Where does the emperor go to soak in hot springs? Demystifying Chengde Tangquan Palace

Speaking of Chengde, the summer resort is the first thing most people think of. Do you know that Chengde also has a "Tangquan Palace" dedicated to the emperor's hot springs? It was built almost at the same time as the summer resort, and its "age" is quite large, but people only remember the famous summer resort and forget it. This palace is located in Tangquan Village, Tougou Town, 44 kilometers away from Chengde City.

There are many hot springs near Chengde, but only Tougou in Chengde County can be seen by the Qing emperors and opened as a palace. According to historical records, there were hot springs bathing here as early as Liao Dynasty. At the end of Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of Ming Dynasty, because Jehol became a Mongolian racecourse, a large area of land was abandoned and the population moved, the bathing places here gradually abandoned.

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In the thirty-first year of Emperor Kangxi of Qing Dynasty (AD 1692), Emperor Kangxi stumbled upon this place and set up a tent on a nearby mountain as a temporary palace. Emperor Kangxi was overjoyed to hear that there were hot springs here. After taking a bath, he felt that the hot spring water was "warmer and more suitable for the body", so he planned to open a royal hot spring palace here.

In the 45th year of Kangxi (1706), chengde mountain resort has begun to take shape, and Tangquan Palace officially broke ground. However, there was a problem when it was first built, because there was a "Shuigong Niangniang" temple built by local people on the original site of the palace, and the people prayed for the blessing of Shuigong Niangniang. Will this temple be demolished or not? At this time, Kangxi did not "bully" down the temple for the comfort of washing hot springs, but "gave way" to the temple, which not only renovated the Shuigong Niangniang Temple, but also fully respected the beliefs of the local people. At the same time, the temple was preserved and a palace was built on the hillside behind the temple. Therefore, the whole hot spring palace is divided into two parts: the former is the Dragon King Buddha Hall (that is, the Shuigong Niangniang Hall), and the latter is the palace, surrounded by a palace wall with a circumference of 300 meters.

I have to say that Emperor Kangxi was really a benevolent emperor!

After a hundred years of vicissitudes, this Chengde Tangquan Palace has lost its former style. Now only the main hall, the gatehouse, the Tang Chi, the Imperial Monument, the rockery and the fence are left. But once you walk in, you can still feel the breath of royalty.

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This gate is the main entrance of Tangquan Palace, because the front hall is Shuigong Niangniang Temple, which was originally a temple gate. Emperor Kangxi did not demolish and rebuild the palace gate, but continued to use it. So this gate is a combination of the palace gate and the temple gate, which is also rare in history of qing dynasty.

In front of the main hall of the palace, the center of the whole courtyard is a large pool of hot springs, which is still the appearance of the Qing Dynasty. This pool is about 20 square meters, and it is square. There are stone dragon sprinklers on the four walls, which lead to the underground tunnel and skillfully introduce spring water into the bathrooms on both sides of the main pool. The bathrooms on both sides are the places where the emperor and queen were destroyed.

There are two stone tablets on both sides of the main pool, one without words, and the other engraved with the inscription of the Royal Tangshan Dragon King Buddha Hall inscribed by Emperor Kangxi. In this inscription, Emperor Kangxi wrote down his love for the hot springs here: "Kao Tangquan was written by historians, Li is the most famous, others are scattered in magazines, and Ziquan is particularly miraculous."

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According to records, Emperor Kangxi came here thirteen times in his life, and later Yongzheng and Qianlong often came here to break the rules, which shows the emperors' love for hot springs here.

However, in the late Qianlong period, due to the management situation and the shift of attention in the Qing Dynasty, Tangquan Palace was abolished during the Qianlong period. The royal family gave up, but the people did not. After that, the local people spontaneously maintained. After liberation, a hot spring sanatorium was built here, which continued to play the role of physical therapy with hot spring water.