Dongchang Lake and Guangyue Tower 东昌湖与光岳楼

About Dongchang Lake and Guangyue Tower

Dongchang Lake fills the centre of the modern city. Liaocheng municipal government describes it as ten lake sections and twenty sheets of water covering 6.3 square kilometres, with sixteen kilometres of shoreline, an average depth of three metres and a maximum of five. It dates from the third year of the Northern Song Xining reign, 1070. The old Grand Canal runs around the lake from south to north.

The island at the centre is the old walled city, one square kilometre and square in plan, laid out on a grid of streets around Guangyue Tower. The tower, also called Yumu Lou and Dongchang Lou, was first built in the seventh year of the Ming Hongwu reign, 1374. It is a timber-framed multi-storey structure that the municipality describes as representative of the transition from Song and Yuan building practice to that of the Ming and Qing, and it was listed as a national key cultural heritage protection unit in 1988. Other heritage sites stand around the water, among them an iron pagoda, the Shanshan Guild Hall, the Fu Sinian exhibition hall and the Kong Fansen memorial.

What to look for

• Guangyue Tower, the 1374 timber tower at the centre of the old city, listed nationally since 1988
• The square walled old city on its island, one square kilometre laid out on a grid around the tower
• The lake itself, 6.3 square kilometres in ten sections with sixteen kilometres of shoreline
• The course of the old Grand Canal, which passes around the lake from south to north
• The iron pagoda, the Shanshan Guild Hall and the Kong Fansen memorial among the heritage sites on the lakeside

Location & getting there

Getting to Dongchang Lake and Guangyue Tower

Check which interiors and courtyards are accessible. Active places of worship and protected monuments may have different visitor rules.

• Search for 东昌湖与光岳楼 with 聊城市 and 东昌府区.