Yueyang Tower

Tang-origin pavilion overlooking Dongting Lake. The third of the Three Great Towers of the South. Famous for Fan Zhongyan's 11th-century essay.

Yueyang Tower stands on Dongting Lake's western shore. The original Tang-era tower has been rebuilt many times; the current Qing-era timber pavilion is a meticulously preserved example. The 1046 essay 'Yueyang Tower' by the Northern Song reformer Fan Zhongyan, written for the contemporaneous reconstruction, contains the much-quoted line 'first to worry about the world's worries, last to enjoy its joys' — a foundational text of Confucian civic ethics. Combine with Junshan Island in the lake for a half-day trip.