YellowCraneTower,locatedonSnakeHillinWuchang,isoneofthe"ThreeFamousTowersSouthofYangtzeRiver(theothertwo:YueyangTowerinHunanandTengwangTowerinJiangxi).
LegendhasitthatinWuchang,thereusedtobeawineshopopenedbyayoungmannamedXin.Oneday,aTaoistpriest,ingratitudeforfreewine,drewamagiccraneonthewalloftheshopandinstructedittodancewheneveritheardclapping.Thousandsofpeoplecametoseethespectacleandthewineshopwasalwaysfullofguests.After10years,theTaoistpriestrevisitedthewineshop.Heplayedthefluteandthenrodeonthecranetothesky.Inmemoryofthesupernaturalencounterandthepriest,theXinsbuiltatowerandnameditYellowCraneTower.
Accordingtorecords,thetowerwasfirstbuiltin223A.DduringtheThreeKingdomsperiod(220-280).Aftercompletion,thetowerservedasagatheringplaceforcelebritiesandpoetstopartyandcomposepoetry.ItwasestimatedthatuptotheTongzhiReignoftheQingdynasty,asmanyas300poemsaboutthetowerhadbeenfoundinhistoricalliterature.CuiHao,afamouspoetduringtheTangdynasty(618-907),madethetowerwellknownthroughoutChinawithhispoem"YellowCraneTower".
Destroyedmanytimesinsuccessivedynasties,thetowerwasrebuilttimeandagainuntil100yearsagowhenitwas,forthelasttime,reducedtoashes.Thepresenttowerisacompletereconstructionandistheresultoffouryearsofworkbeginningin1981.Wheretheoldtowerwasonly15meterswide,thegroundfloorofthenewstructurewasincreasedto20meterswide.Thetower,51.4metershigh,isfive-storiedwithyellowtilesandredpillars,overlappingridgesandinterlockingeaves,moremagnificentthantheoldone.
ThenewYellowCraneTowerisregardedasthesymbolofWuhancity.