Follow Tang Poems Through Chang’an – 5-Day 4-Night In-Depth Independent Tour of Xi’an: Experience Tang Dynasty Glory and National Strength!

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Introduction – Travel Chang’an with Tang Poems

Xi’an has a long history, deep cultural heritage, and abundant tourism resources, with countless places to visit. During the Tang Dynasty, Chang’an was world-renowned, seeing a flourishing scene of envoys from all nations. The literati of that time recorded the Chang’an in their eyes through Tang poems, which have been passed down to this day. Today, let’s follow the descriptions in those poems to see how many traces of Tang-era Chang’an remain in present-day Xi’an.

Recalling the late emperor’s northern tours, a thousand chariots, ten thousand horsemen entering Xianyang.

A rainbow skirt song on a thousand peaks, dancing until the central plains crumbled.

A rider’s dust, the concubine’s smile – none knew it was the lychee coming.

Day 1: Daming Palace National Heritage Park – Bell Tower – Drum Tower – Xi’an Ancient City Wall – Muslim Street

Day 2: Emperor Qin’s Terracotta Warriors – Huaqing Palace

Day 3: Qujiang Cold Kiln Heritage Park – Great Wild Goose Pagoda – Tang Dynasty Ever-Bright City

Day 4: Tang Paradise

Book your flight or high-speed train about half a month in advance. I departed from Guangzhou; round-trip flights were around 1200 RMB, but my plans changed and I flew out and took the high-speed train back.

During peak travel seasons, book your hotel or hostel in advance. I usually book a hostel, where you can meet travelers from all over. A hostel bed generally costs 40–80 RMB per night, while a hotel room can range from 200 to 600 RMB. You can choose according to your own situation. Autumn arrives early in Xi’an; if traveling during National Day, bring autumn clothes, as temperatures are around 15–22°C.

Scenic spot tickets in Xi’an are expensive, pricier than many other places, so be mentally prepared and bring plenty of money. You can book tickets in advance on Ctrip. Some attractions like Tang Paradise and museums allow free entry but require advance reservation via their official WeChat account or Ctrip. Don’t just show up and find out that the day’s quota is full – especially during peak season, reserve ahead.

Ancient City Wall bike rental: deposit 200 RMB per bike, rental 45 RMB (within 2 hours), and 5 RMB for every extra 10 minutes. For tandem bike prices, please refer to other guides.

The red-capped announcer heralds the dawn; the royal tailor brings the king’s robe.

The palace gates open high as the sky, envoys from all nations bow to the emperor.

Sunlight strikes the immortal’s palm, incense swirls around the dragon robes.

After court, the edicts are drafted, and jingling pendants return to the Phoenix Pool.

— Wang Wei, “Matching Secretary Jia Zhi’s Poem on the Early Morning Court at Daming Palace”

Daming Palace was one of the three main palaces of Tang Chang’an, the largest of the “Three Great Inner Palaces.”

The grand minister from the west, no ordinary audience rite.

Early known for loyalty in Shandong, newly won merit at Jishang.

Court officials queue outside, welcoming envoys fill the road.

At dawn the palace gates open, he receives his appointment in Daming Palace.

— Zhang Ji, “Sir Tian Enters the Court”

From Emperor Gaozong onward, Tang emperors resided in Daming Palace and handled state affairs. Here once stood the most magnificent architectural complex of the Tang Dynasty.

Today’s Daming Palace Heritage Park features a museum, miniature landscapes, and the ruins of palace halls. The site mainly consists of archaeological ruins, with vast open ground and little lush vegetation.

Of the Tang “Three Great Inner Palaces,” besides Daming Palace, there were Taiji Palace and Xingqing Palace. Taiji Palace no longer exists, while Xingqing Palace was rebuilt into Xingqing Palace Park on its original Tang site, now an open city park.

Xi’an Drum Tower, located in the center of ancient Xi’an, stands about 200 meters northwest of the Bell Tower at the intersection of the four main streets within the Ming city wall. Built in 1380 under Emperor Hongwu of the Ming Dynasty, it is one of the largest and best-preserved traditional drum towers in China.

