Yellow Crane Tower

Background

Yellow Crane Tower stands in Yellow Crane Tower Park at the western end of Snake Hill in Wuchang, near the Wuchang end of the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge. According to the Yuanhe Maps and Records of Prefectures and Counties, compiled about 600 years after the tower was built, Sun Quan of Eastern Wu built a tower on Yellow Crane Rock west of the city after founding Xiakou in 223, and the tower took its name from the rock. Originally a military lookout, it became a place where literati climbed to write poetry from the Tang dynasty onward; Cui Hao's “Yellow Crane Tower” and Li Bai's “Seeing Meng Haoran Off to Guangling at Yellow Crane Tower” are the most famous of these poems. In the Ming and Qing dynasties the tower was destroyed and rebuilt many times; sources differ on how many. The last tower on the original site was built in 1868 and destroyed in 1884; in 1957 a pier of the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge took over the original site, and from 1981 the tower was rebuilt on its present Snake Hill site, about 1 km away, opening in 1985. The present tower is a reinforced-concrete building in traditional style, five stories outside and nine inside (nine being the number of the emperor), 51.4 m tall, with yellow glazed tiles and eaves spread like a crane's wings. Its floors display murals of legends, historical records, portraits and poems of Tang and Song poets, and contemporary calligraphy and painting, and the top floor looks far out over the Yangtze. It is the centerpiece of Yellow Crane Tower Park, a national 5A scenic area. Folk tradition also tells of the Xin family wine shop, where a crane painted on the wall danced and a Taoist later flew away on it; this too is legend.

Local customs

• You can climb floor by floor to see the murals and poetry displays and look out from the top-floor gallery over the Yangtze, the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge and the three towns
• outside the tower, visit the Shengxiang Pagoda (a late Yuan or early Ming structure and the oldest intact single building in the park), the Yue Fei statue, Helixuan Pavilion and other sights
• teahouses and traditional music performances in the park depend on the day's schedule.

Travel tips

• Bear in mind that the present tower is a traditional-style building rebuilt on Snake Hill in 1985, about 1 km from the original site, not a thousand-year-old original. Climbing the tower and walking around the park takes about half a day
• opening hours and admission follow official announcements. The tower is in Wuchang District in central Wuhan: take the metro, a bus or a taxi to the Yellow Crane Tower Park entrance, then walk up Snake Hill
• drivers should use the public car parks around the park. Check official and municipal transport sources for routes.
• You can visit year-round
• spring and autumn are pleasant with clearer views over the river, summer calls for care against the heat, and in winter expect cold river winds and slippery stairs.