Xian Huaqing Palace Photo Gallery
The 7-yuan bus 306 makes a stop at Huaqing Palace before reaching the Terra-Cotta Warriors. Huaqing Palace's fame comes from a hot spring that still gushes warm water today. The palace's history goes back some 3000 years to the Zhou Dynasty, with a lot of changes made during the Tang Dynasty.Perhap the most famous user of this palace was Yang Guifei, one of Tang Emperor Xuanzong's concubines. Her beauty was believed to have distracted the emperor from his duties and a rebellion followed. As rebellion destroyed much of the Tang buildings, what we see today is more modern, either rebuilt during the Qing Dynasty or during the modern era.
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Yang Guifei was a famous beauty from the Tang Dynasty. Plenty of today's women seem to want to look just like her.
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Wash your hands in this fountain that gushes out warm water from the spring.
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The concubine's pool is exclusively for the Tang dynasty's Yang Guifei. |
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This plain-looking pool is for the emperor. |
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The Star Pool is also for the emperor. It was thought that the pool had no cover at all and the emperor could gaze at the stars while bathing. |
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Even imperial chefs and palace officials get their own "Shangshi Pool". |
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The prince gets this pool.
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In more recent history, the Nationalist Party's Chiang Kai-Shek sought residence here in the early 20th century. Bullet holes can still be seen on the bricks.
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Modern people seem to like taking baths in the same style as the emperors of yesteryear. |
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