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Wuhan is a city with both an ancient history and a thriving present. Historic relics excavated from ancient tombs tell the city’s long history dating back 3,500 years. In the period of Pre-Qin (770 – 221 BC), this was the land of the State of Chu (one of the seven warring states before Qin, in China’s first feudal dynasty) and was the cradle of the brilliant Chu Civilization. Starting here, merchants followed the great Yangtze River and lake network to expand businesses throughout the entire country.
Wuhan is the place to find both history and natural wonders. Hubei Provincial Museum and Yellow Crane Tower are two places to appreciate ancient Chinese history and culture. In the museum, chimes excavated from tombs reveal the incredible achievements of ancient people in music, acoustics and metallurgy. The classic poems and inscriptions on the tower, (although unrecognizable to most Westerners) can inspire your spirit as you pretend to be a poet with a bird’s-eye view of the river from the tower window. In addition, the famous Villa of Chairman Mao Zedong on the scenic bank of East Lake, Wuchang, is an ideal place for Westerns to learn more about him.
Yellow Crane Tower
Yellow Crane Tower is located on Snake Hill in Wuhan, Hubei Province. Enjoying the fame of ‘The First Scenery under Heaven’, it is one of the most renowned towers south of the Yangtze River. Its cultural significance led to its being made the symbol of Wuhan City.
According to legend, Yellow Crane Tower was built by the family of an old pothouse owner living in Wuhan City long ago, named Old Xin. One day, a shabbily dressed Taoist priest came to the pothouse and asked for some wine. Old Xin paid no attention to him, but his son was very kind and gave the Taoist some wine without asking for money. The Taoist priest visited the pothouse regularly for half a year when one day the Taoist said to the son that in order to repay his kindness, he would like to draw a crane on the wall of the pothouse, which would dance at his request. When people in the city heard of this, they flocked to the pothouse to see the dancing crane. The Xin family soon became rich and they built the Yellow Crane Tower as a symbol of gratitude to the Taoist priest.
The Yellow Crane Tower has a very long and complicated history. It was first built in 223, during the Three Kingdoms Period (220 – 280). Due to the ideal location, it was built by Sun Quan (182 – 252, King of Wu) as a watchtower for his army. After hundreds of years, its military function was gradually forgotten and the tower was enjoyed mainly as a picturesque location.
During the Tang Dynasty (618 – 907), many popular poems were written in praise of the Yellow Crane Tower. It was these poems that made the Tower so renowned and induced for people to visit. During the following centuries, it was destroyed and rebuilt several times. During the Ming (1368 –1644) and Qing (1644 – 1911) Dynasties alone the tower was destroyed seven times and rebuilt seven times. In 1884, it was completely destroyed in a fire and was not rebuilt until 1981.
The tower had different architectural features in different dynasties. However the tower which stands today is based on the one designed during the Qing Dynasty. It stands 51.4 meters (about 168 feet) high and has five floors. The appearance of the tower is the same regardless of the direction it is viewed from. The roof is covered by 100,000 yellow glazed tiles. With yellow upturned eaves, each floor seems to have been designed to resemble a yellow crane spreading its wings to fly.
The Yellow Crane Tower offers visitors an abundance of things to see. The exhibit on each floor has a theme, for example, the theme of the first floor is about legend. On the wall, there is a nine-meter (about 30 feet) long and six-meter (about 20 feet) wide painted porcelain picture which depicts clouds, rivers and cranes to represent a romantic mood in the heaven. The third floor mainly shows poems written to praise the tower in different dynasties. On top of the tower, visitors are treated to a fabulous panoramic view of the Yangtze River, its bridge and the surrounding buildings in Wuhan City. Outside the tower, there are bronze yellow cranes, memorial gateways and pavilions.
Yangtze River Bridge
Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge is the first highway-railway bridge over the Yangtze River. On the mighty Yangtze with a length of 6,300 kilometers (3,915 miles), there was no bridge for thousands of years. This river seemed an obstacle set by nature, separating Hanyang, Hankou and Wuchang, namely the three towns of Wuhan. Moreover, it blocked the transportation between the north and the south China. Only ship can be used. However, the natural obstacle became accessible for various vehicles due to the finish of the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge in 1957.
