Huaqing
Palace is located at the
foot of Lishan Mountain,
about 30 kilometers east
away from Xi’an City.
Lishan Mountain, with
the elevation of 1,256
meters, is a extinct
volcano and looks very
much like a black green
galloping horse from a
long distance. Hence its
name, Lishan Mountain.
3,000 years ago, the
King of Western Zhou had
a palace built against
the mountain because of
the hot spring at the
foot of the mountain. In
the 8th century BC on
the top of the mountain,
King You of the Western
Zhou Dynasty set fire at
the beacon tower and
fooled his sovereign
rulers in order to see a
smile on the face of
Baosi, his most favorite
concubine. As the
result, King You was
killed by Quanrong (a
then minority tribe) and
his state was
overthrown. This is a
very famous story called
"The Sovereign Rulers
Are Fooled By The Beacon
Tower" in China’s
history. Accroding to
the legend, Qin Shihuang,
the first Emperor of the
Qin Dynasty , was spat
and got sores on his
face because he wanted
to take liberties with a
fairy maiden. And then
the fairy maiden forgave
him and hinted him to
wash his sore face in
the hot spring. To his
surprise, his faces
become well soon. So the
Hot Spring was also
called "Fairy Lady
Spring". This Hot Spring
was the resort palace of
many emperors in
following dynasties.
Especially, Emperor Xuan
Zong (Li Longji) of the
Tang Dynasty had more
luxurious palaces built
over the hot spring
around the mountain in
the period of Tian Bao
(724-756 AD) and named
it Huaqing Palace, which
was destroyed due to
wars and long time. The
Huaqing Hot Spring
Palace that we can see
today was rebuilt on the
site of the Qing Dynasty
structure after 1949.
Lady Yang is one of the
four most beautiful
ladies in China’s
history. It is said that
various flowers a shame
to open just because of
her beauty. Lady Yang
and Emperor Tang
Xuanzong used to often
spend their wintertime
and take bath in Huaqing
Spring Palace. This made
the Palace famous very
much. Lady Yang,
originally called Yang
Yuhuan, was born in 718
AD in Shuzhou. At her
age of 16, she married
Li Mao, the 9th son of
Tang Emperor Xuanzong.
In 740 AD (the 28th year
of Kaiyuan period). Tang
Emperor Xuanzong (her
father in-law) took
fancy to her and called
in her in the Huaqing
Palace due to the
recommendation of Gao
Lishi, a court enuch.
Emperor Xuanzong loved
her so much that he made
her most favorite
concubine in 745 AD.
Yang Guozhong, Lady
Yang’s cousin, was made
chancellor and her other
3 sisters were made also
Madame Hanguo, Madame
Guoguo, and Madame Qiguo
respectively. They
sought pleasure and made
merry day and night. The
Emperor no longer paid
attention to state
affairs.
In the record of the
history, the luxurious
imperial bath-pools
known as the Lotus
Flower Pool and the
Crabapple Pool were
specially built by order
of Emperor Xuanzong for
his concubine Lady Yang
to bathe in. Tang
Emperor Xuangzong
ordered special envoy to
take lichee from Shuzhou,
which was very much far
away for Lady Yang
within three days just
for her special taste.
They were intoxicated in
their own pleasures and
put the state affairs
away. It caused the
rebellion of An Lushan
and made the prosperous
Tang Dynasty begin to
decline. In the palace,
the ruins of the
imperial pools of the
Tang Dynasty were
discovered, including
the Lotus Flower Pool,
the Crabapple Pool and
so on. Now they have
been opened to the
public as Tang Dynasty
Imperial Bathing Pools
Museum.
The site of Xi’an
incident can be seen
also inside the Huaqing
Palace, known as Double
Twelfth incident started
by General Zhang
Xueliang and Xueliang
and Yang Hucheng, in
which Chiang Kaishek was
forced to agree the
proposal to fight
against Japanese
invaders. The Xi’an
incident took place on
December 12, 1936. It
was a successful
remonstration that laid
the foundation for the
second cooperative
relationship between the
Communists and
Nationalists. Now in the
palace, you can see the
Five-room Hall where
Chiang Kaishek stayed
temporarily during the
incident and the
Remonstration Pavilion
built near the crevice
where Chiang had hidden
himself. They have
become the wintesses of
the history. |