⬅️ 唐诗 Tang Poems
Wang Zhihuan (王之涣，688-742 AD) was one of the most acclaimed "four frontier poets" of Tang Dynasty. There was no biography about him in either New Book of Tang (新唐书) or Old Book of Tang (旧唐书). Most of his works had lost. Only six of his poems survived. Two of them, namely On the Stork Tower (登鹳雀楼) and The Song of Liangzhou (凉州词)，were selected in the poetry anthology Three Hundred Tang Poems. These two poems were so famous in China that it was said "everyone in the nation, from white haired old people to the youngsters with hanging hair at front of their foreheads, can recite them (皤发垂髫，皆能吟诵)."
Stork Tower was located Puzhou, Shanxi province (蒲州，山西), now the city of Yongji (永济市). It was one of the Four Great Towers in ancient China. The other three were Pavilion of Prince Teng (滕王阁), Yue Yang Tower (岳阳楼), Yellow Crane Tower (黄鹤楼). All of them were the subjects of numerous literature works.
Stork Tower was first built in the Southern and Northern Dynasties (420-589 AD) by a powerful general Yuwen Hu (宇文护). Originally it was built as a military outlook tower. The tower lasted more than 700 years and was destroyed in war during Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368 AD). In 1990s, a typical Tang-style four stories Stork Tower was reconstructed.