Started in 1955, the grand bridge project takes about two years. The complete bridge is 1,670.4 meters (5,480.3 feet) long with the main body of 1,156 meters (3,793 feet). It has 8 piers and 9 holes. The bridge is divided into two levels with the upper one for bus transit and the lower for trains. The driveway is 18 meters (59 feet) wide for six buses to run parallel. The bridge is extremely firm. It has not been harmed even during the huge Wenchuan Earthquake in 2008.
Extending from Tortoise Hill (Gui Shan) in Hanyang to Snake Hill (She Shan) in Wuchang, the bridge has not only improved the transportation in Wuhan City, but also enhanced the communication between the north and the south of the river. To fully view the splendid bridge and the marvelous river, you can climb up the 7-story bridge tower at either end of the bridge by elevator or staircases. The attached buildings and decorations are harmonious and exquisite, reflecting rich Chinese architectural features. The theme of sculptures on the 143 panes along each side of the bridge is from some Chinese folk stories such as the peacock showing its fine feathers, carp playing among lotus, a magpie singing on blossom tree.
From the bridge, you can see the rolling water run to the east with ships coming and going; on the bank, Hubei TV Tower stands tall on Tortoise Hill (Gui Shan) in Hanyang, while the first tower in southern China, the Yellow Crane Tower (Huang He Lou), stands on Snake Hill (She Shan) in Wuchang.
Related information: Now, in Wuhan, there are already three grand bridges over the Yangtze River - Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge described above, the Second Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge established in 1995 and the Third Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge (Baishazhou Bridge) opened in 2000.
East Lake Scenic Area
East Lake, the biggest scenery tourist attraction in Wuhan and also the largest lake within a city in China, is located on the south bank of the Yangtze River and in the east suburb of Wuchang. It covers an area of 87 square kilometers (33 square kilometers of water area) that is five times greater than the area of the West Lake in Hangzhou . Because of its winding banks and crisscrossing ponds and brooks, it is called ‘a lake with 99 bays’. The East Lake Scenic Area was formed from many famous scenic spots along the bank. The six major ones are Tingtao (Listening to Surging Waves), Mo Hill (Millstone Hill), Luoyan (Diving Wild Goose), Baima (White Horse), Chuidi (Playing Flutes), and Luohong Hills.
Among the six scenic areas, Tingtao and Mo Hill scenic areas are the most two notable and are open to visitors.
The East Lake gate opens to the Tingtao scenic area featuring the rare sequoia especially elegant in late autumn. The Listening-to-the-Waves Tower (Tingtao Xuan), with its classic elegance is one of the famous buildings in this area, along with Land of Water and Cloud (Shuiyun Xiang) which serves as a teahouse, and the Tingtao Inn of Wine, a restaurant offering local fish dishes. On the north, the center of this area, is the Poetry-Reciting Pavilion (Xingyinge), built for memorizing works of Qu Yuan, the great patriotic poet of the State of Chu (one of the seven warring states before Qin (221BC-206BC) in China’s first feudal dynasty). Many exhibits about Qu Yuan are featured in this building including his great literary masterpieces. In addition, the first allegory sculpture park in China is here displaying wonderful sculpture and allegories.
Guiyuan Buddhist Temple
(Temple of Original Purity)
Covering an area of about 46,900 square meters (approx. 55,812 square yards), Guiyuan Buddhist Temple is situated in the west section of Hanyang district in Wuhan City. Being one of the four best temples in Wuhan, the temple, which was originally established in 1658 in the Qing Dynasty (1644 – 1911), was initially built on the site of Wuzhangpu Kuiyuan in the Ming Dynasty (1368 – 1644). The word ‘Guiyuan’ originates from a sutra, meaning to surpass the circumscription of existence and extinguishment, to return to purity and tranquility.
