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　　Ladies and gentlemen，

　　Well now begin our tour of the Yellow-Crane Tower.

　　Hubei Provinces Yellow-Crane Tower of Wuhan is one of the three most famous towers in southern China. Along with Dongting Lakes Yueyang Tower the Yellow Crane to come down. After that, he sat on the Yellow Crane and flew away on it. To commemorate the old man and his yellow crane, Xin built a high tower on the inn and named it the Yellow-Crane Tower. This story about the immortal person, Shen Xian., has spread widely across China for thousands of years and is a very influential legend explaining the origins of the Yellow Crane Tower. Another similar legend is that a person called Fei Wei successfully attained immortality on the Yellow Crane Hill and, like Shen Xian, used the crane to go to heaven. Later to commemorate Fei Wei, people constructed Yellow-Crane Tower on top of the Yellow Crane Hill.

　　But modern research tells a different story regarding the origins of Yellow-Crane Towers name. This explanation points to the place the Tower was built on top of, namely Yellow-Crane Hill. So, it is named Yellow-Crane Tower.

　　My dear friends, we have arrived at Yellow-Crane Tower. In fact, Yellow- crane Tower we see now is rebuilt after the founding of New China. Due to wars and other events, Yellow-Crane Tower has been repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt. The last Qing tower was built in 7th year of the Qing Tongzhi Emperors reign (1868) and then was destroyed again during the 10th year of Emperor Guangxus reign (1884). Nearly a century passed before further rebuilding work was done on the Tower. The latest reconstruction of the tower began in October of 1981 and was finished in June of 1985. The main building took the Qing Dynasty tower as its blueprint, but the use of modern technology and construction techniques has given the Yellow-Crane Tower a more unique shape and enhanced its ancient magnificence.

　　The original ancient Yellow-crane Tower was three-storey structures and 33 meters high, which in traditional Chinese measure system was 9 zhang and 2 chi high, plus a 7-chi copper roof, thus there were 2 nines(The number9 was an auspicious one in traditional Chinese).We are now viewing the new 5 storey Yellow-Crane Tower and its gourd shaped roof. The roof is 5 meters high and the entire tower is altogether 51.4 meters high, making it nearly 20 meters higher than the old Yellow Crane Tower. The base of the new Tower is also twice as wide-30 meters vs. 15 meters-as that of the old Tower. Thus the Yellow Crane Tower has been reconstructed, rather than restored. While some features of the old design have been preserved, it has been rebuilt to better fit peoples needs and modem aesthetic perspectives.

　　It was also necessary to move the Yellow-Crane Tower during its reconstruction to make way for new Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge. Fortunately, the structure has been made even more majestic than the former tower. The present Yellow-Crane Tower consists of main buildings, matched pavilions, corridors and memorial archways, all spreading over a three story terrace along a terrace along a central axis that becomes higher and higher. The west entrance of the Yellow-Crane Tower Park is located on the first terrace. The second terrace has a memorial archway flanked by pavilions and a bending corridor. The newly built Yellow-Crane Tower stands on the third and central terrace.

　　We can see the new complex is an attractive mix of different and unique architectural styles. This is particularly true of the Yellow-Crane Tower, which consists of several different layers. The bottom layer is a tall spacious hall, whose kelp well is as high as 10 meters. On frontispiece wall there are huge ceramic murals named Cloud Yellow cranes. There are seven meter long poetic couplets along both sides of the columns. On the marble wall of the hall on the second floor is engraved in the Yan Bojins YelLow-Crane Tower , recording the towers history and all of the major figures who visited here and drew inspiration from this place. There are two murals of both sides of these inscriptions. One mural is of the Sun Quan Fortification and concretely illustrates the Towers original purpose and its first setting, Wuchang City. The other mural depicts Zhou Yus Banquet, which celebrates the famous historical figures who visited the Tower and their activities in it during the Three Kingdoms period. The murals in the hall of third floor are Embroidered portrait Painting of Tang and Song Dynasty poets such as Cui Hao, Li Bai and Bai Juyi and also famous lines from the celebrated poems they wrote in The Yellow-crane Tower. The fourth floors hall is divided into several rooms by screens, displaying the photos of many contemporary famous Chinese people for visitors to enjoy and purchase. The top hall has scrolls and wall paintings, such as the Yangtze Wanli Map.

　　Well, you can visit freely. Two hours later we will gather here. I hope all of you have a good time.

　　My friends, our journey is about to end. And I should say goodbye to you all . Anyway I am very glad to have spent such a happy and unforgettable day with you. Thank you very much for your support and cooperation. I hope todays visit will leave you with many pleasant memories. Thank you.

　　Ladies and gentlemen，

　　Well now begin our tour of the Yellow-Crane Tower.

　　Yellow Crane Tower,located on Snake Hill in Wuchang,is one of the Three Famous Towers South of Yangtze River (the other two:Yueyang Tower in Hunan and Tengwang Tower in Jiangxi).

　　Legend has it that in Wuchang,there used to be a wine shop opened by a young man named Xin.One day,a Taoist priest,in gratitude for free wine,drew a magic crane on the wall of the shop and instructed it to dance whenever it heard clapping.Thousands of people came to see the spectacle and the wine shop was always full of guests.After 10 years,the Taoist priest revisited the wine shop.He played the flute and then rode on the crane to the sky.In memory of the supernatural encounter and the priest,the Xins built a tower and named it Yellow Crane Tower.

　　According to records,the tower was first built in 223 A.D during the Three Kingdoms period (220-280).After completion,the tower served as a gathering place for celebrities and poets to party and compose poetry.It was estimated that up to the Tongzhi Reign of the Qing dynasty,as many as 300 poems about the tower had been found in historical literature.Cui Hao,a famous poet during the Tang dynasty (618-907),made the tower well known throughout China with his poem Yellow Crane Tower.

　　Destroyed many times in successive dynasties,the tower was rebuilt time and again until 100 years ago when it was,for the last time,reduced to ashes.The present tower is a complete reconstruction and is the result of four years of work beginning in 1981.Where the old tower was only 15 meters wide,the ground floor of the new structure was increased to 20 meters wide.The tower,51.4 meters high,is five-storied with yellow tiles and red pillars,overlapping ridges and interlocking eaves,more magnificent than the old one.

　　The new Yellow Crane Tower is regarded as the symbol of Wuhan city.