The Drum Tower is built on a square base, made of brick and wood, with double eaves and a total height of 36 meters, covering an area of 1,377 square meters. Inside, stairs spiral upward. The eaves are covered with dark green glazed tiles; the interior is decorated with gold-painted murals and carved beams. The gilded top makes it an iconic structure of Xi’an.

Xi’an Bell Tower, at the junction of the four main streets inside the Ming city wall, is the largest and best-preserved bell tower existing in China today. It was first built in 1384 and originally stood at the present-day Guangji Street intersection, facing the Drum Tower. In 1582, it was moved to its current location.

Xi’an Ming City Wall, in the heart of Xi’an, is 12 meters high, with a top width of 12–14 meters and a base width of 15–18 meters. Its enclosed rectangular shape has a circumference of 13.74 kilometers. The area within the wall is commonly called the Ancient City District, covering 11.32 square kilometers. The iconic Bell and Drum Towers lie at its center.

The city wall has four main gates: Changle Gate (East Gate), Yongning Gate (South Gate), Anding Gate (West Gate), and Anyuan Gate (North Gate) – the original gates of the ancient wall. Starting from the Republic of China era, many additional gates were opened for easier access, bringing the total to 18 gates today.

Muslim Street is actually a large area west and north of the Drum Tower. The best food is concentrated on five streets: Beiyuanmen just north of the Drum Tower, Dapiyuan (turn left at the end), then Beiguangji Street (turn left again at the next end), Xiyangshi running parallel between them, and Daxuexi Lane to the west of Beiguangji. Almost all the delicious eats are on these five streets.

I suggest you first walk along Beiyuanmen, trying Honghong Pickled Cabbage Fried Rice, Jia Yongxin’s beef and mutton, Jia’s Fried Dough Twist with Tea, Old Jin’s Water Basin Mutton, Wuweifang Peanut Crisp and Mung Bean Cake, Yiguzhai Persimmon Cakes, and Defuyuan Lao’an’s pastries.

Then turn left onto Dapiyuan and enjoy Shanshisan’s Qin Crispy, Liu’s Beef Ball Hot & Sour Soup, Granny Hua’s Sour Plum Drink, Musa’s Clay Pot Stew, Yanbin’s Fried Yuanxiao (glutinous rice balls), Xiao Jia’s Eight-Treasure Porridge, Ding’s Little Crispy Pork, and Shengzhiwang Sesame Paste Rice Noodles.

At the end, turn left onto Beiguangji Street heading south to the South Street, tasting Hongshunxiang Braised Bean Jelly, Ding’s Jiangmi Cakes, Liu Jixiao’s beef and mutton, and Southeast Asian Zonggao (steamed sticky rice). Continue to Old Bai’s Water Basin Mutton and Old Xu’s Persimmon Cakes, then turn right onto Daxuexi Lane for Shi’s Baozi (stuffed buns). (Bring plenty of cash.)

After a day’s journey, return to the hostel, take a shower, and relax. Join travelers from all corners for Werewolf, Three Kingdoms Kill, a movie, or chat about everything under the sun – such moments become cherished memories of the trip.

Today I recall Emperor Qin, whose majestic gaze overawed the east.

In one reign he conquered six states, his feats towering above the sky.

Determined to pacify the land, he drove away tigers and wolves.

Hundreds of thousands were conscripted, the Great Wall rose on the frontier.

Searching for elixirs of immortality, his dynasty fell in the second reign.

No sight of the First Emperor, only heaven and earth in vastness.

— Li Bai, “Reflections on the Past”

Ming scholar Li Zhi praised him in “Cangshu”: “The First Emperor is truly the emperor of millennia. When heaven split and earth collapsed, he overturned a world. This dragon ancestor was a hero who won the realm.”

Emperor Qin’s Terracotta Warriors: a World Cultural Heritage, one of the Eight Wonders of the World, national 5A-level tourist attraction, and key national protected site.

The Museum of Qin Terracotta Warriors and Horses is located east of Lintong District, Xi’an, Shaanxi Province. It is a large burial pit within the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang, China’s first feudal emperor, covering 2.18 million square meters. The museum, built on the original site of the warrior pits, is the largest ancient military museum in China.