Though it is a construction of a Buddhist temple, it is also in a garden style. The distribution is compact, and the design is delicate. The temple is even interspersed by kiosks and parterres.
There are five courtyards in the temple: the eastern courtyard, the western courtyard, the southern courtyard, the northern courtyard, and the middle courtyard. The distribution of the temple is in the shape of a cassock. Initially, the temple was not completed, but was extended in the next several decades to reach the present scale.
The eastern courtyard is the entrance of the temple, in which a large apricot coloured door opens towards the east, indicating the importance of forming kind relationships and saving all human beings from sufferings. On the lintel of the door, a tablet is hanging with the name of the temple written on it.
After entering the temple, you can see the northern courtyard to your right, in which the Amitabha, Kwan-yin Bodhisattva, and Dashizhi Bodhisattva are worshipped. Collectively they are called the “three western saints”. The Wenshu Bodhisattva and Puxian Bodhisattva are also worshipped. The Sutra Collection Pavilion in the courtyard has a rich collection of cultural relics of Buddhism, figures of Buddha, religious paraphernalia, stone carvings, paintings, calligraphies, and books from abroad.
In the southern courtyard, the most famous hall is the Lohan Hall. It is also one of the five best Lohan halls in China. The 500 Lohans here are vivid and lively just like real people. They are all identical in size, and each is no more than 25 kilogram’s in weight. What is most amazing is that one can never find two Lohans with the same appearance or expression. They are all totally different from each other. Counting Lohans in the courtyard forms an interesting custom in Wuhan. It is said that one can know the disasters and fortunes in the present year by counting the Lohans. The method is like this: counting from the discretional Lohan in the direction according to one’s first step into the hall until he has counted the numbers of his age. When he reaches the last Lohan, the expression of it will tell him all.
In the centre of the middle courtyard, there is the Daxiong Baodian. The statue of Sakyamuni in this hall is the biggest Buddhism figure in the temple. A lion that is said to be the image of Sakyamuni in pre-existence lies to the north of the statue. Behind the statue, some other figures are worshipped.
Now the temple attracts people from both home and abroad to admire its wonderful architecture, delicate yet perfect statues, and the large collection of precious items.
Wuhan is the place to find both history and natural wonders. Hubei Provincial Museum and Yellow Crane Tower are two places to appreciate ancient Chinese history and culture. In the museum, chimes excavated from tombs reveal the incredible achievements of ancient people in music, acoustics and metallurgy. The classic poems and inscriptions on the tower, (although unrecognizable to most Westerners) can inspire your spirit as you pretend to be a poet with a bird’s-eye view of the river from the tower window. In addition, the famous Villa of Chairman Mao Zedong on the scenic bank of East Lake, Wuchang, is an ideal place for Westerns to learn more about him.
Yellow Crane Tower
Yellow Crane Tower is located on Snake Hill in Wuhan, Hubei Province. Enjoying the fame of ‘The First Scenery under Heaven’, it is one of the most renowned towers south of the Yangtze River. Its cultural significance led to its being made the symbol of Wuhan City.
According to legend, Yellow Crane Tower was built by the family of an old pothouse owner living in Wuhan City long ago, named Old Xin. One day, a shabbily dressed Taoist priest came to the pothouse and asked for some wine. Old Xin paid no attention to him, but his son was very kind and gave the Taoist some wine without asking for money. The Taoist priest visited the pothouse regularly for half a year when one day the Taoist said to the son that in order to repay his kindness, he would like to draw a crane on the wall of the pothouse, which would dance at his request. When people in the city heard of this, they flocked to the pothouse to see the dancing crane. The Xin family soon became rich and they built the Yellow Crane Tower as a symbol of gratitude to the Taoist priest.
The Yellow Crane Tower has a very long and complicated history. It was first built in 223, during the Three Kingdoms Period (220 – 280). Due to the ideal location, it was built by Sun Quan (182 – 252, King of Wu) as a watchtower for his army. After hundreds of years, its military function was gradually forgotten and the tower was enjoyed mainly as a picturesque location.
