Huaqing Palace (Huaqingchi)
Tang Dynasty Imperial Hot Spring Palace And Site Of The 1936 Xi'An Incident; National 5A Tourist Attraction · Xi'an, Shaanxi
An imperial pleasure palace at the foot of Mount Li outside Xi'an, built around hot springs that emperors have bathed in for close to three thousand years. It reached its height in 747, when the Tang emperor Xuanzong rebuilt it as the Huaqing Palace and spent his winters here with his beloved consort Yang Guifei; excavations in the 1980s uncovered their Tang bathing pools, including the lotus-shaped pool of the emperor and the crabapple-blossom pool said to be Yang Guifei's, which visitors can see under cover today. Their love affair and her death during the An Lushan rebellion inspired Bai Juyi's poem the Song of Everlasting Regret, now staged nightly in warm months as a huge open-air show on the slopes of Mount Li, using the mountain itself as a backdrop. The palace also witnessed a turning point in modern history: in December 1936 Chiang Kai-shek was staying in the Five-Room Hall when his own generals seized him in the Xi'an Incident, forcing the Nationalists into an alliance with the Communists against Japan - bullet holes from that night are still visible, and a pavilion marks the crevice on the hillside where he was caught. Paths and a cable car climb Mount Li to temples and a beacon tower.
Huaqing Palace, 38 Huaqing Road, Lintong District, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
Daily 7:00-19:00 from March to November and 7:30-18:00 from December to February; the Song of Everlasting Regret show runs on warm-season evenings (check).
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