Yellow Crane Tower 黄鹤楼

About Yellow Crane Tower

Its literary fame is much older than the building: the present tower was completed in 1985 after earlier versions repeatedly burned or disappeared. Inside, murals and inscriptions connect the landmark with poets and the history of Wuchang. Look at the park’s older stupa as well as the modern tower, and distinguish a street-level photograph from an admission visit to the hilltop complex.

The tower was first built in 223, during the Three Kingdoms period, when the Eastern Wu ruler Sun Quan built the fortress of Xiakou and had a tower erected on the Yellow Crane Jetty to its west, reportedly for military purposes; it had grown into a substantial structure by 765. During the Ming and Qing dynasties alone it was destroyed by fire or war seven times and rebuilt or repaired on ten occasions, including reconstructions after fires in 1566 and 1884, when only its bronze finial survived; the original site, close to the riverbank, was later used as the starting point of an approach span for the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge (武汉长江大桥).

The tower is grouped with Yueyang Tower in Hunan and Tengwang Pavilion in Jiangxi as one of the 'Three Great Towers South of the Yangtze' (江南三大名楼), and it has been named one of the Forty Best Tourist Attractions of China (中国国家旅游胜地四十佳). From the Northern Song period until the 1950s it was also treated as a Daoist sacred site associated with the immortal Lü Dongbin (吕洞宾), who was said to have taught and practised there; according to Daoist scripture, he ascended to heaven from the tower on the twentieth day of the fifth month.

What to look for

• The tiered tower, literary murals and views across the Yangtze.
• The surviving stupa within the park, contrasting with the reconstructed tower.

Location & getting there

Getting to Yellow Crane Tower

Metro Line 5’s Simenkou Huanghelou station serves the western street approach. Exit B has a red-wall framing viewpoint opened in June 2026; follow separate signs to a park entrance if visiting the tower itself.