Yellow Crane Tower () is a traditional Chinese tower located in

Wuhan Wuhan (, ; ; ) is the capital of Hubei Province in the People's Republic of China. It is the largest city in Hubei and the most populous city in Central China, with a population of over eleven million, the ninth-most populous Chinese city a ...

. The current structure was built in 1981, but the tower has existed in various forms from as early as AD 223. The current Yellow Crane Tower is high and covers an area of . It is situated on Snake Hill (), one kilometer away from the original site, on the banks of the

Yangtze River The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest river in Asia, the third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains (Tibetan Plateau) and flows ...

Wuchang District Wuchang forms part of the urban core of and is one of 13 urban districts of the prefecture-level city of Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province, China. It is the oldest of the three cities that merged into modern-day Wuhan, and stood on the r ...

History

The Yuanhe Maps and Records of Prefectures and Counties, written almost 600 years after the construction of the tower, notes that after

Sun Quan Sun Quan (, Chinese: 孫權) (183 – 21 May 252), courtesy name Zhongmou (), posthumously known as Emperor Da of Wu, was the founder of the Eastern Wu dynasty, one of the Three Kingdoms of China. He inherited control of the warlord regime ...

, founder of the kingdom of

Eastern Wu Wu (Chinese: 吳; pinyin: ''Wú''; Middle Chinese *''ŋuo'' <

Eastern Han Chinese

: ''*ŋuɑ''), known in hi ...

, built the fort of Xiakou in 223, a tower was constructed at/on the Yellow Crane

Jetty A jetty is a structure that projects from land out into water. A jetty may serve as a breakwater, as a walkway, or both; or, in pairs, as a means of constricting a channel. The term derives from the French word ', "thrown", signifying somet ...

, west of Xiakou, and hence its name. The tower has been destroyed twelve times, both by warfare and by fire, in the

Ming The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han peop ...

and

Qing dynasties The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speaki ...

and was repaired on ten separate occasions. The last tower at the original site was built in 1868 and destroyed in 1884. In 1907, a new tower was built near the site of the Yellow Crane Tower.

Zhang Zhidong Zhang Zhidong () (4 September 18375 October 1909) was a Chinese politician who lived during the late Qing dynasty. Along with Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang and Zuo Zongtang, Zhang Zhidong was one of the four most famous officials of the late Qing ...

proposed '' (Aoliaolou Tower) as the name for this tower and wrote an antithetical couplet for it. In 1957, the

Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge The Wuhan Yangtze Great Bridge (), commonly known as Wuhan First Yangtze Bridge, is a double-deck road and rail bridge across the Yangtze River in Wuhan, in Central China. At its completion in 1957, the bridge was the easternmost crossing of ...

was built with one trestle of the bridge on the Yellow Crane Tower's site. In 1981, the Wuhan City Government commenced reconstruction of the tower at a new location, about from the original site, and it was completed in 1985.

Relic Protection

The Sacred Stupa (simplified Chinese: 胜像宝塔，pinyin: shèng xiàng bǎo tǎ ) is 9.36 meters high and 5.68 meters wide. It is built with external stone and internal bricks, mainly stone masonry, and a small amount of bricks are used in the internal tower room. It is the oldest and most complete single building preserved in the former site of the Yellow Crane Tower. The Sacred Stupa is a Stupa of Tibetan Buddhism Tantric Buddhism, and it is also the first type of stupa after Buddhism inherited from India to China. It is the only existing Lama-style white stupa in Wuhan, and it provides important physical materials for studying the history and religion of the famous historical and cultural city Wuhan in the late Yuan and early Ming Dynasties.

Legends

Notwithstanding the tower's current location on Snake Hill being unrelated to its original location one kilometre away, the two popular legends related to it invoke the hill. In the first, an Immortal () named Wang Zi'an () rode away from ''Snake Mountain'' on a yellow crane and a tower was later built in commemoration of this story. In the second legend,

Fei Yi Fei Yi (died 16 February 253), courtesy name Wenwei, was a regent and military general of the state of Shu during the Three Kingdoms period of China. Born in the late Eastern Han dynasty, Fei Yi started his career as an attendant to Liu Shan, t ...

becomes immortal and rides a yellow crane, often stopping on Snake Hill to take a rest.Wan: The source of the Wang Zi'an legend is . The Fei Wenyi legend is from . Pages 43. The tower is also a sacred site of

Taoism Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the '' Ta ...

Lü Dongbin Lü Dongbin (796 CE – 1016 CE) is a legendary Chinese scholar and poet said to have lived during the Tang Dynasty. Whether he actually lived the two hundred and twenty years cannot be determined. Elevated to the status of an immortal in the ...

is said to ascend to heaven from here. There is a small cave in the hill beneath the tower with Lü Dongbin statue. The cave has been called Lü Zu Dong, literately meaning cave of Lü Dongbin.

Literature

Poem by Cui Hao

Yellow Crane Tower was made famous by an 8th-century poem written by

Cui Hao Cui Hao () (died 450 CE), courtesy name Boyuan (伯淵), was a ''shangshu'' of the Xianbei-led Northern Wei dynasty of China. Largely because of Cui's counsel, Emperor Taiwu of Northern Wei was able to unify northern China, ending the Sixteen K ...

