Xi'an Huaqing Hot Spring, China

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Huaqing Hot Springs

The Huaqing Hot Spring, located at the foothill of Lishan ("Mt. Li"), about 35 kilometers east of the city Xi'an.

Lisahn Mountain is covered with pines and cypress and looks very much like a dark green galloping horse from a long distance away. In ancient times, a strong black stallion called "Li", and this is how it got its present name, Lishan.

The Nine-Dragon Pool, the Lotus Flower Pool, and the Frost Drifting Hall are the famous structures of the Huaqing Hot spring. The Tang Ming Emperor of Tang Dynasty (618 ~ 907A.D.) and his lover Lady Yang made their home in the Frost Drifting Hall.

Close by the Frost Drifting Hall lies the Nine-Dragon Pool. The Nine-Bend Corridor, which lies to the west of the pool leads directly on to a dragon boat made out of marble. This dragon boat lies to the Nine-Dragon hot spring where emperor used to take his baths.

The source of the hot springs that flows into Huaqing Hot Spring and the historical site the Five-Room Hall, in the Xi'an Incident, are all situated to the east of the Huaqing Hot Spring. At this spa, there are four hot springs. They have a flow of 112 tons an hour and a constant temperature of 43°. The water comes up the ground from the geographic faults and cracks at the stratum about 1750-2500 meters deep.

The spring water contains limes, sodium carbonate, sodium sulfate, and other materials, which makes it suitable for bathing and the treatment of quite a few diseases such as dermatosis, rheumatism arthritis, and muscular pain.

Climb the steps east of the hot springs, and you will gradually see the Five-Room Hall where Chiang Kaishek stayed temporarily during the Xi'an Incident. Up the winding path, east of the Five-Room Hall, you will see a bridge-like structure. On summer and autumn evenings, the sunshine's off this bridge in a way that makes it look very much like a rainbow. Therefore, it gets the name the Hovering Rainbow Bridge.

Located on the Xixie Ridge ("the West Embroidery Ridge") of Lishan Mountain, the remains of the beacon tower of the Western Zhou Dynasty (1134 ~ 771B.C.) it easily identified.

Close to the Huaqing Pool on the Lisan Mountain, there are many scenic spots. Such as, East Garden, Peripateticism Pavilion, The Remonstration Pavilion, Sanyuan Cave, Palace of Laozi, Peony Ditch, Evening Glow Over the Lishan Mountain, Palace of the Grand Mother, Beacon Tower, and many others.

The local government and a Singaporean company joint-ventured, to build cable car on Lishan, they introduce the cable product from Austria. The carriage proves to be comfortable and safe. The transportation capacity one way is 1200 people per hour.

Travelling in the cable car, you will have a panoramic view of the Lishan Mountain and the nearby towns. From a distance away, the Wei River looks very much like a white ribbon. During sunset, tourists can really enjoy "Evening Glow Over the Lishan Mountain" - one of the eight scenic spots in Guangzhou Area. It is obvious that touring the Huaqing Hot Spring, people can not only appreciate the beauty of the ancient Tang palace constructions but also can visit many other places of interests to pursue a tour of history.

According to legend, the Grand Mother was an outstanding leader of an ancient tribe in the remote matriarchal clan community. Some people still hold the fact that she was just Nu Wa who made up the sky with the smelting stones.

History:

The famous love story between Tang Ming Emperor (Tang Xuan Zong) and Yang Guifei (Lady Yang). "In cold spring months, Lady Yang was granted to take baths at the Huaqing Hot Spring together with the emperor. Her peach cream body gently touched by the smooth hot spring"; "The drum in Yuyang which indicated a rebellion startled the Music of Nishang Yuyi".

These are poem written by Tang poet Be Judi describing the beauty of the plump Lady Yang when she was granted to take baths at the Huaqing Hot Spring. The significant "Xian Incident" which had the National Party and the Communist Party involved took place here in the Huqing Hot Spring.

The beacon tower was build at the top of the mountain to give alarm of border attack in ancient times. It was constantly guard by special soldiers. Once the enemy pressed towards the border, the signal from the beacon tower was send. The way to make smoke during the day was called "Feng", and the way to light the sky with fire at night was called "Sui".

"The Beacon Tower" was the place where such stories took place like "A single smile costs one thousand pieced of gold" and "the sovereign rulers are fooled by the beacon fire".

In April 1982, on a construction site that was well under way, the ruins of the Imperial Pools in the Tang Dynasty Huaqing Palace has discovered. After excavation and sorting out the information at hand, archaeologists found the ruins of the five pools in an area of 4, 200 square meters.

They proved them, the Star Pool, the Lotus Flower Pool, the Crabapple Pool, the Crown Prince Pool, and the Shangshi Pool, all of which were in historic records. The Museum of the Imperial Pools in the Tang Dynasty Huaqing Palace was build on their ruins and was opened to public in October 1990.