Bathroom and beyond

A Favorite Concubine's Bathroom

Around 8 in the morning, we had our breakfast (the usual pickled cucumber, steamed buns, shredded beef, boiled eggs, porridge, etc.) and headed for the Huaqing Palace 30 km east of the city. Upon arriving, you can easily take notice of a big painted picture of a plump lady about to undress. I was told and I also later learned that the place used to be bathrooms as in where high ranking officials and members of the royalty had their baths. The plump lady in the picture is no other than Lady Yang, one of the four beauties of Chinese history. It is said that all the flowers are too shy with her to come into bloom. She was Emperor Li Longji's favorite concubine during the later part of the Tang dynasty (685-762A.D.) and exclusive favor has been bestowed upon her ever since. She was given many gifts and many things were constructed just for her;one of these is the bathing pool (there's even a dressing room, a drying room, etc.) What more can a concubine want! One of the bathing pools is shaped like a crabapple (it's a kind of local peach with an irregular shape looking like an octagon except that the sides are round), it just looks like an odd-shaped bath-tub to me. This one is exclusively built for her. I guess her favorite fruit is the crabapple.

A few meters away is even a larger pool three times the size of the pool I just mentioned. It's oblong in shape and its function is solely for the privacy of the emperor and Lady Yang. By the way because the emperor was so pre-occupied with the wants of his this lady, his mind seldom dwelled on the business of the country and a great rebellion ensued marking the decline of the Tang dynasty. You can never argue with the saying "Behind every man's victory and downfall is a woman."

What I liked about the place is its many ponds filled with brightly colored fishes. It has many peach and pomegranate trees. It also has a marble boat similar to the one in the Summer Palace in Beijing, but what makes it more attractive is its two huge dragon heads the size of a van at the front area. Of course it's immobile and only functions as an added attraction to the place. There is also a huge marble statue of Lady Yang half-naked situated in the middle of a spring pool. I didn't have to close my eyes as almost all the tourists wanted their picture taken with her. I joined in!