Huaqing Palace: the witness of imperial love story

Huaqing Palace is an imperial palace which was built on the relics of Huaqing Palace built in the Tang dynasty. It is located in Lintong county, Xi’an city, Shaanxi province, facing the Weihe River and with Li Mount at its rear. It’s famous for its inexhaustible hot spring and profound historical cultures.

Statistics show that the spring has been tapped for 6,000 years and used in the imperial gardens for 3,000 years. The rulers of the dynasties of Zhou, Qin, Han, Sui and Tang regarded this place as a geomantic treasure land and built temporary imperial palaces upon it one after another. It got the name of Huaqing Hot Spring when the Tang Emperor Xuanzong was in power. The original architectures were destroyed in wars, and the present palace was built in 1959.

Tang Yutang Relics

Yutang relics are the place where the imperial members took baths. It includes five parts: Locus Tang, for Emperor Xuanzong of Tang; Begonia Tang, for Yang Yuhuan, a high-ranking imperial concubine of Xuanzong; Star Tang which was used by Emperor Taizong, the second ruler of the Tang dynasty; Taizi Tang, for the emperor’s son; and Shangshi Tang, used by staff who worked for the emperor.

Huaqing Palace. [Photo/cnwest.cn]

Everlasting Regret Wall

The wall is engraved with Mao Zedong’s calligraphy of the Everlasting Regret which was created by Bai Juyi, a famous poet of the Tang dynasty. It is a love story between Xuanzong and Yuhuan. Yuhuan used to be Xuanzong’s daughter-in-law and was called into the imperial palace by him. They loved each other very much for they shared the same interest in music. They even exchanged love vows on Chinese Valentine’s Day. However, the An Shi Rebellion disturbed their happy life and Yuhuan was forced to committee suicide. Xuanzong missed her so much that his soul went up to the moon palace where Yuhuan lived after death. They expressed their passion for each other and promised to stay in love forever.

Huan Garden and Five Rooms

Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Guangxu of Qing stayed here on their trip to Xi’an. This is also the place where the Xi'an Incident took place. It occurred on December 12, 1936, when Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng, the Kuomintang generals influenced by the Chinese Communist Party's policy of an anti-Japanese national united front, imprisoned Chiang Kai-shek and demanded that he cease the civil war and unite with the Communist Party to fight the Japanese invaders.

Pear Garden

Pear Garden, also known as the operatic circle, is the first imperial music school which was founded by Xuanzong. It used to be the center for music, dance and opera activities and is honored as the birthplace of Chinese opera art. Nine Dragon Lake It is made up of two lakes which are connected by a long causeway named Nine Dragon Bridge.