The Yellow Crane Tower was originally built in 223 A.D during the Three Kingdoms Period as a Wu Kingdom military tower. The tower has been destructed several times and is today placed one kilometre (0,6 mile) from its original site.

Yellow Crane Tower is today 52 metres high with five stores and the architecture of the existing tower is from the Qing Dynasty and it was completed first in 1985. Placed on the top of Snake Hill you have a 360 degree view from the top of the tower over Wuhan and a magnificent view northwards over thegreat Yangtse (Chanjiang) River. On the first floor you find a description that made the tower well known throughout China, written by Cui Hao, a famous poet of Tang dynasty (618-907).

The tower has fascinated poets through the centuries, it has inspired many ancient poets and artists. Only in the Qing dynasty, as many as 300 poems were written about the tower. Following is one example, written by Li Bai during the Tang Dynasty:

My old friend
Bids farewell to me
In the west at Yellow Crane Tower.
Amid April's mist and flowers
He goes down to Yang-jou.
The distant image
Of his lonely sail
Disappears in blue emptiness,
And all I see
Is the Long River
Flowing to the edge of the sky.

This foremost symbol of Wuhan, the original Yellow Crane Tower is said to have existed in the 3rd century. It has been destroyed and rebuilt several times. It was destroyed last in 1884; the current reconstruction was completed in 1986.

The Tower complex consists of the tower, a garden, and a promenade with shops--along with several other buildings.

China tours inclusive of visiting the Yellow Crane Tower, Wuhan