huaqing pool is situated about 35 kilometres east of the city of xi’an. historically, the western zhou dynasty saw the construction of the li palace on the spot. in the qin dynasty a pool was built with stones, and was given the name lishan tang (the lishan hot spring). the site was extended into a palace in the han dynasty, and renamed the li palace (the resort palace). in the tang dynasty, li shimin (emperor tai zong) ordered to construct the hot spring palace, and emperor xuan zong had a walled palace built around lishan mountain in the year of 747. it was known as the huaqing palace. it also had the name huaqing pool on account of its location on the hot springs.
huaqing pool is located at the foot of the lishan mountain, a branch range of the qinling ranges, and stands 1,256 metres high. it is covered with pines and cypresses, looking very much like a like a dark green galloping horse from a long distance. so it has the name of the lishan mountain (li means a black horse).
the tang dynasty emperor xuan zong and his favourite lady, yang gui fei used to make their home at frost drifting hall in winter days. when winter came, snowflakes were floating in the air, and everything in sight was white. however, they came into thaw immediately in front of the hall. it owed a great deal to the luke warm vapour rising out of the hot spring. this is the frost drifting hall that greets us today.
welcome to yunnan, welcome to tengchong! it’s my honor to be your guide. today we are going to visit the volcanoes and hot springs in tengchong, which are the most famous here.
as we will get there in a few minutes, first allow me to give you a brief intoduction of tengchong. tengchong is located in the southwest of china and occupies an area of 5800 square kilometers. there are 23 nationalities here, such as 汉、傣、回、白 nationalities and so on. when we mentioned tengchong, three things will come into mind, which are: the volcanoes and hot springs having 10,000 years, the border city having 1,000 years and the fair of jade having 100 years.
later we will get to the volcanoes and the hot spring, so now i can tell you something about the latter two ones. they all can reflect the long history tengchong has. tengchong is a city on boarder. and because of its location, it has been an important place for military reasons. and that’s a part of its history. it’s also regarded as the county of manners, and it is the hometown of so many famous people. and another part of its history is that tengchong is one trade center of jade between china and burma. so don’t forget to get a round to the jade fair. i think you will feel interested.
ok, everyone, here is the library of the volcanoes. now let’s have a look at .the volcanoes in tengchong are famous in china, and it’s one of the four groups of volcanoes in china. the strong extravasations are the cause of the landform of tengchong. there is a lieder in tengchong saying that:” such a place tengchong, nine in ten mountains have no peaks.” it’s very vivid, from that you can see so many volcanoes are in tengchong. there are 97 volcanoes in tengchong now with high value of tourism and scientific research.