Yellow Crane Tower, Wuhan

A tower on Snake Hill above the Yangtze, one of the Three Great Towers of southern China, celebrated in Tang poetry.

It is famous for its history and for Tang dynasty poetry, including a well-known poem by Cui Hao. The outside looks like five storeys, but inside there are nine levels, a number linked to imperial power. The eaves curve outward like the wings of a crane.

A tower rebuilt again and again

Records say that after Sun Quan, founder of the kingdom of Eastern Wu, built the fort of Xiakou in 223, a tower was built at the Yellow Crane Jetty. In the Ming and Qing dynasties the tower was destroyed twelve times by war and fire, and repaired ten times. The last tower at the original site was built in 1868 and destroyed in 1884. A bridge over the Yangtze was built there in 1957, so the new tower had to go about 1 kilometre away, on Snake Hill.

Legend and poetry

There are several legends. In one, an immortal rode a yellow crane down to this spot, and the tower was built to remember it. Poets such as Cui Hao, Li Bai and Bai Juyi wrote about the view, and Cui Hao's poem, which speaks of the person who rode away on a yellow crane and never returned, is hung in the tower. The new building has modern comforts, such as a lift, but its look follows the old design.

On the globe

The toy model shows the multi-roofed tower with its upturned eaves above the Yangtze.