During the Tang Dynasty (618 – 907), many popular poems were written in praise of the Yellow Crane Tower. It was these poems that made the Tower so renowned and induced for people to visit. During the following centuries, it was destroyed and rebuilt several times. During the Ming (1368 –1644) and Qing (1644 – 1911) Dynasties alone the tower was destroyed seven times and rebuilt seven times. In 1884, it was completely destroyed in a fire and was not rebuilt until 1981.
The tower had different architectural features in different dynasties. However the tower which stands today is based on the one designed during the Qing Dynasty. It stands 51.4 meters (about 168 feet) high and has five floors. The appearance of the tower is the same regardless of the direction it is viewed from. The roof is covered by 100,000 yellow glazed tiles. With yellow upturned eaves, each floor seems to have been designed to resemble a yellow crane spreading its wings to fly.
The Yellow Crane Tower offers visitors an abundance of things to see. The exhibit on each floor has a theme, for example, the theme of the first floor is about legend. On the wall, there is a nine-meter (about 30 feet) long and six-meter (about 20 feet) wide painted porcelain picture which depicts clouds, rivers and cranes to represent a romantic mood in the heaven. The third floor mainly shows poems written to praise the tower in different dynasties. On top of the tower, visitors are treated to a fabulous panoramic view of the Yangtze River, its bridge and the surrounding buildings in Wuhan City. Outside the tower, there are bronze yellow cranes, memorial gateways and pavilions.
Yangtze River Bridge
Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge is the first highway-railway bridge over the Yangtze River. On the mighty Yangtze with a length of 6,300 kilometers (3,915 miles), there was no bridge for thousands of years. This river seemed an obstacle set by nature, separating Hanyang, Hankou and Wuchang, namely the three towns of Wuhan. Moreover, it blocked the transportation between the north and the south China. Only ship can be used. However, the natural obstacle became accessible for various vehicles due to the finish of the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge in 1957.
Started in 1955, the grand bridge project takes about two years. The complete bridge is 1,670.4 meters (5,480.3 feet) long with the main body of 1,156 meters (3,793 feet). It has 8 piers and 9 holes. The bridge is divided into two levels with the upper one for bus transit and the lower for trains. The driveway is 18 meters (59 feet) wide for six buses to run parallel. The bridge is extremely firm. It has not been harmed even during the huge Wenchuan Earthquake in 2008.
Extending from Tortoise Hill (Gui Shan) in Hanyang to Snake Hill (She Shan) in Wuchang, the bridge has not only improved the transportation in Wuhan City, but also enhanced the communication between the north and the south of the river. To fully view the splendid bridge and the marvelous river, you can climb up the 7-story bridge tower at either end of the bridge by elevator or staircases. The attached buildings and decorations are harmonious and exquisite, reflecting rich Chinese architectural features. The theme of sculptures on the 143 panes along each side of the bridge is from some Chinese folk stories such as the peacock showing its fine feathers, carp playing among lotus, a magpie singing on blossom tree.
From the bridge, you can see the rolling water run to the east with ships coming and going; on the bank, Hubei TV Tower stands tall on Tortoise Hill (Gui Shan) in Hanyang, while the first tower in southern China, the Yellow Crane Tower (Huang He Lou), stands on Snake Hill (She Shan) in Wuchang.
Related information: Now, in Wuhan, there are already three grand bridges over the Yangtze River - Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge described above, the Second Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge established in 1995 and the Third Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge (Baishazhou Bridge) opened in 2000.
East Lake Scenic Area
East Lake, the biggest scenery tourist attraction in Wuhan and also the largest lake within a city in China, is located on the south bank of the Yangtze River and in the east suburb of Wuchang. It covers an area of 87 square kilometers (33 square kilometers of water area) that is five times greater than the area of the West Lake in Hangzhou . Because of its winding banks and crisscrossing ponds and brooks, it is called ‘a lake with 99 bays’. The East Lake Scenic Area was formed from many famous scenic spots along the bank. The six major ones are Tingtao (Listening to Surging Waves), Mo Hill (Millstone Hill), Luoyan (Diving Wild Goose), Baima (White Horse), Chuidi (Playing Flutes), and Luohong Hills.
