Yellow Crane Tower Guide

The single largest tourist attraction in Wuhan is Yellow Crane Tower (Huanghelou), a modern construction built on the site of five previous incarnations. It is considered one of the four great towers in China.

A view of Snake Hill Park from about the fourth floor of Yellow Crane Tower.The tower sits atop Snake Hill near the Number One Chang (Yangtze) River Bridge and affords a commanding view of the Chang River as well as the mouth of the Han River where it connects. The view can be very impressive depending on local smog conditions. On the few clear days one can see practically the entire city of Wuhan as well as up and down the Chang River.
Entering the park costs 50RMB which gives access to Snake Hill Park, Yellow Crane Tower and the Mao Pavilion (in which many of the poems of Chairman Mao are etched into stone for viewing pleasure). The park as a whole is nicely landscaped with many charming buildings. Of particular interest is the enormous bronze bell located behind Yellow Crane Tower itself as well as a teahouse on the premises which features regular performances of traditional Chu-era music. The performance itself is free, but it is expected that patrons enjoying it order at least a beverage or a small snack.
The tower itself is a modern building completed in the 1980s using modern materials - most notably, concrete is used instead of wood for all supporting members. It is sited where five previous Yellow Crane Towers have stood, each pervious one destroyed in war or disaster. The ground floor of the tower contains a large entrance hall, two storeys tall, with enormous decorative lamps and a giant ceramic fresco displaying the quasi-mythical story of the tower's initial construction. The second storey, essentially a balcony around the entrance hall, contains the usual souvenir shops as well as displays of traditional Chinese paintings and calligraphy. The third storey has a residence done up in the very ancient, Chu style modelled after the kinds of sitting rooms used by nobility greeting guests in the ancient period. The fourth storey contains a souvenir shop and a set of models displaying the tower in its five previous incarnations. This latter display shows the fascinating development of an essentially military watchtower into an increasingly residence/tourist-oriented showpiece. The top accessible storey has pay telescopes for the view (which are generally not useful in the smog which dominates Wuhan air) and some art displays.
Yellow Crane Tower (and, in fact, Snake Hill Park in general) is wheelchair-accessible in most areas of interest. The tower even has two elevators suited to the elderly and the handicapped who would otherwise not be able to climb the stairs to the top. Ramps around in most of the areas of interest.