Yellow Crane Tower

Yellow Crane Tower is located on the Bank of Wuchang River, close to the Yangtze River Bridge. It has the reputation of "the first floor of the world's rivers and mountains". It is the geographical center of Wuhan. Because it is built on the Snake Mountain, plus the five storey building height, and there are no high-rise buildings around, so the view here is very broad. In addition to the Yellow Crane Tower, there are also a large number of stone tablets and stone carvings in the scenic area, all of which are authentic works of celebrities of past dynasties. It's very green and pleasant to walk in the mountains. Every day in luomeixuan, there is a song and dance performance of chime bells with Chu characteristics. The time is 10:30, 11:30, 12:30, 14:00, 15:00 and 16:00 respectively. The performance is 30 yuan per person.

Yellow Crane Tower

Yellow Crane Tower is located at the top of Wuchang Snake Mountain on the South Bank of the Yangtze River in Wuhan City, Hubei Province. It is close to the Yangtze River. It is a national 5A tourist attraction and one of the "three famous buildings in the south of the Yangtze River". It has been known as "the first building in the world" and "the peerless scenery in the world" since ancient times. Yellow Crane Tower is a landmark building in Wuhan. It is also known as "three famous scenic spots in Wuhan" together with Qingchuan Pavilion and Guqin terrace.

The Yellow Crane Tower was built in 223 A.D. in the period of the Three Kingdoms. During the period of the Three Kingdoms, it was just a "military building" in the corner of Xiakou city. After the Jin Dynasty destroyed the eastern Wu Dynasty, the three kingdoms were unified. With the development of Jiangxia City, the building gradually evolved into an ornamental building for officials and businessmen. Tang Dynasty poet Cui Hao wrote the poem "Yellow Crane Tower" and Li Bai wrote "Yellow Crane Tower to send Meng Haoran to Guangling". Scholars of all ages left many unique songs here, which made the Yellow Crane Tower famous since ancient times.

The Yellow Crane Tower is located on the top of Sheshan mountain at an altitude of 61.7 meters. It is designed as the prototype of Tongzhi tower in the Qing Dynasty. The trains of Beijing Guangzhou railway roar down the stairs. The building is 5 stories high, with a total height of 51.4 meters and a construction area of 3219 square meters. The Yellow Crane Tower is internally supported by 72 columns and externally extended by 60 warping angles. The roof is covered with more than 100000 yellow glazed tiles.

A number of auxiliary buildings, such as bronze Yellow Crane shape, statue pagoda, memorial archway, porch and pavilion, are cast outside the Yellow Crane Tower to make the main building more magnificent. Around the main building, there are white cloud Pavilion, elephant pagoda, stele Gallery, Mountain Gate and other buildings. The whole building has a unique national style, emitting the spirit, temperament and charm of traditional Chinese culture. It complements the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge at the foot of Sheshan mountain, and you can have a panoramic view of the three towns of Wuhan when you climb the building.

Yellow Crane Tower is now a national AAAAA tourist attraction.

Historical changes

The Yellow Crane Tower was built in 223, the second year of Huangwu in the period of the Three Kingdoms.

During the period of the Three Kingdoms, the Yellow Crane Tower was just a "military tower" in Xiakou city. After the Jin Dynasty destroyed the eastern Wu Dynasty, the three kingdoms were unified. With the development of Jiangxia City, the Yellow Crane Tower gradually evolved into a "sightseeing tower" for officials and businessmen.

According to the records of Yuanhe prefectures and counties in the Tang Dynasty, Sun Quan began to build the old city of Xiakou, "the city is adjacent to the river in the west, and the corner of the south of the Yangtze River is called huanghe tower because of the rock." It was built for military purposes. According to Ji en Lu, the hotel was originally opened by Xin.

In the first year of Tang Yongtai (765), the Yellow Crane Tower had already taken shape. However, with frequent wars, the Yellow Crane Tower was repeatedly built and abandoned. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties alone, it was destroyed seven times and rebuilt and maintained 10 times. There is a saying that "prosperity of the country leads to prosperity of the building". The last one was built in 1868 and destroyed in 1884. On the site, there is only a copper roof of the Yellow Crane Tower left after the destruction of the Yellow Crane Tower in the Qing Dynasty.

From the Northern Song Dynasty to the 1950s, the Yellow Crane Tower was once a famous mountain holy land of Taoism, and it was Lu Dongbin's place for preaching, practicing and moralizing. It is said in daozang, a general mirror of real immortals and Taoism: "Lu Zu ascended the Yellow Crane Tower on May 20 and left at noon. Therefore, it remains as a miracle of immortality. " It is said that the Yellow Crane Tower has left a holy mark in the late altar of Quanzhen.

When the Wuchang approach bridge of Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge was built in 1957, it occupied the former site of the Yellow Crane Tower. When the Yellow Crane Tower was rebuilt in 1981, it was located on shefengnling, about 1000 meters away from the former site.

In October 1981, the renovation project started and was completed in June 1985. The main building is based on the Tongzhi building of the Qing Dynasty, but it is bigger and more magnificent.

On June 1, 2020, the Yellow Crane Tower, a landmark and national 5A scenic spot in Wuhan, will resume normal opening. At that time, the exhibition halls inside and around the Yellow Crane Tower will be reopened to tourists.

