Former Japanese Prime Minister Ohira Masakata visited the hot spring in 1979.[Photo/Xinhua]

7. Huaqing Hot Spring

Thirty kilometers from Xi'an city, Huaqing Hot Spring is famed for both its dainty spring scenery and the romantic love story of Tang Dynasty Emperor Xuanzong (685-762) and his concubine, Yang Guifei

It is said that Emperor You built a palace here during the Western Zhou Dynasty (11th century BC-711 BC). Additions were subsequently made by the first Emperor Qing (259 BC-210BC) and Emperor Wu during the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-24). During the Tang Dynasty, the Emperor Xuanzong spent dizzying amounts of money to build a luxurious palace, changing its name to Huaqing Hot Spring, or Huaqing Palace. Over the course of 41 years, he visited the palace as many as 36 times.

In 1979, then-Japanese Prime Minister Ohira Masakata was the first foreign leader to visit the hot spring. Later visitors included former U.S Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, former Mexican President Vicente Fox Quesada and former governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger.