Xiaoyao Tower

Location

North Section of Binjiang Road, Xiufeng District, Guilin City, near East West Alley

Reasons to visit

a new landmark in downtown Guilin.

Our Ratings

Opening Hours

9am - 18pm

Xiaoyao Tower is between Jiefang Bridge and Fubo Mountain in the northern section of Binjiang Road in Guilin. Xiaoyao Tower was built in the fourth year of Tang Wude(621) by Lijing Xiaoyao Tower, the governor of Guizhou.It is the East Tower of the Guizhou City in the Tang Dynasty. The stone inscription "Xiaoyao Tower" written by Yan Zhenqing is placed on it, so it is called "Xiaoyao Tower". Xiaoyao Tower is now a new landmark in downtown Guilin.

Xiaoyao Tower was damaged and built many times during the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing, and was finally destroyed during the War of Resistance Against Japan. In January 2015, relevant departments of Guilin City started to rebuild the Xiaoyao Tower on Binjiang Road. The building is a two-story, three-eave pavilion landscape architecture, about 24 meters high, 22 meters long and wide, with a construction area of 630 square meters.

There are some historical and cultural exhibition areas inside Xiaoyao Building and is a landscape corridor on the second floor. Standing on the corridor, you can overlook the Lijiang River, Zizhou Park and the distant Qixing Scenic Area, which will bring a new view for citizens and tourists sightseeing.

History

Xiaoyao Tower was first built in the Wude fourth year of the Tang Dynasty (621). At the time, the governor of Guizhou Li Jing built the Guizhou city around the Duxiu mountain, which was called the "Zi city". Xiaoyao Tower is located in the city wall of the Zi city, becoming a commanding height in the east of Guilin. Since the Tang and Song dynasties, Xiaoyao Tower has always been an excellent place for scholars to ascend the scenery, write poems, draw paintings, and feast on drinks. The Xiaoyao Tower in history is a landmark building where people from Central Plains can enter the Guilin through the Xianggui Corridor. Therefore, no matter the frustrated officials or poets, there is always an impulse to visit the Xiaoyao Tower to chant poems and express lyricism.

For thousands of years, Xiaoyao Tower has gone through wind and rain, and has been repeatedly destroyed repeatedly built. In the first year of Song Chongning (1102), the Guangxi official Chengjie rebuilt the Xiaoyao Tower. Xiaoyao Tower was renamed as "Xiangnan Tower" because Guilin in the south of Xiangshui. Guilin people with deep cultural heritage believed that the "Xiangnan Tower" was prominent in its regional character and lacked history and humanity, so it was still restored the name of Xiaoyao Tower.

During the War of Resistance Against Japan, Xiaoyao Tower was destroyed by fire. In 1939, the city walls of Xiaoyao Tower were demolished, and stone was used to build the bridge. The Xiaoyaolou stone tablet was moved to Putuo Mountain in Qixing Park for protection. At the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, the word "Xiaoyao Tower" was damaged. In 1972, the Guilin City Cultural Management Committee restored the stone monument of Xiaoyaolou based on the old extension.

Rebuild

In 2014, the reconstruction of Xiaoyao Tower was officially put on the agenda of the municipal party committee and government. The government listed the project as an important part of "finding the strength of Guilin culture and tapping the value of Guilin culture". The reconstruction site of Xiaoyao Tower was finally determined at the northwest corner of Jiefang Bridge, not far from the original site of Xiaoyao Tower, and was built in the style of the tang dynasty. After a year, Xiaoyao Tower’s majestic appearance reappeared in the eyes of the world, and the eternally famous building finally regained its former glory.

Xiaoyao Tower carries the historical rise and fall and cultural splendor of Guilin City, and is an important cultural symbol of Guilin City in the past. The reconstruction of Xiaoyao Tower will awaken people's historical memories of Xiaoyao Tower, excavate and promote the historical culture of Guilin, enhance the cultural quality of Guilin as a historical and cultural city, further enhance the cultural confidence and pride of Guilin people, and enrich and develop the tourism culture of Guilin Industry.