Name and origin

The reason why the Yellow Crane Tower is named "Yellow Crane" is that the original tower was built on huanghuji, and later generations read "Hu" as "crane". They spread false information and prove it by mouth. It is said that the legend of "immortal Yellow Crane" with supernatural color. During the period of Wei, Jin, southern and Northern Dynasties, the theory of immortals prevailed, and the immortal talk about the Yellow Crane Tower was also formed under the background of the development of the strange novels. The legend of the cross crane fairy first appeared in the works of the Southern Dynasty scientist Zu Chongzhi. His "guest of crane driving" in Shuyi Ji was later compiled by Lu Xun in ancient novel gouchen. The original site of Yellow Crane Tower was in huanghejitou, Sheshan, Wuchang, Hubei Province. According to legend, this place was originally a hotel opened by Xin family. In order to thank her for her thousand cups of kindness, a Taoist drew a crane on the wall before leaving, telling her that it could come down and dance. Since then, the business has been booming. Ten years later, the Taoist came back and took the flute to play. The Taoist stepped on the Yellow Crane and went straight to the sky. In memory of the fairy who helped her to become rich, Xin set up a building in his place and named it "Yellow Crane Tower".

The same is true of retribution in Jiangxia county annals. According to it, once upon a time there was a man surnamed Xin who sold wine as a business. One day, a big but shabby guest came and asked Xin calmly, "can I have a drink?" Xin's not because the other party dressed in rags and slighted, quickly filled a large glass of wine. So after half a year, Xin's not because the guest can't pay for wine and show tired look, still invite the guest to drink every day. One day, the guest told Xin Shi, "I owe you a lot of money for wine. I can't pay you back." So he took out the orange peel from the basket and drew a crane on the wall. Because the orange peel is yellow, so is the crane. As long as the people in the seat clap their hands and sing, the Yellow Crane on the wall will dance with the song and the beat, and the guests in the hotel will pay to watch this wonderful thing.

After more than ten years, Hsin's family accumulated a lot of wealth. One day, the ragged guest came to the hotel again. Hsin went up to thank him and said, "I'm willing to support you and meet all your needs.". The guest replied with a smile: where do I come for this? Then he took out his flute and played a few tunes. Soon, white clouds came down from the sky. The Yellow Crane in the picture flew to the guests with the white clouds. The guests stepped on the back of the crane and flew to heaven with the white clouds. In order to thank and commemorate the guest, Xin built a pavilion on huanghuji with the silver he earned in ten years. At first people called it "Xin's building". Later it was called "Yellow Crane Tower".

Landscape introduction

The Yellow Crane Tower, completed in 1985, is more spectacular than the old one. This is because the Yangtze River bridge across the river is in front of it, and across the river is the Qingchuan Hotel on the 24th floor. This group of buildings add radiance to each other, greatly adding color to Wuhan. The architectural feature of the Yellow Crane Tower is that the roofs of different levels are staggered and overlapped, and the angles are raised, which seems to be the wings of the crane. Inside and outside the floor are painted with crane as the main body, cloud pattern, flowers and plants, dragon and Phoenix as the foil.

ground floor

The front wall of the first floor hall is a huge ceramic mural with the theme of "white clouds and yellow cranes". The surrounding space displays the important documents about the Yellow Crane Tower, the landscape prints of famous poems, and the copies of the Yellow Crane Tower paintings. The halls on the 2nd to 5th floors all have different themes, with their own characteristics in layout, decoration and display. Walk out of the outer corridor of the five floor hall and look around with a wide view. It is nearly 90 meters above the river. The scenery on both sides of the river is very impressive. The area of Sheshan where the Yellow Crane Tower is located is designated as the Yellow Crane Tower Park. Many flowers and trees have been planted, as well as some archways, pavilions, pavilions, corridors and other buildings. There is a gallery of poems and steles with many stones engraved with the works of famous poets of all ages. The ancient scenic spots around Sheshan will be restored one after another and become a symbol of Wuhan.

Around the main building, there are pagodas, stele corridors, mountain gates and other buildings. The whole building has a unique national style. The Yellow Crane Tower has different styles. The bottom floor is a large and spacious hall. The central caisson is more than 10 meters high. On the front wall is a huge "white cloud and Yellow Crane" ceramic mural. On both sides of the column are hanging couplets as long as 7 meters: the air comes from the west, the clouds sweep away the world; the river goes East, the waves wash away the worries of the past and the present.

second floor

On the front wall of the hall on the second floor, there is the story of the Yellow Crane Tower written by Yan Boli of Tang Dynasty, which is engraved in marble. It records the rise and fall of the Yellow Crane Tower and anecdotes of celebrities. On both sides of the story are two murals, one is "Sun Quan building the city", which vividly illustrates the history of the birth of the Yellow Crane Tower and Wuchang City in succession. The other is "Zhou Yu holding a banquet", which reflects the activities and festivals of celebrities from the Three Kingdoms to the Yellow Crane Tower Day.

Third floor

The murals in the hall on the third floor are from the Tang and Song dynasties

Chinese PinYin : Huang He Lou