties built summer palaces here. Inside the palace, there are cultural areas such as the Tang Imperial Bath Site Museum, the site of the Xi'an Incident - Five - Room Hall, the Jiulong Lake and Furong Lake Scenic Areas, and the Tang Liyuan Site Museum, as well as landmark building complexes like Feishuang Hall, Wanshou Hall, Changsheng Hall, Huanyuan, and Yuwang Hall.
### The "Ode to the Hot Spring" Stele
The Lishan Hot Spring has been developed and utilized early and has been favored by emperors of all dynasties, enjoying the reputation of "the No.1 Imperial Spring under the Heaven". As early as 6000 years ago during the Yangshao Culture period, the ancestors of Jiangzhai began to use the Lishan Hot Spring. The long - standing Lishan Hot Spring embodies rich cultural connotations and is an indispensable part of the Chinese national historical culture. The "Ode to the Hot Spring" stele in the scenic area is 154 centimeters high, 72 centimeters wide, and 19 centimeters thick, with a coiled - dragon and chi - shaped head and a trapezoidal pedestal. It was engraved by Yuan Chang, the governor of Yongzhou in the Northern Wei Dynasty. The inscriptions on the stele read: "The hot spring is a natural prescription and the prime healer of heaven and earth. People from all over the world, whether they are suffering from illnesses or not, all come here with provisions to relieve their pain in the water." This stele is the earliest written physical material extant in Huaqing Palace.
### Tang Imperial Bath Site Museum
This is the location of the bath described in "Song of Everlasting Sorrow" where Yang Guifei emerged from the bath. After the An Lushan Rebellion, few of the original buildings remained. In 1982, when the Lintong County Government was building the "Guifei Pavilion", they accidentally discovered the Tang - Dynasty bath site. After excavation and arrangement, the Tang Huaqing Palace Imperial Bath Site Museum was established. This bath is small and exquisitely designed, about 3.6 meters long from east to west and 2.9 meters wide from north to south, approximately in an elliptical shape. The pool wall is entirely built of blue stones. The two - layer terrace - like structure of the bath is made up of 18 groups of rolled stones. There is a long strip of stone in the pool for Yang Guifei's exclusive use during her bath, engraved with the pattern of the character "Yang". There is a water inlet with a diameter of 10 centimeters in the middle of the pool bottom. A white - jade carved lotus base was unearthed here. The base is connected to a nozzle above and a pottery water pipe below, which is connected to the main water source. The hot - spring water spurts out from the lotus - shaped nozzle through the pipe due to natural pressure, and the falling water mist is similar to today's shower. Adjacent to the east of the Guifei Pool is the imperial bath exclusively for Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty. In the Tang Dynasty, a Nine - Dragon Hall was built above the pool, and there were nine white - jade carved dragons outside the hall, spouting spring water from their mouths. This bath is in the shape of a realistic lotus flower in plan, so it is also known as the "Lotus Bath".
### The Site of the Xi'an Incident
The Five - Room Hall in Huaqing Palace is the place where the Xi'an Incident took place. Even today, the bullet marks from the fierce battle during the military remonstrance still remain on the glass windows and walls of the Five - Room Hall. The desks, chairs, beds, sofas, tea sets, stoves, carpets, telephones, etc. used in each room's office are all replicated and placed in their original positions.
### Historical Events
#### The King of Zhou Teased the Vassal States with Beacon Fires
In 779 BC, King You of the Zhou Dynasty got a beautiful woman named Bao Si, but the beauty never smiled. For this reason, King You discussed a plan with the treacherous official Guo Shifu and lit the wolf - smoke on the beacon tower on Lishan Mountain. When the vassal states across the country saw the beacon fires, they quickly led their troops to rescue the king. However, King You told the vassal states, "I lit the beacon fires just to make the queen smile." Then Bao Si laughed. The vassal states came bravely but left resentfully. The Quanrong State saw that King You was fatuous and the people were disheartened, so they took the opportunity to lead their troops to attack. When the enemy troops reached the foot of the mountain, King You urgently lit the beacon fires to call for help, but none of the vassal states came to rescue. King You fled to Lishan Mountain with Bao Si and was killed by the Quanrong. This left historical allusions such as "A smile is worth a thousand gold", "A smile led to the loss of the world", and "The King of Zhou Teased the Vassal States with Beacon Fires". And this beacon tower stands on the first peak of the West Xiuling Ridge of Lishan Mountain at an altitude of 913.6 meters.
#### Su Dongpo Composed Poems on Lishan Mountain
During the Jiayou reign of the Northern Song Dynasty, after painstaking renovation by Liu Ziyong and others, the Lishan Hot Spring was extremely beautiful, attracting tourists from all over the country to gather here, compose poems, and express their feelings and nostalgia for the past. Among these countless poems and beautiful verses, the masterpieces such as "Night Tour of Lady Guo" and "Lishan Mountain" written by Su Shi, a rising star in the literary world, when he visited Lishan Mountain, stood out.
#### The Xi'an Incident
The Xi'an Incident, also known as the "Double Twelfth Incident", was a mutiny launched by Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng at Huaqing Pool, detaining the then - Chairman of the Military Affairs Commission of the Nationalist Government.
### Tour Guide
You can watch large - scale dance dramas in the scenic area. The scenic area launched the large - scale real - scene historical dance drama "Song of Everlasting Sorrow" in 2007 and the multimedia video drama "Mysterious Changsheng Hall" in 2012. Among them, "Song of Everlasting Sorrow" is only performed from April to October. The ticket prices for ordinary seats range from 200 to 300 yuan depending on the area. There is also "The Xi'an Incident on December 12th" adapted from historical events, which vividly and realistically shows the little - known historical truth of the "Xi'an Incident". If you want to try soaking in the hot spring here, you can check in at the hotels in Huaqing Palace, which provide natural Lishan hot - spring water for guests to enjoy.
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