Xiaotangshan Hot Spring

Xiaotangshan Hot Spring, located in the Changping District of Beijing, is one of the Chinese capital's most historically significant geothermal sites, with a bathing tradition stretching back over a thousand years to the Liao Dynasty and continued use by Ming and Qing imperial courts who maintained imperial villas here for seasonal therapeutic retreats. The bicarbonate spring water, emerging warm from the volcanic basement underlying the North China Plain, was prized by Beijing's imperial class for skin care and general tonic properties. Today Xiaotangshan hosts numerous resort hotels and spa facilities serving the Beijing metropolitan area, preserving a geothermal tradition of remarkable continuity within easy reach of one of the world's great historic capitals.