Wuhan Tour Attraction

Yellow Crane Tower

Introduction

Yellow Crane Tower is an imposing pagoda close to the Yangzi River . Situated at the top of Sheshan (Snake Hill), in Wuchang, the tower was originally built at a place called Yellow Crane Rock projecting over the water, hence the name. Over the centuries the tower was destroyed by fire many times, but its popularity with Wuhan residents ensured that it was always rebuilt. The current tower was completed in 1985 and its design was copied from a Qing dynasty (1644-1911) picture. The tower has 5 stories and rises to 51 meters ( 168ft ). Covered with yellow glazed tiles and supported with 72 huge pillars, it has 60 upturned eaves layer upon layer. It is an authentic reproduction of both the exterior and interior design, with the exception of the addition of air-conditioning and an elevator.

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.

Yellow crane tower has a long and complicated history. After completion in 223 A .D., the tower served as a gathering place for celebrities and poets to party and compose poetry. It was estimated that up to the tong Zhi reign of the Qing dynasty, as many as 300 poems on the tower had been found in historical literature. Cui Hao, a famous poet during the tang dynasty (618-907), made the tower well known throughout china with his poem ‘yellow crane tower'.

Destroyed many times in successive dynasties, the tower was rebuilt time and again until 100 years ago when it was, for the last time, reduced to ashes. The present tower is a complete reconstruction and is the conclusion of four years of efforts beginning in 1981. The tower, 51.4 meters high, is five-stories with yellow tiles and red pillars, overlapping ridges and interlocking eaves, more magnificent than the old one.

Yellow crane tower has been expanded into a park consisting of 69 scenic sites where the culture of ancient Chu state and modern civilization is well blend.

East Lake

Introduction

Located on south bank of the Yangtze River and the east of wuchang district, the east lake is a natural expanse of greenery and water created by the silting up of a huge lake through which the Yangtze once flowed. Covering an area of 87 square kilometers and containing 33 square kilometers of water, the lake is nearly six times larger than hangzhou 's west lake. With its bending lake banks and crossing ponds and brooks, it is also called ‘the lake of 99 days'. 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.

Characterized by beautiful landscape, abundant plants, the customs of the State of Chu and unique gardens, the Mo Hill Scenic Area attracts many tourists. In this area, the Chu cultural theme park displays the Chu culture in China . The Botanical Viewing Garden where more than 360 kinds of plants are nursed in 13 special gardens with flowers blooming all the year round - orchids and cherry blossoms in spring, lotus in summer, osmanthus in autumn, and plum blossoms in winter - is also admirable. Two of the most famous are the Cherry Blossom Garden said to be one of the world's three cherry blossom capitals along with Hirosaki in Japan and Washington in America , and the Plum Blossom Garden which is listed as the top plum garden. For more details about Mo Hill, please click Mo Hill.

There are many scenic spots along the bank and water spots like boating, yachting, swimming are also offered, however, the most fascinating impression comes from the picturesque lake itself. The visitors will be intoxicated just by enjoying the glistening blue water, shaded with light mist, and companioned with hovering birds and jumping fish.

Gui Yuan Temple

Introduction

Gui Yuan Temple , an ancient Buddhist temple dating from the late Ming Dynasty, is an example of classic architecture commonly seen in southern China . Inside the temple is a huge hall containing 500 Luohans (also known as arhats or disciples) in different postures, each with a highly individualized facial expression. Some look experienced and astute, others jolly, angry, or complaisant; in other words, the expressions show the full spectrum of human feelings. There is also a large 105-ton Buddha sculpted of white stone--a gift from Burma in 1935.

Hubei Provincial Museum

Introduction

Hubei Provincial Museum , located in the Wuchang District of Wuhan, Hubei Province, is the only provincial comprehensive museum in the province. The museum collects, protects, and exhibits the cultural relics discovered in the province. Since 1953, the museum has collected over 200,000 cultural relics, including pottery, porcelains, jade, bronze vessels, ancient weapons, and ancient musical instruments. Among these cultural relics, 812 are listed as first-class relics of China , and 16 are considered national treasures.

The museum has a store of 146,000 pieces of cultural relics, 672 of which are first class state treasures. The collections are of many different kinds and rich with local colors. The hall of chime-bell-sets, completed on January 25 of 1999, exhibits 400 pieces of choice chime bells, some of which were exhumed from the tomb of DuKe Yi of Zheng state of the western Zhou dynasty (1046-771 B.C.). The performance of chime music and dancing, using reproduced chimes and dancers in ancient Chu costumes and hair-do, is much enjoyed by the tourists.

Covering a space of 40,000 square meters, the Museum houses more than 140,000 pieces of collections. It has organized about 100 exhibitions, including Lacquer Wares of the Warring States , Qin and Han periods, Excavations from the Zeng Houyi Mausoleum, etc. More than 15,000 relics were excavated from the Zeng Houyi Mausoleum tomb, including the bronze ritual vessels, coffins, musical instruments, gold and jade decorative items, lacquer ware, weapons, inscribed bamboo strips and other relics.

This museum is divided into three parts: the Chime Bells Exhibition Hall, the Chu (a state in the Spring & Autumn Period (770BC-476BC)) Culture Exhibition Hall, and the Comprehensive Exhibition Building . The Comprehensive Exhibition is still under construction at the present time.

The Chime Bells Exhibition Hall contains two parts: the Exhibition Hall and the Music Hall. In the Exhibition Hall, many cultural relics take high the attentions from the visitors, the relics that have been unearthed from the tomb of Yi (the king of the Zeng Sate in the Warring Stats Period (476 BC - 221 BC), such as the exquisite bronze vessel known as 'Crane Standing on the Antler', ancient halberds, triangle-shaped swords called Shu, and the bamboo slips that were used for writing on in ancient times. The most famous treasure is the Chime Bells, which is the largest bronze musical instrument ever discovered. With a set of bells of different sizes, it can play various tones of the musical scale, and the timbre is quite beautiful. There are about 3,000 ancient Chinese characters on the bells, describing the music and the owner of this instrument. In the Music Hall, musicians wearing ancient clothes play a replica of the Chime Bells from 11:00 to 16:00 every day. You will surely be enchanted by the ancient beautiful music, which has been played overseas on many occasions.

The Chu Culture Exhibition Hall features the regional culture of the Chu State . Most of the cultural relics displayed here are bronze vessels, lacquer works, bamboo and wooden artifacts, and silk knitted products. You can also see various ancient weapons of the Chu State such as the sword of Gou Jian (the king of the Yue State in the Spring and Autumn Period) and the shaft of Fu Chai (the king of the Wu State in the Spring and Autumn Period). In 2002, archaeologists discovered pieces of chariots and horses of the Chu State . After careful restoration, some of the chariots and horses are now displayed in this hall. In addition to the unearthed cultural relics, some restored models of the houses in which Chu people lived are shown to the visitors to give them more direct impression of the ancient Chu people's lives.

There are also antique stores in the museum, which can as a memorizing of the visit in the Hubei provincial museum.

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