Huaqing pool is located about 30 kilometers east of the city of Xi'an. Historically ,duruing the Western Zhou Dynasty, a stone pool was built and was given the name Lishan Tang (Lishan Hot Spring ).
The site was enlarged into a bigger palace during the Han Dynasty,
and was renamed Li Shimin (Emperor Tai Zong) order the construction
of the Hot Springs Palace, and Emperor Xuan Zong had a walled
palace built around the Lishan Mountain in the year 747. it was
know as Huaqing Palace. It also had the name "Huaqing pool"
because of its location over the hot springs.
Huaqing pool is located at the foot of Lishan Hill, a branch of the
Qinling Mountain Range. It stands 1,256 meters above the sea level.
It is covered with pines and cypressesand looks distance. In
classical chinese, a black horse was called "Li"and this is how
it got its name, Lishan.
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 orginal Huaqing Palace. Huaqing pool which
we see today was rebuilt on the site of the Qing Dynast structure.
The palace covers an area of 85,560 square meters.
Entering the West Gate of Huaqing pool, you willsee the Nine dragon
Pool, the Lotus Flower Pool, the Frost Drifting Hall,etc. All these
structures were rebuilt in 1959 according to the Tang Dynast
architectual style.The Frost Drifting Hall The Tang Emperor, XuanZong and his favorite lady, Yang Guifei (Lady Yang yuhuan ),used to make their home in the Frost Drifting Hall. There is always mist and vapor in the air over the pool in front of the hall. In winter, snowflakes fly in the air, and everything in sight becomes white. However, the snowflakes thawed immediately in fornt of the Hall. This owes a great deal to the lukewarm vapor that rises out of the hot spring; hence the name "the Frost Drifting Hall" that we see today.
The Nine-dragon Pool Close by the Frost Drifting Hall lies the Nine-dragon Pool. According to the legend, the central Shaanxi Plain was once stricken by a sever drought a long time ago. By the order of
Jade
Emperor (the Supreme Deity of Heaven), an old dragon came with
eight young ones,and made rain here. Yet when the disaster was just
abating, the dragons lowered their guard and relaxed vigilance, and
the drought became aerious again. In a fit of anger, Jade Emperor
kept the young dragons under the JADE causeway, with the Morning
Glow Pavilion and the Sunset Pavilion built on the east and west
sides of it to make the young dragons spout clear waterall day long
to meet the needs of local irrigation. He had the old dragon
confined to the bottom of the Roaring Dragon Waterside Pavilion
which was situated at the upperend of the Jade Causeway. The old
dragon was obliged to exercise control over the young ones.
