Huaqing Palace

Hot springs rise at the foot of Mount Li, and emperors built at them from early times, with the Tang complex the grandest: Xuanzong made it a winter court, and the pools used by him and by Yang Guifei were excavated in the 1980s, stone-lined basins of different shapes, one cut as a lotus and one as a crab apple, with the plumbing that fed them visible. The story of Xuanzong and Yang Guifei, told in Bai Juyi's Song of Everlasting Sorrow, is the reason the site is famous in China, and an outdoor evening show stages it against the mountain.

What you actually see

• The excavated pools - Tang stone bathing basins in lotus and other shapes.
• The spring source - the hot water still rising at the foot of the mountain.
• The rebuilt halls - modern reconstruction of the palace buildings.
• The evening show - the Xuanzong and Yang Guifei story staged outdoors.

When to go

April to June and September to October; the evening show runs from spring to autumn and needs tickets booked ahead. The site is usually combined with the Terracotta Army, a few kilometres east.

Honest expectations

Buildings above the pools are modern reconstruction. The evening show is expensive and separate. The site is very busy as a standard stop on Terracotta Army tours.

Nearby

The Terracotta Army lies east; Xi'an is west.