Yueyang Tower

Background

Yueyang Tower stands on the city wall above the west gate of Yueyang's old town in Hunan, facing Junshan Island and looking out over Dongting Lake. The main tower is 19.42 metres tall, built of brick and timber, with yellow tiles, upturned eaves and a three-tiered helmet-shaped roof; it is the only ancient building in China with a helmet roof. Four golden nanmu pillars run straight up to the roof. The second floor holds a carved wooden screen of the *Yueyang Tower Inscription*, cut from the calligraphy of Zhang Zhao in the Qianlong reign of the Qing dynasty and pieced together from 12 rosewood panels. Yueyang Tower was first built in the Han and Jin period and has more than 1,700 years of history. Destroyed and rebuilt many times, the present building dates from 1880, the sixth year of the Guangxu reign of the Qing dynasty, and in 1983 it was dismantled and restored on the principle of keeping the old as old. Before the Tang dynasty it served mainly military purposes; after the Tang it gradually became a place where men of letters climbed up to write poems, and Li Bai, Du Fu and Meng Haoran all left poems from their visits. Fan Zhongyan's *Yueyang Tower Inscription* made the tower famous across the land, and together with the Pavilion of Prince Teng and the Yellow Crane Tower it is counted among the Three Great Towers of Jiangnan.

Local customs

• Climb the tower and read the *Yueyang Tower Inscription*, looking closely at the carved wooden screen and couplets on the second floor
• lean on the railing and gaze across Dongting Lake and Junshan Island
• stroll along the old city wall and the lakeshore
• watch the sun set over the lake in the evening.

Travel tips

• Tickets and opening hours are as officially announced. The wind by the lake is strong, so bring an extra layer
• stone steps can be slippery after rain, so wear non-slip shoes.
• City buses in Yueyang reach the scenic area
• from Yueyang Station or Yueyang East Station, change to a city bus or taxi, and the area around the tower is easy to explore on foot. The tower is good to visit in all four seasons: spring and autumn have pleasant weather, summer brings a wide open lake but frequent rain, and winter brings a vast lake surface with fewer visitors.