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Yueyang tops among ancient towers
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岳阳楼 (yuèyáng lóu) Yueyang Tower
China has many centuries-old towers that are popular not only because of their grandiose appearance and ingenious architectural designs, but also for their close association with Chinese literature and arts.
Yueyang Tower is definitely one of the best representatives of this type of architecture.
Located on the east shore of Dongting Lake in today¡¯s Hunan Province in the southern part of central China, the tower was first built during the Three Kingdoms Period (AD 220-280) as a tall inspection platform to command and train waterborne troops and fleets since it offered a panoramic view of the whole lake, which used to be the largest freshwater lake in the country.
Later, it was called the Baling Tower after the name of a nearby city. During the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907), Baling City was renamed Yueyang City and the tower became Yueyang Tower.
Like many other ancient Chinese buildings, the tower was renovated and reconstructed several times during its history. The tower we see today was rebuilt in 1879 during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).
The square, three-story building stands 25.35 meters tall and occupies 251 square meters of floor space. The tower is built completely of wood, with no nails or rivets. It is held together by mortise and tenon joints.
In the middle of the structure, there are four gigantic pillars of nanmu, a superior, durable wood, with a diameter of 50 centimeters each, running all the way to the roof. They are surrounded by 12 round pillars to prop up the second floor. Outside, there are another 12 catalpa wood pillars to support the flying eaves.
Instead of various hip roofs commonly seen in ancient Chinese buildings, Yueyang Tower has a “helmet roof.” The helmet roof doesn’t have a main roof ridge. Instead, all ridges are joined at the tip of the roof, known as “roof crown.”
Bulging out near the top and slimmed back at the lower part, the roof was so named because of its resemblance to the helmets worn by generals in ancient times.
Yueyang Tower is the largest surviving ancient building in China that features a helmet roof.
Because the tower commands a breathtaking view of Dongting Lake, it has long been a popular attraction for tourists as well as for poets, writers and artists.
Many famous poets in Chinese history, including Li Bai, Du Fu and Bai Juyi, visited the tower and wrote widely read poems. However, none of them rivals the popularity of the prose entitled, “On Yueyang Tower,” written by Fan Zhongyan (AD 989-1052), a politician and literary giant in the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127).
In the autumn of 1046, Fan was invited by his friend Teng Zijing (991-1047), then a local governor, to write a preface for the newly renovated Yueyang Tower.
At that time, the tower already had a widely acclaimed reputation as the most magnificent tower in China.
Both Fan and Teng were then experiencing some setbacks in their careers as politicians. Fan wrote the prose not only to praise the tower, but also to express his feelings and euphemistically advise his friend to be more broad-minded and resilient.
Today, nearly every educated Chinese speaker remembers Fan’s lines such as: “To be the first to worry about the world’s woes, and the last to enjoy the universal weal.”
Or, “Don’t be pleased by worldly gains, or feel sad for personal losses.”
Together with the Yellow Crane Tower in central China’s Hubei Province and the Pavilion of Prince Teng in east China’s Jiangxi Province, Yueyang Tower is widely admired as one of the Three Great Towers south of the Yangtze River, the longest river in China.
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