The discovery of Pit 1 came in March 1974 when villagers from Xihe Village, digging a well south of the village, struck the southeast corner of the pit. By mid-July 1974, an archaeological team from the Shaanxi Provincial Museum, Cultural Relics Management Committee, and Lintong County Cultural Center began work. As the excavation expanded from 1976 to 1978, archaeologists, conservators, photographers, and restorers joined the team, and large-scale restoration of the warriors began.

The terracotta figures fall into two main categories: soldiers and military officers, with officers divided into low, middle, and high ranks. Ordinary soldiers wear no caps, while officers wear caps that differ by rank, as does their armor. The army includes infantry, cavalry, and charioteers, each equipped differently according to battle needs.

The majority are warrior figures, most holding bronze weapons such as bows, crossbows, arrowheads, spears, dagger-axes, halberds, swords, curved blades, and battle-axes. They wear tight armor with colored knots on the chest. Officer figures wear long caps and outnumber generals. The figures vary in face shape, build, expression, eyebrows, eyes, and age.

When visiting the Terracotta Warriors, be sure to follow a guide – you can join a group without extra cost. Through the guide’s explanations, you’ll truly appreciate these life-like figures and imagine the might of the Qin Empire.

Tang Huaqing Palace was a secondary palace where Tang emperors sojourned. Later also called “Huaqing Pool,” it lies in Lintong District, Xi’an, Shaanxi.

Built on the slopes of Mount Li, Huaqing Palace was grand in scale and splendid in architecture, with halls and pavilions spread all over the mountain. First named “Tangquan Palace,” later “Hot Spring Palace,” Emperor Xuanzong renamed it Huaqing Palace. Because of its location on Mount Li, it was also called Li Palace or Xiuling Palace. Construction began in the early Tang Dynasty and peaked under Xuanzong’s rule. Xuanzong meticulously expanded the palace and visited almost every October, not returning to Chang’an until year’s end. After the An Lushan Rebellion, the political situation changed, and imperial visits to Huaqing Palace diminished sharply. In later dynasties, it was only sporadically maintained, and by the time of liberation, the hot spring pools were neglected and the halls desolate. Since 1959, the People’s Government has carried out major expansions.

From October 1, 2018, Huaqing Palace’s ticket price is 120 RMB per person per visit.

White-haired, tearfully talk of the Pear Garden, fifty years of imperial grace.

Ask not of Huaqing’s present, red leaves lock the palace gate.

— Bai Juyi, “Pear Garden Disciple”

Like “Song of Everlasting Sorrow,” many Tang poems about Huaqing Palace are linked to the love story of Yang Guifei.

Today’s Huaqing Palace Scenic Area is built on the architectural ruins of the Tang palace, containing the remains of the imperial hot spring pools. It has been merged with Mount Li and can be explored together. Additionally, from April to October each year, a large-scale outdoor stage drama “Song of Everlasting Sorrow” is performed.

On Day 2, the Tang poetry journey takes you through the might of the Qin Empire’s thousands of soldiers and horses, and the poignant love story of Li Longji and Yang Guifei.

Outside the garden, I sit by the river reluctant to return; the crystal palace grows hazy.

Peach blossoms drift after poplar catkins, yellow birds now and then joined by white ones in flight.

I’ve long been set aside by the world for my drinking and laziness, truly at odds.

Official duties make me feel further from this tranquil place; old and helpless, I still haven’t resigned.

Qujiang Pool Heritage Park is located on Qujiang Road, Xi’an. To the north, it connects to Tang Paradise; to the south, it reaches the Mausoleum of the Second Emperor of Qin. Covering an area of 1,500 mu, the park draws on rich surrounding tourism resources and cultural traditions to recreationally restore historical landscapes such as Qujiang South Lake, Hanwu Spring, Yichun Garden, Qujiang Floating Cup, and Phoenix Pool, reenacting the historical cultural pattern of Qujiang.

