未央宫

This guide to Weiyang Palace, the vast Han-dynasty palace ruins in Xi'an, follows Liu Ruyi, the twelve-year-old King of Zhao who tasted every dish before eating it because his own stepmother wanted him dead. It traces the rivalry behind that fear: his father Emperor Gaozu once tried to name him heir over his half-brother Liu Ying, who survived to become Emperor Hui and kept watch over Ruyi despite it all. You'll hear about the one ordinary winter morning when Hui rode out to hunt and Ruyi, still half asleep, stayed behind alone. Somewhere under the earth mounds around you, engineers once raised an audience hall wide enough to seat an emperor's entire court.