based on 726 reviewsHuaqing Palace is a famous historical site in Xi'an, known for its royal hot springs from the Tang Dynasty and the story of "The Song of Everlasting Regret". With its exquisite gardens and profound cultural heritage, it is suitable for history enthusiasts and families.
Huaqing Palace (Huaqing Hot Spring & Lishan Mountain) is located 30 kilometers east of Xi'an, adjacent to the Terracotta Warriors. It is well-known at home and abroad for its eternal hot spring resources and numerous historical events, and has become a landmark scenic Attraction for Chinese Tang Palace cultural tourism.
【Palace Scenic Spots】




▲Huaqing Palace has a long history. Emperors of the Zhou, Qin, Han, Sui and Tang dynasties built palaces and villas here. The palace houses cultural areas such as the Tang Imperial Hot Springs Site Museum, the site of the Xi'an Incident - the Five-Room Hall, the Jiulong Lake and Furong Lake Scenic Area, the Tang Pear Garden Site Museum and iconic buildings such as the Feishuang Hall, the Wanshou Hall, the Changsheng Hall, the Huanyuan and the Yuwang Hall.

▲“Ode to Hot Springs” Monument
Lishan Hot Springs are known as the "No. 1 Imperial Spring in the World" because they were developed and utilized early and were favored by emperors of all dynasties. As early as 6,000 years ago during the Yangshao period, the ancestors of Jiangzhai began to use Lishan Hot Springs. The long-standing Lishan Hot Springs embody rich cultural connotations and are an indispensable and important part of the history and culture of the Chinese nation.
The stone tablet in the Attraction is 154 cm high, 72 cm wide and 19 cm thick, with a coiled dragon head and a trapezoidal base. It was engraved by Yuan Chang, the governor of Yongzhou in the Northern Wei Dynasty. The inscription reads, "Hot springs are the natural prescription, the original medicine of heaven and earth, and the people of all nations are supported by hot springs. Guests with illnesses who sleep on the hot springs all come to visit and heal their sufferings with water." This tablet is the earliest existing physical material in Huaqing Palace.

▲Tang Yutang Site Museum
This is the location of the bathhouse where Yang Guifei's bathing scene is described in "The Song of Song of Everlasting Sorrow". After the An-Shi Rebellion, the original building was barely left. In 1982, when the Lintong County People's Government was building the "Imperial Concubine Pavilion", they accidentally discovered the ruins of a Tang Dynasty bathhouse. After excavation and sorting, it was built into the Tang Huaqing Palace Imperial Hot Spring Relics Museum. This hot spring pool is small and exquisite, with a unique design. It is 3.6 meters long from east to west and 2.9 meters wide from north to south, and its shape is similar to an ellipse. Next to the east of the Imperial Concubine Pool is the imperial bath used exclusively by Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty. In the Tang Dynasty, a Nine Dragon Hall was built on the pool. Outside the hall, there are nine dragons carved from white jade, spouting water from their mouths. The bath is shaped like a realistic lotus, so it is also called "Lotus Bath".

▲The site of the Xi’an Incident
The five halls of Huaqing Palace are where the Xi'an Incident took place. To this day, bullet marks from the fierce fighting during the military rebellion are still preserved on the glass windows and walls of the five halls. The tables, chairs, beds, sofas, tea sets, stoves, carpets, telephones, etc. used in the offices of each room are all reproduced and placed in their original appearance.
【Historical Events】

▲Deceiving the Lords with Beacon Fires
In 779 BC, King You of Zhou got the beautiful Bao Si, but she never smiled. For this reason, King You and the treacherous minister Guo Shifu discussed a clever plan and lit the beacon tower on Mount Li. The princes of the world watched the beacon and quickly led their troops to rescue him. King You told the princes: "I raised the beacon to make the queen smile", so Bao Si laughed. The princes from all walks of life came with courage and returned with resentment. Seeing that King You was incompetent and the people were alienated, the Quanrong Kingdom took the opportunity to lead troops to attack. When the troops were at the foot of the mountain, King You of Zhou hurriedly raised the beacon to mobilize troops, but none of the princes came to rescue him. King You fled to the foot of Mount Li with Bao Si and was killed by the Quanrong. The historical allusions of "a smile is worth a thousand gold", "a smile loses the world", and "playing with princes with beacon fire" were left behind.
During the Jiayou period of the Northern Song Dynasty, the hot springs of Mount Li were painstakingly renovated by Liu Ziyong and others. They were so beautiful that tourists flocked to them, chanting poems and writing fu, expressing their feelings and nostalgia. Among these numerous poems and fu, the masterpieces such as "Lady Guoguo's Night Tour" and "Mount Li" written by the emerging literary giant Su Shi during his visit to Mount Li are outstanding.
The Xi'an Incident, also known as the "Double Twelve Incident," was a mutiny launched by Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng at Huaqing Pool, detaining the then Chairman of the Nationalist Government's Military Commission.
【Performance】



▲Performance of "The Song of Everlasting Sorrow". The Attraction launched the large-scale real-life historical dance drama "The Song of Everlasting Sorrow" in 2007, and the multimedia video drama "Xuanjing Changsheng Palace" in 2012.