Among the six scenic areas, Tingtao and Mo Hill scenic areas are the most two notable and are open to visitors.
The East Lake gate opens to the Tingtao scenic area featuring the rare sequoia especially elegant in late autumn. The Listening-to-the-Waves Tower (Tingtao Xuan), with its classic elegance is one of the famous buildings in this area, along with Land of Water and Cloud (Shuiyun Xiang) which serves as a teahouse, and the Tingtao Inn of Wine, a restaurant offering local fish dishes. On the north, the center of this area, is the Poetry-Reciting Pavilion (Xingyinge), built for memorizing works of Qu Yuan, the great patriotic poet of the State of Chu (one of the seven warring states before Qin (221BC-206BC) in China’s first feudal dynasty). Many exhibits about Qu Yuan are featured in this building including his great literary masterpieces. In addition, the first allegory sculpture park in China is here displaying wonderful sculpture and allegories.
Guiyuan Buddhist Temple
(Temple of Original Purity)
Covering an area of about 46,900 square meters (approx. 55,812 square yards), Guiyuan Buddhist Temple is situated in the west section of Hanyang district in Wuhan City. Being one of the four best temples in Wuhan, the temple, which was originally established in 1658 in the Qing Dynasty (1644 – 1911), was initially built on the site of Wuzhangpu Kuiyuan in the Ming Dynasty (1368 – 1644). The word ‘Guiyuan’ originates from a sutra, meaning to surpass the circumscription of existence and extinguishment, to return to purity and tranquility.
Though it is a construction of a Buddhist temple, it is also in a garden style. The distribution is compact, and the design is delicate. The temple is even interspersed by kiosks and parterres.
There are five courtyards in the temple: the eastern courtyard, the western courtyard, the southern courtyard, the northern courtyard, and the middle courtyard. The distribution of the temple is in the shape of a cassock. Initially, the temple was not completed, but was extended in the next several decades to reach the present scale.
The eastern courtyard is the entrance of the temple, in which a large apricot coloured door opens towards the east, indicating the importance of forming kind relationships and saving all human beings from sufferings. On the lintel of the door, a tablet is hanging with the name of the temple written on it.
After entering the temple, you can see the northern courtyard to your right, in which the Amitabha, Kwan-yin Bodhisattva, and Dashizhi Bodhisattva are worshipped. Collectively they are called the “three western saints”. The Wenshu Bodhisattva and Puxian Bodhisattva are also worshipped. The Sutra Collection Pavilion in the courtyard has a rich collection of cultural relics of Buddhism, figures of Buddha, religious paraphernalia, stone carvings, paintings, calligraphies, and books from abroad.
In the southern courtyard, the most famous hall is the Lohan Hall. It is also one of the five best Lohan halls in China. The 500 Lohans here are vivid and lively just like real people. They are all identical in size, and each is no more than 25 kilogram’s in weight. What is most amazing is that one can never find two Lohans with the same appearance or expression. They are all totally different from each other. Counting Lohans in the courtyard forms an interesting custom in Wuhan. It is said that one can know the disasters and fortunes in the present year by counting the Lohans. The method is like this: counting from the discretional Lohan in the direction according to one’s first step into the hall until he has counted the numbers of his age. When he reaches the last Lohan, the expression of it will tell him all.
In the centre of the middle courtyard, there is the Daxiong Baodian. The statue of Sakyamuni in this hall is the biggest Buddhism figure in the temple. A lion that is said to be the image of Sakyamuni in pre-existence lies to the north of the statue. Behind the statue, some other figures are worshipped.
Now the temple attracts people from both home and abroad to admire its wonderful architecture, delicate yet perfect statues, and the large collection of precious items.