, titled "Yellow Crane Tower" ().Wan: Page 42. The original text of the poem is shown below:

A modern

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

translation is:

Long ago one's gone riding the yellow crane, all that remained is the Yellow Crane Tower. Once the yellow crane left it will never return, for one thousand years the clouds wandered carelessly. The clear river reflects each
Hanyang Hanyang may refer to: China *Hanyang District (漢陽區, 汉阳区, ''Hànyáng Qū''), Wuhan, Hubei :*Hanyang Arsenal (漢陽兵工廠), founded in 1891 as one of the oldest modern arsenals in Chinese history :*Hanyang 88 (漢陽八八式步槍), ...
tree, fragrant grasses lushly grow on Parrot Island. At sunset, which direction leads to my hometown? One could not help feeling melancholy along the misty river.

Poem by Li Bai

There are other famous poems about the Yellow Crane Tower by

Li Bai Li Bai (, 701–762), also pronounced as Li Bo, courtesy name Taibai (), was a Chinese poet, acclaimed from his own time to the present as a brilliant and romantic figure who took traditional poetic forms to new heights. He and his friend Du F ...

. One was written on the occasion of Li Bai parting with his friend and poetic colleague,

Meng Haoran Meng Haoran (; 689/691–740) was a major Tang dynasty poet, and a somewhat older contemporary of Wang Wei, Li Bai and Du Fu. Despite his brief pursuit of an official career, Meng Haoran mainly lived in and wrote about the area in which he was ...

. The poem is titled "Seeing off Meng Haoran for Guangling at Yellow Crane Tower" (), and is shown in its original form below:

A modern English translation is:

My old friend bids farewell to me in the west at Yellow Crane Tower. Amid March's mist and flowers he goes down to
Yangzhou Yangzhou, postal romanization Yangchow, is a prefecture-level city in central Jiangsu Province (Suzhong), East China. Sitting on the north bank of the Yangtze, it borders the provincial capital Nanjing to the southwest, Huai'an to the north ...
. The distant image of his lonely sail disappears in the blue sky, And all I see is the Long River flowing to the edge of sky.

Tourism

The tower and its surroundings have been marked as Yellow Crane Tower park. There are tour services that can be hired for a fee at the entrance. The top of the tower has a broad view of its surroundings and the Yangtze River. Yellow Crane Tower is considered one of the

Four Great Towers of China The Four Great Towers of China() are four historically renowned towers in China. The list usually includes the following: * Yellow Crane Tower (黄鹤楼), Wuhan, Hubei province - () * Pavilion of Prince Teng (滕王阁), Nanchang, Jiangxi Provi ...

. In its modern version, it has the appearance of an ancient tower but is built of modern materials, including an elevator. Each level has its own display. To the east on the hill, a large temple bell may be rung by tourists for a small fee. There are court dances in the western yard during the week-long

National Day of the People's Republic of China National Day ( zh, s=国庆节, t=, p=guóqìng jié, l=national celebration day, links=yes), officially the National Day of the People's Republic of China (), is a public holiday in China celebrated annually on 1 October as the national da ...

celebration. The tower is classified as an

AAAAA scenic area AAAAA (5A) is awarded to the most important and best-maintained tourist attractions in the People's Republic of China, given the highest level in the rating categories used by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. As of 2020, there are 279 touris ...

by the

China National Tourism Administration The China National Tourism Administration (CNTA; ) was a Chinese government authority responsible for the development of tourism in the country. The CNTA was subordinate to the State Council. Its headquarters are in Beijing, with regional branch ...

. At south side of the tower, there is a statue of

Yue Fei Yue Fei ( zh, t=岳飛; March 24, 1103 – January 28, 1142), courtesy name Pengju (), was a Chinese military general who lived during the Southern Song dynasty and a national hero of China, known for leading Southern Song forces in the wa ...

because he was garrison around this area in Song Dynasty.

Gallery

File:元夏永黃樓圖冊頁-The Yellow Pavilion MET DP153819.jpg, The Yellow Tower by Xia Yong,

Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fift ...

File:Xia Yong - Huang He Lou.jpg, Yellow Crane Tower by Xia Yong,

File:An Zhengwen - Yellow Crane Tower.jpg, Yellow Crane Tower by An Zhengwen,

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han peo ...

File:Anonymous-Yellow Crane Tower.jpg, Yellow Crane Tower by Anonymous,

References

*Wan, Jingjun () 1982. ''Cui Hao Poem Annotations'' (). Shanghai Ancient Books Press (). 54 pages.

External links

Official website of Yellow Crane Tower
* * {{Coord, 30, 32, 49, N, 114, 17, 49, E, region:CN-42_type:landmark, display=title AAAAA-rated tourist attractions Buildings and structures in Wuhan Chinese poems Rebuilt buildings and structures in China Towers in China Tourist attractions in Wuhan Traditional Chinese architecture