Yuejiang Tower is located beside the Yangtze River on Shizi Mountain, so this scenic area is actually called Shizi Mountain Scenic Area. In addition to Yuejiang Tower, it also features a section of ancient city wall, several pavilions, artillery emplacements, tunnels, and more. Originally named Lulong Mountain, Shizi Mountain stands 78 meters high with a circumference of 2 km, and was listed as one of the 48 Scenes of Jinling during the Qing Dynasty. On Lulong Mountain, Emperor Taizu of Ming, Zhu Yuanzhang, led an army of 80,000 to a decisive victory over Chen Youliang’s force of 400,000, laying the foundation for establishing Nanjing as the capital of the Ming Dynasty. After ascending the throne, Zhu Yuanzhang renamed Lulong Mountain to Shizi Mountain and issued an imperial edict to build Yuejiang Tower atop the mountain. Taking “Yuejiang Tower” as the theme, he ordered court officials to each compose an essay titled “Record of Yuejiang Tower.” The version written by Grand Secretary Song Lian was considered the finest and was later included in the anthology “Guwen Guanzhi.” However, after the leveling of the building site was completed, construction was abruptly halted. For over six hundred years thereafter, there was only the essay but no tower—until its completion in 2001. Yuejiang Tower stands 52 meters tall with seven stories, built in Ming Dynasty architectural style. Personally, I think the construction is quite well done; every stone lion along the roadside railings has a unique expression, and the details are handled beautifully. The only jarring element is the elevator inside…
Yuejiang Tower
Porcelain Painting of Zheng He’s Voyages to the Western Seas
The view from the top is pretty good—it would be even better if the air quality were a bit clearer…
A panoramic view of the entire Yangtze River Bridge
Photos in this post taken with SONY NEX-5R + 16-50 f3.5-5.6, post-processed in Lightroom.
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