Day 10

Today is the visit of the yellow crane tower. We had to assemble at 8.10am before boarding the bus for our first destination of the day, the yellow crane tower. While we were on the bus, the tour guide explains to us some history of Wuhan and well as the yellow crane tower. The current site of the yellow crane is not the original site as it was moved due to the building of a bridge. She also briefly told us the storey behind the tower. The structure of the tower change from era to era from the Tang dynasty which is a single floor to the Qing dynasty. We leave for lunch in a local five star restaurant. After the lunch, our next destination is the Gu Qin Tai. The story behind it is about a famous musician named Yu Boya. Yu Boya was once stranded by a sudden heavy rain. He played a song named “High Mountains and Flowing Steams” on his boat. Another musician named Zhong Ziqi heard the music. Yu Boya discovered that Zhong Ziqi deeply understood his music, so Yu Boya invited him to come into the boat, and the two discussed the music for the whole night. The following day, they made an appointment to meet at the exact same place a year later. However, Yu Boya only saw the grave of his friend one year later. He was so depressed that he smashed his heptachord after playing the the same bit of music in front of the grave never played music again.

My Reflection

The visit to the Yellow Crane Tower in Wuhan is a very heartwarming as the history of the tower was dated back to the many many years. People did all those reconstructions over the years simply just to allow their future generations to be aware of the history behind this marvelous tower. If the people of the past did not do any effort to maintain or preserve the tower, there would not be anybody in our generation left to appreciate or even recognise the beauty of the Yellow Crane Tower. Hence, whenever people spoke of Wuhan, the first thing that comes to their mind will be this historical attraction. To me, it is one of iconic spot in Wuhan as we are able to view the cities of Wuhan by climbing till the 5th storey. It was really fascinating to be able to see a traditional building surrounded by high rise modern buildings around it. Hence, Yellow Crane Tower is able to captivate people gaze and stand out amidst its environment. The only sad thing was that there is heavy smog when we reached the top of the tower. Hence, the smog greatly reduced our vision and disappointed a few who hopes for city scene.