▲There is also " 12·12 Xi'an Incident" adapted from historical events, which truly and vividly shows the little-known historical original appearance of the "Xi'an Incident".
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Huaqing Palace is a famous historical site in Xi'an, known for its royal hot springs from the Tang Dynasty and the story of "The Song of Everlasting Regret". With its exquisite gardens and profound cultural heritage, it is suitable for history enthusiasts and families.
This is a must-visit tourist destination. Every visit offers a different and breathtaking experience. The ancients were right; this place is truly trustworthy. A highly recommended tourist spot!
Following the recommended routes on the signs will ensure you don't miss any attractions. Huaqing Palace is worth visiting; if you don't like climbing, Wujianfang is sufficient, as the attractions on the mountain are mostly modern developments and generally not very impressive (see attached photo).
I bought a combined ticket for Huaqing Palace and Song of Everlasting Regret. But you don't need to buy a ticket for Huaqing Palace to watch Song of Everlasting Regret. I arrived at Huaqing Palace at 5 pm, and there were basically no people. I found a tour guide who took me around. It's a good experience to experience the culture of Huaqing Palace for the first time. If you want to watch Song of Everlasting Regret, you don't need to buy a combined ticket.
This is China's first large-scale real-life historical dance drama. The dance drama is based on Bai Juyi's "Song of Everlasting Regret", which vividly reproduces the story of Li and Yang from meeting to knowing each other, from lingering to separation, and finally meeting in the fairyland of Penglai. With the actors' heartfelt performances, the plot is interlocking and touching. The performance is in Huaqing Palace. If the show is not popular, you can visit Huaqing Pool together with it (but Huaqing Pool is only a stone pool, it depends on your personal preference [dog head]). The whole performance uses various sound and light audio-visual effects, wire suspension, water and fire fusion, and stage props are also very eye-catching. The performance is four times a day, starting at 18:30, 70 minutes per show, even the last show in the evening is often full, which shows its popularity; PS: Since this fearless space is an open-air place, everyone should pay attention to prepare evening coats and rain protection measures. Generally, if the rain does not have much impact, the organizer will issue disposable raincoats.
Yang Guifei and Li Shimin beautiful romantic love story, whether it is with friends, family, couples and couples traveling to Xi'an, this life must see the "long hate song" performance.
Tickets for Huaqing Palace are really a bit expensive...120! ! ! However, it is actually very historical whether it is Yang Guifei's hot spring soup pool, the place where the Xi'an incident occurred, Jiang Jieshi Tibetan Residence, Zhou Youwang's fire drama Zhuhou, or the Lushan cableway worth a visit on the right hand side of the gate of Huaqing Palace. A little more is the gate of Changhen Song... The Changhen Song performance is also very good-looking, but the tickets are also expensive... (Four performances a day during May 1st, the latest one is 23:55, it is too hard! ) Changhenge Square is huge, there are many restaurants and pedicure shops in the shopping mall and small street opposite, you can soak your feet and massage to pass the waiting time before Changhengge ()
Huaqing Palace: Bloody Romance in the Wrinkles of Power The water of Huaqing Pool at the northern foot of Mount Li is still warm, but it can no longer steam the prosperous clouds and smoke of the Kaiyuan and Tianbao years. This hot spring palace, which was crushed by the iron hooves of 3,000 imperial guards, solidified the most gorgeous bloody romance in Chinese history. When the love legend of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang and Yang Guifei faded away the romantic filter of literati, Huaqing Palace exposed not only the ruins of white jade carved railings, but also the fatal temptation of an empire in the folds of power. 1. The mirror image of power in the hot spring palace The more than 40 records of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang staying in Huaqing Palace constitute the special coordinates of the political geography of the prosperous Tang Dynasty. More than 100 palaces such as Feishuang Hall, Jiulong Hall, and Mingzhu Hall, which are built on the mountain, interpret the spatial rhetoric of power with exquisite architectural language. The Xingchen Tangchi for the emperor to bathe adopts the "dome-through-the-sky" design, weaving the mist of hot springs and the vastness of the starry sky into a metaphor of power that is in tune with heaven and man. When Xuanzong stretched his body in the lotus soup, the steaming water mist from the hot spring was like a concrete form of power radiation, turning the Lishan Palace into the energy core of the entire empire. 2. The political metaphor of colorful clothes and feathered robes Huaqing Palace witnessed not only the erotic scene of "Bath in Huaqing Pool in Spring Cold", but also the pinnacle of the political aesthetics of the prosperous Tang Dynasty. The "Colorful Clothes and Feathered Robes" choreographed by Yang Yuhuan in Huaqing Palace reconstructed the power order in an artistic form: the huge lineup of 400 dancers, through the precisely choreographed formation changes, reproduced the pyramid structure of the imperial administrative system at the visual level. When the flying sleeves turned into the trajectory of the flow of power, the sound of the 羯鼓 interpreted the rhythm of the bureaucratic system, and this hot spring palace had become a large theater of political power. 3. The historical dialectic of the bloodstains of Mawei In 755, the iron cavalry of An Lushan's rebels crushed the glazed tiles of Huaqing Palace, and also revealed the cruel truth behind the romantic narrative. In the Tang Dynasty Liyuan ruins discovered by archaeologists, the fragments of the pipa inlaid with jewels form a strange dialogue with the broken armor unearthed from Mawei Slope. When Bai Juyi sang sadly in "The Song of Everlasting Sorrow" that "the king covered his face and could not save her", history had already completed the deconstruction of the dual myths of power and love in the panic escape of the Liyuan children and the swords and shadows of the mutiny of the imperial guards. Looking back at the ruins of Huaqing Palace from the contemporary era, the "slippery hot spring water" repeatedly chanted by literati is actually soaked in the complex body fluids of the operation of the power mechanism. When archaeologists discovered the "dragon scale bricks" specially made during the Xuanzong period at the bottom of the Lotus Soup ruins, every piece of clay wrapped in gold foil tells the exquisite domestication of power over matter. The ruins of this palace not only carry the tragedy of individual destiny, but also indicate that any attempt to embed private emotions into the state machine will eventually be crushed into dust in the gears of history. The hot springs in Huaqing Palace have not yet cooled down, but what flows in them is a civilized meditation that has long surpassed romantic imagination.