Hancheng Lake Park

Hancheng Lake Park is built along the two banks of Hancheng Lake in the northwest of downtown Xi’an. In addition to beautiful natural landscapes, it houses many heritage sites dating from as far back as the Han Dynasty (202 B.C. - 220A.C.) and architecture built in Han style. They are scattered over the following seven visiting areas:

Sacrificed Ceremony Zone

In this area, you can see a spectacular group of fountains with a 60 meter (197 feet) tall main fountain. The fountain show starts at 20:30 every night and lasts 30 minutes with a variety of water curtain shapes under the control of a computer. The fountains dance to the music representing the magnificent and prosperous Han Dynasty and show people’s wishes of a happy life.

After enjoying the musical fountains, you can see a 21.5 meter (70 feet) tall statue of Emperor Wu of Western Han. The substrate of 7 meters (23 feet) high means he is the seventh emperor of the Western Han Dynasty (206 B.C. - 24 A.D).

Next attraction – Four Han-Style Watchtowers is a landmark building of Hancheng Lake Park. The watchtower is composed of a base, body and roof. They are not only built using exquisite architectural techniques, but also engraved with intricate inscriptions.

Besides these landscapes, there are another two watchtowers and a landscape stone in this zone worth visiting.

Bacheng City

The Bacheng City zone includes four attractions, the main spots of which are Waterwheel Square and Sacred Yellow Elm. In Waterwheel Square, there are two huge waterwheels in Han Dynasty style and the brilliant carving of the water conservancy project on the ground. In the elm garden of the Hancheng Lake Park stands a “sacred elm”. It is a kind of rare species of tree with a history of nearly a thousand years, which can be named “the king of the elm”.

In addition, Peace Bridge, and Site of Bacheng City Gate are built in this scenic zone.

Han Bridges Watertown

In this area, you can see the handicraft workshops, folk stores and buildings with typical northern architectural features. The main attractions in this zone are Coins Square and bridges like Shangwu Bridge, Hongming Bridge and Huilan Bridge.

The Coins Square covers a total area of 0.5 acre, paved with over 400 coins modeled on coins from the Han Dynasty.

The Shangwu Bridge is one of the landmark bridges in Hancheng Lake Park. Its main body is carved with four gilded dragons representing the stateliness of Emperor Wu from the Han Dynasty. The Hongming Bridge and the Huilan Bridge are built for visitors to travel between the two banks of the lake.

Turret Zone

The most well-known attraction in Turret Zone is Gale Pavilion with a height of 64 meters (70 yards). It is the highest point in the whole park. From the bottom floor to the top floor inside, there are Museum of Bovine’s Culture and Ceramics, 3D Theater, Silk Road Museum, Gallery of Han Culture, Exhibition of World Heritage of Wooden Handicraft, Hall of Han Dynasty’s Clothing, Exhibition of Military Campaign in sequence. Climbing onto the top floor, you can catch the beautiful view of Hancheng Lake.

There is also a Gods’ Platform. It was originally built by Emperor Wu in order to welcome the gods and pray for peace and prosperity.

In addition, Stone Pillars landscape is also worth a visit. It is carved with Poems of Bangu, a famous literary in ancient times, to show the prosperity of Chang’an, the then capital city.

You might also be attracted by another splendid spot - the Sculpture Square. The sculpture, 200 meters (218 yards) long, is the largest sculpture in Xi’an. The carved content mainly depicts major events from the Han Dynasty.

Besides the above attractions, the Site of the Southeast Corner of Han Chang’an City and Miniature Qinling Mountains Landscape are scattered throughout Turret Zone.

Moonlight in Lake

The attractions in this area are the Isle in the Central Park and Eaves Tiles Square. The Isle in Central Park is a sightseeing isle which also provides a habitat for wild birds.

The Eaves Tiles Square shows the great variety of tiles from the Han Dynasty. The tile has four different patterns: characters, animals’ stripe, clouds’ stripe and four gods’ tiles. The four gods represent four seasons and four directions respectively.

Fu’ang Scenery

Fuang Scenery is located on the original Site of Fuang Gate of Han Chang’an City, hence the name Fuang Scenery. There are only two scenic zones: Chongwei Bridge and Water Mill Square. The sculpture group is currently under construction.

Anmen Gate

The Anmen Gate zone under construction will be composed of five attractions: Hanlin Teahouse, Shangru Bridge, Bamboo Park, Plank Road and Double Watchtowers.

How to Get to Hancheng Lake Park

To Peace Bridge Entrance: take bus no. 717/50/207/33/900/221/235/Inter-zone 900 and get off at Guojiacun Station.

To Gale Pavilion Entrance: take bus no. 50/221/708 and get off at Electromechanical Market, Zhuhong Road Station (Zhuhonglu Jidian Shichang).

To Fengshan Gate Square: take bus no. 235 and get off at Fengshan Gate, Hancheng Lake Station (Hanchenghu Fengshanmen)