Huaqing Hot Springs, Xi'an

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In 1877, Shen Jiazhen, a magistrate of Lintong County, ordered that gardens were to be built along the Lishan Hill on the site of the old courier station of the Ming and Qing dynasties. The gardens were named Huanyuan Garden, meaning Ring Garden. In 1900, Emperor Guangxu and Dowager Cixi stayed here during their inspection tour in Xian. In 1936, Chiang Kaishek came to Shaanxi and made it his field headquarters. The garden features some lovely trees plus is home to the Five-Room House (see next tip), Tongyin Pavilion, Flying Rainbow Bridge and Lotus Flower Chamber.

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Situated at the northern foot of Mount Lishan in Lintong County, 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) from Xian City, Huaqing Hot Springs is famed for both its dainty spring scenery and the romantic love story of Emperor Xuanzong (685-762) and his concubine Yang Guifei.

It is said that King You built a palace here during the Western Zhou Dynasty (11th century BC-711 BC). Additions were subsequently made by the First Emperor Qing (259 BC-210BC) and Emperor Wu during the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-24). During his reign, the Emperor Xuanzong spent dizzying amounts of his funds to build a luxurious palace, changing its name to Huaqing Hot Springs or Huaqing Palace. Over the course of 41 years, he visited the palace as many as 36 times. The palace thus has a history of 3,000 years and the hot springs a history of 6,000 years!

Open: 9am-5pm. Admission: RMB70.

Huaqing Pool, or Huaqing Hot Springs (also sometimes called Huaqing Palace), is an ancient hot springs used by many emperors of China to relax and get away from the pressures of public life. The history of Huaqing Pool actually goes back about 3,000 years, but it is still used today as a hot springs and spa. It's a fascinating place for a number of reasons. First of all, it's very scenic. It's located at the base of Lishan Mountain, which gives it an even more serene and relaxing feeling. Huaqing Pool is actually a complex of several buildings, pavilions, pools and gardens. The main pool of the complex, Nine-Dragon Pool, is quite large and is surrounded by several interesting buildings and pavilions, including the bedroom of the emperor Xuan Zong, and the Marble Dragon Boat, which really is made of marble and has two dragon heads at one end. In one end of the pool is a statue of Yang Guifei, emperor Xuanzong's favorite concubine and reportedly one of the most beautiful women in ancient China. (The story of Xuan Zong and Yang Guifei is really interesting, and is one of the most well-known stories in Chinese history.) The architecture in the complex is not only interesting, but also quite varied. Most of the buildings have a distinctive imperial look, but there are a few which were built later to enclose the emperors' and concubines' pools, and they have a more modern look to them. The pools the ancient emperors and their concubines and other officials used are no longer filled with water, but they are still intact and look a lot like they did when they were in full use. The garden area, located partly on a hillside, is beautiful, and there are walkways which wind through the garden, with several pavilions along the paths where the emperors and their family members and concubines could go to relax or play games. The paths and pavilions provide a nice view of the garden and pool area. The Hovering Rainbow Bridge spans a small creek and is the link between the pool complex proper and the garden area. Huaqing Pool was also the site of the famous Xian incident of 1936, when Chiang Kai-shek was captured (he was in hiding and had his temporary headquarters there) by his own generals in order to convince him to stop fighting the Communists and start fighting the invading Japanese. You can still see the house on the mountain in which he took refuge before his capture. And the rooms he used (called Five-Room Hall) as his headquarters still have the original furniture in them, which I found to be really fascinating. I thought Huaqing Pool was a fascinating place, and I would recommend it to anyone visiting Xian.

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Las termas de Huaqing son atractivas por su exquisito y bello panorama caracterizado por sauces verdes, hermosos pabellones , terrazas, salas grandes, flores de durazno rosadas, torres, sinuosos corredores y largas galerías. El lago Jiulong (Nueve Dragones), claro como el cristal y en él se reflejan los pabellones y las torres.
En los pabellones a lado de las colinas , estuvo arrestado en 1936 Chiang Kai Chek , durante el llamado Incidente de Xian y de allí escapó dejándose la dentadura postiza , pero a las pocas horas fue encontrado en una cueva de la colina

Huaqing Pools is attractive for its exquisite and picturesque view characterized by green willows, beautiful pavilions ,terraces, grand halls, pink peach blossoms, rolling towers, winding corridors and long verandas. Jiulong( Nine Dragons ) Lake is crystal clear and mirrors the pavilions and towers.
In the hillside pavilions Chiang Kai chek it was arrested on 1936 , during the named Xian Incident and he scaped from here forgetting his false teeth , but they met him in a hill cave a few hours latter

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La historia del Emperador Xuan Zong y de su concubina Yang Guifei puede ser la versión China de Romeo y Julieta
Yang Gufei era una chica pobre que el emperador amaba y la convirtió en su dama . La historia dice que estaba tan enamorado de su belleza que dejó de hacer su vida de emperador .
Todo el país estaba asustado y los cortesanos amenazaban con matar a la concubina , acusándola de la falta de responsabilidad del emperador .
Completamente enamorada , Yang decidió matarse para salvar el país y el buen nombre del emperador .
Después de esto se le cambió el nombre a las termas y les pusieron el nombre de Huanquig


The story of Emperor Xuan Zong and his concubine Yang Guifei may be the Chinese version of Romeo and Juliet
Yang Gufei was a poor girl who loved the emperor and became his lady. The story said that was so in love with her beauty that he ceased to make his emperor life.
The whole country was scared and courtiers threatened to kill the concubine, accusing her of the lack of responsibility of the Emperor.
Completely in love, Yang decided to kill herself to save the country and the good name of the Emperor.
After this , they changed the name to the hot springs and put them the name of Huanquig

These hot springs have been here for ages (3000 years?), but in the last few years have undergone considerable restoration and new construction. Although it does come across as rather "touristy," the new buildings are pretty interesting, and the older section has an good piece of historical interest for those who look into it. You can walk on the exact spot where the so-called Xi'an Incident occured in December 1936, when generals Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng arrested Chiang Kaishek. This older section was our favorite. The gardens are a nice place just to walk around also.

Since the hot springs are on the route between the terra cotta warriors and the city of Xi'an, I think it was worth the time for a stop.

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We came here in September 2004. It was really relaxing to spend some time here after having visited the terracotta warriors. It's a really calm and beautiful place, and after walking around for about 45 minutes, we arranged to take a nice bath (I don't remember how much they charged, but it was cheap). Ideal after walking around the whole day.

From the terracotta warriors trip, you can take this side trip on the way back to town. Basically, this area are filled with little pools with different names. We came during winter, so the pond in the middle is frozen, cool :). Check out the hot spring water.