Where History Comes Alive: A Walk Through Handan’s Zhao Garden Park

#discoverchina #handan Stepping into Zhao Garden Park in Handan feels like traveling back to the Warring States period,when this very ground echoed with the clang of swords and the drills of Zhao cavalry. Once the royal garden and military training ground of the *Zhao Kingdom,the park breathes history—its name evoking the elegance of a monarch’s retreat, though its legacy is far more rugged. Here, King Wuling of Zhao famously championed Hufu Qishe(adopting nomadic cavalry tactics), a bold reform that reshaped Chinese warfare. The park preserves relics like the Arrow-Shooting Mound and Sword-Casting Furnace where soldiers once honed their skills and smithed weapons. Strolling past the Poetry Corridor and Idiom Garden,I marveled at how Handan—the "City of Idioms"—weaves legends into every corner. The ruins of Dabeicheng,the ancient Zhao capital’s western wall, lie quietly beneath modern walkways, a reminder that empires may fade, but their stories endure in stone and soil.