The park’s theme pavilion, also the largest, is called Qujiang Pavilion. In the Tang Dynasty, there was the Great Wild Goose Pagoda to the north and Qujiang Pavilion to the south, indicating that a Qujiang Pavilion indeed existed historically. Today, inside the pavilion stands a stele inscribed with “Qujiang Pool,” and on its back is engraved the full text of Wang Qi’s “Qujiang Pool Rhapsody,” which includes:

“The imperial capital’s finest scene, Xianyang’s ancient pool;

Named Qujiang from afar, modeled on the sacred pond nearby.”

This is a true depiction of Qujiang’s appearance in Tang times.

Under the Ci’en Pagoda where names were inscribed, the youngest among seventeen.

In the Tang Dynasty, newly successful jinshi graduates, besides wearing flowers and parading through Chang’an on horseback, would also compose poems and drink by Qujiang’s floating cups, explore apricot gardens at the state banquet, and ascend the Great Wild Goose Pagoda, where they would have their names, native places, and dates of passing the exam written on the walls by the best calligrapher among them.

The Great Wild Goose Pagoda stands within Daci’en Temple. It was built under the supervision of Master Xuanzang to enshrine Buddhist statues, relics, and Sanskrit scriptures he brought back from India.

The pagoda seems to spring forth, solitary and towering to heaven’s palace.

Climbing it, you leave the world behind; stairways spiral into the void.

It looms over the land, a work of ghostly craft.

Its four corners block the sun, its seven tiers scrape the sky.

Looking down, you point at the soaring birds; bending low, you hear the startling wind.

— Excerpt from Cen Shen’s “Climbing Ci’en Temple Pagoda with Gao Shi and Xue Ju”

When first completed, Crown Prince Li Zhi once climbed and composed verses. Later, each year on the Double Ninth Festival, the emperor would come to climb, gaze afar, and write poems, making the “Pagoda Poetry Gathering” a tradition.

Today’s Great Wild Goose Pagoda, after several renovations, remains intact and is a must-see in Xi’an. Centered on Daci’en Temple, the newly built Great Wild Goose Pagoda Square features a North Square fountain, a South Square with a Xuanzang statue, an East Drama Square and Daci’en Temple Heritage Park, and a West Folk Sculpture Area and Joy City Mall.

Spring clouds over the city wall shroud the garden walls; evening by the river pavilion stills the season’s fragrance.

Forest flowers in rain shed rouge; water plants stir in wind, their green ribbons long.

Tang Dynasty Ever-Bright City lies at the foot of the world-famous Great Wild Goose Pagoda, stretching from Xuanzang Square in the north to Tang City Wall Heritage Park in the south, and from Ci’en East Road to Ci’en West Road. It encompasses three themed squares – Xuanzang Square, Zhenguan Culture Square, and Kaiyuan Celebration Square – plus six Tang-style blocks and four major cultural venues: Xi’an Concert Hall, Xi’an Grand Theatre, Qujiang Film City, and Shaanxi Artists Gallery. The Ever-Bright City is resplendent with dazzling lights, thriving and brilliant.

Recall when the late emperor toured the northern frontier, a thousand chariots, ten thousand horsemen entering Xianyang.

Proud sons of Yinshan with blood-sweat horses, they drove the eastern nomads to hide.

Uprisings in Yecheng were no surprise, petty officials in the pass broke discipline.

Empress Zhang unhappy, the emperor was busy.

Even now, the current ruler still restores order, toiling anxiously to mend the realm.

I once served close and was honored to guide, the troops marched in strict discipline, unstoppable.

Guardians were left to defend Weiyang, yet the western Qiang still threaten.

The Quanrong come straight to sit in the imperial forest, officials, barefoot, follow the Son of Heaven.

Tang poet Yuan Zhen wrote:

Since nomad cavalry raised dust and smoke, their smell and flavor filled Xianyang and Luoyang.

Women adopted barbarian dress, entertainers learned barbarian tunes.

The fire phoenix’s song grows faint, the spring oriole’s trill turns mournful.

Nomad music, nomad riders, and nomad dress, for fifty years they’ve mingled and changed.

After visiting Tang Dynasty Ever-Bright City: When the lanterns are splendid and the city bustling, the grand scene of the Tang Dynasty is even more magnificent and beautiful in today’s China, a nation strong and its people prosperous.

Tang Paradise is a royal garden first built during the Qin Dynasty and expanded over several later dynasties, reaching its peak in the Tang Dynasty, especially after Emperor Xuanzong’s “Zhenguan Governance.” The emperor would visit several times a year, holding banquets to reward officials who excelled in poetry.

A thousand officials gather at the Lotus Palace, vermilion cherries from the Forbidden Garden appear.

Just after the spring offerings at the tomb, not because birds pecked at them.

Returning riders carry green silk baskets, palace eunuchs pour from red jade plates.

After feasting, no need to worry about inner heat, the grand steward still has cold sugarcane juice.

— Wang Wei, “Presenting Cherries to All Officials by Imperial Decree”

Most Tang poems about Tang Paradise describe the emperor’s garden feasts, with flowers in full bloom and unprecedented magnificence.

Tang Paradise was completely destroyed in the turmoil at the end of the Tang Dynasty, leaving no ruins. Today’s Tang Paradise was built north of the original site, modeled after Tang royal garden style, and is a large cultural theme park.

Tang Paradise is located in Qujiang New District, Xi’an, Shaanxi, covering over 1,000 mu with a total investment of 1.3 billion RMB. The scenic area includes Ziyun Tower, Ladies’ Pavilion, Imperial Banquet Hall, Fanglin Garden, Fengming Jiutian Theatre, Apricot Garden, Lu Yu Tea House, Tang Market, Qujiang Floating Cup, and many other attractions.

In the third year of Kaihuang (583 AD), Emperor Wen of Sui formally moved into the new capital. Disliking the character “qu” (bend), thinking it unlucky, he renamed Qujiang to “Furong Garden” (Lotus Garden). During Emperor Yang’s reign, Huang Gun carved various water features in Qujiang Pool, and officials drank by the winding stream, a literati tradition from the Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties brought into the palace gardens, laying a humanistic foundation for Tang’s Qujiang culture.

Emperor Xuanzong massively expanded Qujiang, making its splendor unparalleled, the pinnacle of its garden construction.

In 2002, construction began north of the original Tang Furong Garden site on China’s first large-scale cultural theme park comprehensively showcasing the grandeur of the Tang Dynasty, built in imitation of Tang royal garden style. On April 11, 2005 (the 3rd day of the 3rd lunar month), Tang Paradise officially opened to the public. On January 17, 2011, it was rated a national 5A scenic spot by the National Tourism Administration.

Poetry cultural theme: Tang poems enter the scene, atmosphere becomes scenery. The poetry form is embodied in the artistic installations, and the poetic mood is reflected in the entire park’s design. While strolling, you can learn, feel, and experience Tang poems, touching the infinite charm of traditional Chinese culture.

Besides admiring the royal garden architecture, you can also participate in cultural activities. During traditional festivals, Tang Paradise holds themed garden tours, perfectly fitting the occasion.

The most dazzling literary achievement of the Tang Dynasty was poetry. Starting with Chen Zi’ang and the “Four Talents of the Early Tang,” famous poets emerged one after another: Li Bai, Du Fu, Cen Shen, and Wang Wei in the High Tang; Li He, Han Yu, and Bai Juyi in the Mid Tang; Li Shangyin and Du Mu in the Late Tang. Their styles varied greatly, from rich imagination of mythical worlds to vivid depictions of real life, from vigorous frontier poems to somber “poetic history” and fresh idyllic verses. Together they form an outstanding chapter of ancient Chinese literature. Though later dynasties produced notable poets, the overall level of classical poetry never surpassed the Tang, making Tang poetry the unsurpassable peak of classical Chinese verse.

Travel Directory

1. Day 1: Daming Palace National Heritage Park – Bell Tower – Drum Tower – Xi’an Ancient City Wall – Muslim Street

2. Day 2: Emperor Qin’s Terracotta Warriors – Huaqing Palace

3. Day 3: Qujiang Cold Kiln Heritage Park – Great Wild Goose Pagoda – Tang Dynasty Ever-Bright City

4. Day 4: Tang Paradise

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