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Chinese Name: 黄鹤楼公园
English Name: Yellow Crane Tower, Huang He Lou Gongyuan
Location: Wuhan City, Hubei Province
Type: Historical architecture
Rating Level: AAAAA (5A)
Brief Introduction
Yellow Crane Tower is located in the Sheshan Hill of Wuchang imposingly, north of the Beijing-Guangzhou railway line, with an average altitude of 85 meters. Yellow Crane Tower黄鹤楼 is the main landscape of Wuhan Yellow Crane Tower Park. It was first built in the second year of Wu Huangwu吴黄武 in The Three Kingdoms Period (223).
In the Sui and Tang Dynasties, it became a place for poets to enjoy scenery and travel for fetes. Meng Haoran孟浩然 Cui Hao崔颢, and Li Bai李白 all chanted the famous scenery of the Yellow Crane Tower.
During the following centuries, it was destroyed and rebuilt several times. The present Yellow Crane Tower was built in 1985. It is the symbol of the building of Wuhan with a magnificent appearance.
The appearance of the tower is the same regardless of the direction it is viewed from. The roof is covered by yellow glazed tiles. With yellow upturned eaves, each floor seems to have been designed to resemble a yellow crane spreading its wings to fly.
Spring in Wuhan is a pleasant climate, and the cherry blossoms of Wuhan university are from March to the end of the month every year, therefore taking tourism to Wuhan in Spring can not only enjoy the pleasant climate but also has a chance to appreciate the romantic cherry blossoms.
In 2007, Yellow Crane Tower was rated as one of the first 5A scenic spots in China.
What is worth to visit and see？
Main attractions
Yellow Crane Tower, Yueyang Tower岳阳楼, and Pavilion of Prince Teng滕王阁 are called “the three famous towers in the South of the Yangtze River”. The Yellow Crane Tower has been destroyed and rebuilt many times in history.
In 1981, it was redesigned and built based on the style of the Tongzhi period in the Qing Dynasty. The new Yellow Crane Tower has five floors and is 51.4 meters high.
Baiyun Pavilion 白云阁 is located at the top of Snake Hill with 41,7 meters high, about 274 meters east of the Tower, 75.5 meters above sea level, and it is an excellent scenic spot to watch Yellow Crane Tower, Sheshan Hill, and Yangtze River. Baiyun Pavilion was the name of the South Tower in history, derived from the Tang Dynasty poet Cui Hao‘s “Once gone, the yellow crane will never on earth alight; Only white clouds still float in vain from year to year黄鹤一去不复返，白云千载空悠悠” poem.
Ge Bi Pavilion 搁笔亭 is 132 meters east of the Yellow Crane Tower, and the reinforced concrete imitation wood structure was rebuilt in 1991. The name came from an interesting story between Li Bai and Cui Hao. It is said that Li Bai, one of China’s greatest poets, went to the Yellow Crane Tower and want to compose, but when he watched the poem written by Cui Hao. He stopped writing and said,” There is no need for me to write anything more, as Cui Hao has already composed a perfect poem about this place.眼前有景道不得，崔颢题诗在上头.”
Millennium Auspicious Bell 千禧吉祥钟 takes the meaning of connecting the 20th century and the 21st century. The material of the bell body is copper alloy, containing 2.1 kilograms of gold and 8.4 kilograms of silver. It is the largest bronze bell cast in China after the Ming Yongle Bell.
Many men of letters through different dynasties mounted the tower and enjoyed themselves by depiciting its beautiful scenes. Up to now hundreds of poetry and prose about the tower are found in Chinese classics, apart from the countless legends among folk.
The contents of the tablet are the famous poems and sentences chanting the Yellow Crane Tower written by the famous contemporary calligrapher in China (there are also some contemporary poems).
Located 50 meters west of the tower, Bronze Sculpture of Returning Crane黄鹤归来铜雕 is composed by the turtle, snake, crane three kinds of auspicious animal. Turtle and snake carry cranes struggling upward while yellow crane overlooks the world. The bronze carving is 5.1 meters high and weighs 3.8 tons. It is cast by pure brass.
Located 240 meters southeast of the Yellow Crane Tower and beside the scenic Bailong Pond白龙池, the relief of ninety-nine Returning Cranes九九归鹤图浮雕 is the largest outdoor granite relief in China. The whole sculpture is red and ninety-nine cranes dance in a variety of styles.
Built in 1992, the Mao Zedong Poetry Pavilion毛泽东词亭 faces south, with a length of 6.6 meters and a width of 9.5 meters. The north and south sides are respectively engraved with “Yellow Crane Tower -to the tune of Pu Sa Man” and “Swimming -to the tune of Shui Diao Ge Tou” written by Mao Zedong.
