The Stork Tower or Guanque Tower () is an ancient Chinese tower in Puzhou Town, Yongji, Shanxi, China. It was located in the southwest outside the Puzhou ancient city, and near to the Pujin Ferry (). The Stork Tower had reached unprecedented heyday in the Tang dynasty (618-907) due to an eternally famous poem "On the Stork Tower" () written by poet Wang Zhihuan (688-742). Alongside the Pavilion of Prince Teng, Yueyang Tower and Yellow Crane Tower, it is one of the Four Great Towers of China.
Location
Located in the juncture of Shanxi, Shaanxi and Henan, it has been an important traffic fort since ancient times. Yongji City, backing to the Zhongtiao Mountains and facing the Yellow River, is called Puzhou () historically. Now, the site of Puzhou ancient city still exists. The thick city walls and tall gate towers are showing the prosperity of Puzhou City back then. Puzhou Ferry () is built outside the west gate of the Puzhou City. Four burly iron bulls and iron human statues in different folk costumes were once tightly tied to Pujin Floating Bridge () across the Yellow River.
History
Northern Zhou dynasty (557–581) According to the historical records, the Stork Tower was first built in the Northern and Southern dynasties (420-589) by Yuwen Hu (513-572), a powerful minister of the Northern Zhou dynasty (557-581). Arrogating all powers to himself, Yuwen Hu presided over state affairs of the Northern Zhou dynasty for over ten years. During his reign, he went in for large-scale construction to build many palaces and towers. Back then, Puzhou was the only way from Chang'an, the capital of the Northern Zhou dynasty, to Jinyang, the political center of the neighboring state Northern Qi dynasty (550-577). Guarding Puzhou, Yuwen Hu had Puzhou city reinforced to make it impregnable. Meanwhile, in order to keep a lookout for the enemy's situation, he also had a three-story tower built outside the city. It's said that after the tower was built, storks often perched on the tower, so it was named the Stork Tower. Some people say that Yuwen Hu had the Stork Tower built for not only military purposes, but also watching his mother by looking into the distance. It turned out that Yuwen Hu's mother was detained in Jinyang, today's Taiyuan in Shanxi, by the Northern Qi dynasty, a neighboring state of the Northern Zhou dynasty. The emperor of the Northern Qi dynasty asked Yuwen Hu's mother to write a letter with the clothes Yuwen Hu wore in childhood attached. After receiving the letter and clothes from his mother, he felt deeply sad and immediately wrote a letter back to his mother. Afterwards, he always kept up regular correspondence with his mother. It's said that Yuwen Hu often ascended the Stork Tower and overlooked the direction to Jinyang to ease his longing for his mother. In AD 572, Yuwen Hu was killed. Yuwen Yong (543-578), the emperor of the Northern Zhou dynasty, advocated frugality, so he had all gorgeous buildings built by Yuwen Hu destroyed by fire. Fortunately, the Stork Tower was preserved because of its military function of keeping a lookout for the border.
Tang dynasty (618–907) The Stork Tower was built in the Northern Zhou dynasty and became prosperous in the Tang dynasty (618-907). Around in AD 704, Wang Zhihuan (688-742), a poet of the Tang dynasty, ascended the Stork Tower at dusk one day and wrote an eternally famous poem "On the Stork Tower" (). From then on, the Stork Tower became well known in the world. Countless people were attracted here by its reputation. Hezhong Prefecture () refers to Puzhou. In the 8th year of the Kaiyuan period of the Tang dynasty, namely in AD 720, Puzhou was upgraded to a prefecture and gained the name Hezhong Prefecture as it located in the midstream of the Yellow River.
Jin dynasty (1115–1234) In the Zhenyou period of Jin dynasty (1115-1234), Emperor Xuanzong of Jin, Wanyan Xun (1163-1224), deeply felt the great threat from the Mongolian army and decided to move the capital to Hezhong Prefecture, also Puzhou, which was easy to guard but hard to attack. However, due to slow action, shortly after he decided to move the capital, the Mongolian army had occupied Pingyang, today's Linfen in Shanxi province. Puzhou became an isolated city. Emperor Xuanzong of Jin decided to abandon it. He ordered Aludai (), the garrison general of Puzhou, to set fire to Puzhou city. According to the records of "Prefecture Annals of Puzhou" (), in the first year of the Yuanguang period of Jin dynasty, namely in 1222, the Jin army fought against the Mongolian army, Hou Xiaoshu (), the general of Jin army, set fire to the Stork Tower. But "History of Jin" () denied this view.