At the mention of leaning towers, brings the image of the Leaning Tower of Pisa to one's mind. While famous throughout the world, its degree of incline is not the steepest in the world.

In fact, the "world's first leaning tower" is Qianwei Leaning Tower in Qianwei Township, Huludao City in northeast China’s Liaoning Province.

The Qianwei Leaning Tower is a gem of China's leaning tower architecture. It was very early listed as one of the four leaning towers in China.

At present, there are 17 ancient leaning towers in China, but none of their slopes exceed that of Qianwei Leaning Tower.

Nanjing Dinglin Tower ranks second for its degree of incline, less than 8 degrees, while that of the Leaning Tower of Pisa is only 5.4 degrees.

The Qianwei Leaning Tower was built 300 years earlier than the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and is worthy of the name "world's first leaning tower."

Therefore, cultural relic experts in Huludao call on the local government to protect the Qianwei Leaning Tower immediately and report it to the Guinness Book of World Records as soon as possible.

(Chinanews.cn April 13, 2005)