Pazhou Tower

Pazhou Tower is located in Pazhou Village on Xingang East Road in Guangzhou City. It is also known as Haiao Tower. It is one of the Eight Scenic Spots of Guangzhou in the Qing Dynasty and has the reputation of "Pazhou Pillar". Pazhou Tower is an octagonal pavilion-style building built with blue bricks. It has 9 levels on the outside and 17 floors on the inside, and is over 50 meters high. The first floor has a diameter of 12.7 meters, a side length of 4.95 meters, a wall thickness of 3.97 meters, and three doors. The north and south doors lead into the first floor tower ventricle. The west door originally had brick stairs leading to the second floor (hidden floor) tower ventricle. The steps go through the wall and around the flat platform. Starting from the second floor, each floor has doors on all four sides like a cross alley running vertically and horizontally, and the doors of the two adjacent floors are staggered relative to each other; there are no doors on the other sides, but niches as false doors. Pazhou Tower was built during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty. It is the "big brother" of the "Three Towers of Guangzhou". It is said that golden turtles often appear in the nearby waters, so it is also called Haiao Tower. From a distance, it looks like a mainstay, so foreign merchant ships in ancient times used it as a navigation coordinate. In Qing Dynasty export paintings with Guangzhou as the theme, Pazhou Tower is often firmly located in the center of the picture, which shows that as a landmark of Guangzhou at that time, it is comparable to the Guangzhou Tower today. Over four hundred years, despite tremendous changes in the world, the Pazhou Tower has always stood tall, witnessing the prosperity of Guangzhou's foreign trade. Nestled among high-rise buildings and hidden in the bustling lights, it is not only neither humble nor arrogant, and does not feel out of place, but also reflects the ancient and modern brilliance of the Canton Fair Complex, and together with it, it has become a cultural business card of Guangzhou's openness and inclusiveness.