A one-day tour of the historic Ancient Hantai Scenic Area

Today, I visited the Ancient Hantai Scenic Area. It is also the Hanzhong Museum, located at No. 26 Dongda Street, Hantai District, Hanzhong City, Shaanxi Province. Due to its location in the city, transportation is very convenient. You can take bus No. 1 from Hanzhong Station, get off at the Bell Tower Station, and then walk about 200 meters east to reach the scenic area. The scenic area is completely free of charge. The Hanzhong City Museum is built on the site of the Ancient Hantai, covering an area of 1,400 square meters. Its architecture is based on the original style of the Ancient Hantai, consisting of three courtyards that rise step by step from south to north. The Ancient Hantai was the palace of Liu Bang, who was sealed as the King of Han by Xiang Yu, the Hegemon-King of Western Chu, also known as the Seven-Star Platform, and is a high palace platform building with a typical Qin and Han dynasty style, constructed by artificial rammed earth. After the Song Dynasty, the Ancient Hantai became the back garden of the Hanzhong Prefecture. Inside the Ancient Hantai, there is a famous building called Wangjiang Tower, originally built during the Southern Song Dynasty as the Tianhan Tower, located at the highest point of the Ancient Hantai, with the architectural style of the Southern Song Dynasty. The Ancient Hantai has 8 exhibition halls with a display area of nearly 2,000 square meters. The exhibits involve Taoist statues, Buddhist statues, modern revolutionary relics of Hanzhong, the Thirteen Steles of Shimen, the Baixie Plank Road display, showcasing nearly a thousand pieces. The most important exhibit is undoubtedly the Thirteen Steles of Shimen, which is a general term for thirteen cliff carvings distributed in the Shimen Tunnel of the ancient Baixie Trail and the cliffs to its south and north. In the 1970s, due to the construction of the Shimen Reservoir in Hanzhong, they were chiseled and moved to the Hanzhong City Museum for preservation. The main contents of the Thirteen Steles of Shimen include: 'Shimen Song,' which, along with 'Yuge Song' and 'Xixia Song,' is collectively known as the Three Songs of Han. It records the history of the late Colonel Yang Meng, who refuted public opinion and finally restored the Baixie Trail. 'Gunxue' was written by Cao Cao. Cao Cao visited Hanzhong twice in his life, once in the twentieth year of Jian'an and again in the twenty-fourth year of Jian'an. This cliff carving was made during his second visit to Hanzhong when he saw the waves of the Bao River splashing like rolling snow and wrote about it. Although the cliff has endured through the years, the inscriptions are clear and the charm remains. After leaving the Ancient Hantai Scenic Area, you can also visit the Baijiang Platform to the south, which is said to be the altar where Liu Bang appointed Han Xin as the Grand General. It is a large-scale altar similar to the Temple of Heaven, with a giant stone carving of Han Xin on top. Next to it, there is an exhibition hall displaying the life and deeds of Han Xin. After leaving the Baijiang Altar Scenic Area, if you still have the energy, you can walk south along Tianhan Avenue for about 1 kilometer to reach the Han River. Here, there is the Tianhan Wetland Park built along the river. Strolling inside the wetland, a variety of flowers and famous trees come into view. Every weekend, visitors bring their families here for camping and walking, which is quite pleasant. All in all, the Ancient Hantai Scenic Area is quite nice. Hanzhong, as the place where Liu Bang, the Emperor Gaozu of Han, started his rise, has many Han cultural relics and attracts hundreds and thousands of tourists every year to check in. Currently, there is almost an hourly high-speed train from Xi'an to Hanzhong, and young people who like Hanfu can definitely consider Hanzhong as their second destination after touring Xi'an. I hope everyone will take the time to visit.