National Parks of ChinaOverview
| Province | Hubei |
| Location | Hubei |
| Latitude, longitude | 30.6, 114.3 Google Maps |
| Nearby sites | Mount Lu (Lushan), East Lake, Wuhan, Lushui and the Red Cliff, Mount Jigong |
| Nearby cities | Nanjing, Hangzhou, Zhengzhou |
| Top sights | East Lake, Yellow Crane Tower |
| Themes | Metropolises, Great rivers, Historic buildings, Culture & history, Lakes, Banknotes & coins, Stamps |
City sights
Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge
Yellow Crane Tower
The Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge was begun in September 1955 and opened on 15 October 1957, joining the three long-divided towns of Wuhan and linking the Beijing–Guangzhou railway across the river. A combined road and rail bridge, it is 1,670 m long, the main span 1,156 m on 8 piers and 9 arches, with 514 m of approaches and 35 m abutments, running from Qingchuan Pavilion and Turtle Hill to Lotus Lake, Snake Hill and the Yellow Crane Tower.
Yellow Crane Tower
The Yellow Crane Tower on Snake Hill in Wuchang is, with the Yueyang Tower in Hunan and the Tengwang Pavilion in Jiangxi, one of the three great towers south of the Yangtze. First built in 223 under the Wu kingdom, reputedly for military purposes, it was already a grand building by 765 in the Tang and became a famous sight visited by poets through the ages. Cui Hao’s poem “Yellow Crane Tower” is counted a masterpiece for all time:
The men of old rode off on a yellow crane; here only the Yellow Crane Tower remains. Once gone the crane never returned; white clouds drift idly for a thousand years. Clear river, the trees of Hanyang plain to see; sweet grass thick on Parrot Isle. Dusk: where is my homeland? Mist and waves on the river fill me with sorrow.
The tower stood on Huanghe rock on Snake Hill and was built and destroyed again and again over 1,700 years; the last, the “Qing tower” of 1868, burned in 1884 and was not rebuilt for nearly a century.
Reconstruction began in October 1981 and finished in June 1985, modelled on the 1868 tower but larger: a reinforced-concrete frame imitating timber, five tiers of flying eaves, a pyramidal roof of golden glazed tiles, 51.4 m high, 30 m wide at the base and 18 m at the top, with murals, couplets and relics on each floor, and outside a bronze crane, the Shengxiang Pagoda, archways, galleries and pavilions.
The first stamp of the 30 October 1987 set T121 “Famous Towers of China” shows the Yellow Crane Tower.
Banknotes
The 2-jiao note of the third series of renminbi (1964) shows the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge.
Stamps
On 1 October 1957 China Post issued C43 “Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge”, two stamps.
