Huaqing Palace and Hot Springs

Tang-era imperial hot springs on Mt Lishan, 30 km east of Xi'an. Famous as the bathing place of Yang Guifei, Emperor Xuanzong's consort.

Huaqing Palace sits at the foot of Lishan Mountain, 30 kilometres east of Xi'an, on a site of natural hot springs used by Chinese rulers since the Zhou dynasty. The complex is most closely associated with Emperor Xuanzong (r. 712–756) of the Tang dynasty and his consort Yang Guifei — a relationship that has occupied Chinese poetry, drama, and painting for over a millennium. The Tang court spent winters at Huaqing rather than Chang'an, and the Lotus Flower Pool, where Yang Guifei bathed, is the site's most-visited feature. Bai Juyi's 9th-century narrative poem Song of Everlasting Regret, describing the emperor's grief after Yang Guifei's death in the An Lushan Rebellion of 756, cemented both figures in Chinese cultural memory.

The palace complex was rebuilt multiple times; the current pavilions and pools are largely Qing-dynasty reconstructions over Tang foundations. The hot springs themselves remain active, and the pool architecture — ornate stone basins with pavilions — gives a plausible impression of the original imperial bathing character. The site is also historically significant for a very different episode: the Xi'an Incident of December 12, 1936, when Nationalist commander Zhang Xueliang and his troops seized Chiang Kai-shek from his sleeping quarters on the slopes of Lishan, forcing him to form a united front with the Communists against Japan. The building where Chiang slept, and the path he fled before being caught, are preserved as a separate memorial site within the grounds.

Huaqing is standardly combined with the Terracotta Army on a single day-trip itinerary — the two sites are 12 kilometres apart along the same road east of Xi'an. Tourist bus 5 (route 306) runs from the Xi'an Railway Station to both.