Yongji, a city in Shanxi Province, north China, is speeding up the reconstruction of an ancient stork tower named Guanquelou, which was destroyed during the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368).
Fan Duixiang, vice-governor of Shanxi, made the announcement at a meeting of the Yellow River Economic Cooperation Zone recently held in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi Province.
Completed in 580 AD, the building was one of the four noted ancient towers in China. The other three towers were the Huanghelou (Yellow Crane Tower) of Hubei Province, Yueyanglou (Yueyang Tower) of Hunan Province and Tengwangge (Tengwang Pavilion) of Jiangxi Province.
Guanquelou used to attract the educated from different dynasties including the Tang poet Wang Zhihuan, who wrote the famous poem "On the Stork Tower".
Completion of the 73.9-meter-high tower along the bank of Yellow River and related scenic spots will cover 1.16 million hectares and require an investment of 55 million yuan.
Construction of the tower started in December 1997, and is expected to be completed by the end of 2001.
(Xinhua 11/09/2000)
