Tang Paradise: A Royal Garden Rebuilt on Tang Foundations

World Travel 编辑部 · 2026-09-16 · 5 min read

Southeast of Qujiang Pool and beside the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda lies a large Tang-style garden. The spot has been imperial parkland since antiquity, rising under Qin and Han and flourishing under Sui and Tang; today's Tang Paradise was rebuilt on the site of the Tang Furong Garden.

Rebuilt on a Tang site

Tang Paradise sits southeast of the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda in Yanta District, Xi'an, covering 1,000 mu with 300 mu of water. It is China's first large imperial-garden theme park devoted in full to the high Tang. Work began in 2002 north of the Tang Furong Garden site, the garden was completed in 2004 and opened on 11 April 2005.

One thing should be clear: this is a reconstruction, not surviving fabric. That shapes how you look at it — for the ideas and planning of a Tang garden, rather than as an archaeological site.

What the fourteen zones hold

The park divides into fourteen cultural zones, taking Xi'an's history as the high Tang capital as its thread and gathering high Tang landscape highlights into one place, interpreting and recreating Tang culture through architecture, food, song and dance, music and folk custom.

It holds many Tang-style structures, among them Ziyun Tower, the Court Ladies' Hall, the Imperial Banquet Hall, Apricot Garden, Fanglin Court, the Phoenix Singing Theatre and the Tang Market. In 2011 Tang Paradise was rated a national 5A scenic area, and in 2018 it joined the list of a hundred wonders of the northwest.

When to go

Come in daylight for the buildings and planting, in the evening for the lighting and water. If you see only one thing, most people pick the main ensemble around Ziyun Tower; with time, arrive late afternoon and stay past dark to catch day, dusk and night in one visit.

Practical Notes

It adjoins the Great Tang All Day Mall, so do the garden then the street.
The park is large with many performances — pick up the schedule first and plan around it.
It is windy by the water; bring a layer for the evening show.