Huaqing Pool

Huaqing Pool is located at the foot of Lishan Mountain, about 35 kilometers east of Xian city and enjoys quite favorable geographical location boasting green mountains and blue water.

Historically, during the Western Zhou Dynasty, a stone pool was built and was given the name the Lishan Tang (Lishan Hot Spring). The site was enlarged into a bigger palace during the Han Dynasty, and was renamed the Li Palace (the Resort Palace). During the Tang Dynasty, Li Shimin (Emperor Tai Zong) ordered the construction of the Hot Springs Palace, and Emperor Xuan Zong had a walled palace built around the Lishan Mountian in the year 747. It was know as the Huaqing Pool. It also had the name the “Huaqing Pool” because of its location over the hot springs.

The Huaqing Pool was destroyed during An Lushan and Shi Siming Rebellion at the end of the Tang Dynasty. The present-day site is only a small part of the original Huaqing Palace in Tang Dynasty. Huaqing Pool which we see today was rebuilt on the site of the Qing Dynasty structure, totaling 85,560 square meters. It is maily composed of the bathing area in the east, gardening area in the west and relic protection area in the south, among which the bathing area in the east include the high-class bath-fitting site such as Shangshi Pool, Lotus Flower Pool, Crabapple Pool and Crown Price Pool, and the gardening area in the west features the main Frost Drifting Hall full of appealing majesty, the symmetrical Yichun Hall and the relic preservation area in the north part exhibiting the unearthed relics.

In the palace of Huaqing Hot Spring, many inscriptions were collected there. Currently, the inscriptions include in total 7 steles, 16 stones with poems, 7 stone inscriptions, 4 stone carving, and an additional 69 tablets discovered in 1949. All of them represent elite work in the field of calligraphy art and materials of their kinds.