China will invest heavily in restoring Daming Palace, the ruling center of the Tang Dynasty dating back 1,100 years, and will build a park there.
The palace is similar to the Yuanmingyuan Palace of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) in terms of historical value and size. The project is expected to be completed in five years, according to sources with the Xi'an Department of Cultural Heritage in Shaanxi Province.
The palace covers an area of 3.5 square kilometers. It was the largest of the three major palaces in Chang'an, the then capital of the Tang Dynasty (618-907). It had served as the political center for the Tang emperors for about 240 years.
Chinese archeologists have been restoring Hanyuan Hall, Linde Hall Sanqing Hall, the palace gates and an imperial road at the site. The site was first excavated in 1959 and put under state protection in 1961. No high rises have been allowed to be built there since then.
Li Shimin, the second emperor of the Tang Dynasty, commenced construction of the Daming Palace for his retired father, Li Yuan, in 634 in the northeastern part of Chang'an, basically today's Xi'an.
Later, in 663, Li Zhi, the third emperor of the Tang Dynasty, completed construction on the Daming Palace, and moved his court there from the former imperial palace of Taiji, making the Daming Palace the political center of the dynasty.
The palace was abandoned after the Tang Dynasty moved its capital to Luoyang, basically at today's city of Luoyang in Henan Province, in 904.
(Xinhua News Agency October 25, 2005)
