Xi'an
Huaqing Hot Spring
Situated
at the bottom of Lishan Hills, the Huaqing
pool is a well-known scenic spot and the
location of hot spring. Being a villa palace
and resort for emperors and kings in anceint
times, it has a history of more than 3000
years. In the Chinese history, there were
five dynasties which related to this scenic
site as follows:
Wester Zhou (B. C. 1100 - B.
C. 771);
Qin (B. C. 221 - B. C. 206);
Han (B. C. 203 - A. D. 220);
Sui (A. D. 581 - A. D. 618);
Tang (A. D. 618 - A. D. 907);
As early as the Western
Zhou period, King Zhouyou had Lishan Palace
constructed here. Qin Shihuang built a stone
pool named "Fairy's Spring". Both
the Han Emperor Widi and Sui Emperor Wendi
enlarged it. During the Tang Dynasty, the
Emperor Xuanzong ordered large-scale construction
by transforming spring wells into pools
housed in walled palaces. These were called
the "Huaqing Palace" and "the
Spring pool". The Tang Emperor Xuanzong
and his concubine Lady Yang often came here
for pleasure. In the earth-shaking "Xi'an
Incident" which took place in Dec.
1936 the patriotic generals Zhang Xueliang
and Yang Hucheng captured the KMT head,
Jiang Jieshi. Apart from some well-preserved
historical buildings in the Huaqing pool,
there are also some magnificent newly built
halls and pools such as "the Nine Dragon
pool" and "Chenxiang Hall".
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