As the biggest park in Guangzhou, Yuexiu Park covers an area of 93 hectares. Besides a few artificial lakes and a huge swimming pool, the park is very famous for its Zhenhai Tower and the Sculpture of the Five Rams.
Zhenhai Tower
Standing on the top of Yuexiu Hill in the northern suburbs, the 28-meter-high five-story tower-also known as Five-story Pagoda – was built on the order of Zhu Liangzu, the Yongjia Marquis of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), to flaunt his power that was able to 'shake the seas and mountains'. It is a magnificent building, commanding a bird's eye view of the whole city. The tower now houses the City Museum, with exhibits which describe the history of Guangzhou from Neolithic times till the early part of this century.
Stone Sculptures of Five Rams
The stone sculptures of five rams were carved on the granite in 1959. Legend has it that there were once five hermits who took as many rams, each with an ear of rice in its mouth to Guangzhou, where they prayed for the extermination of famine. After that the hermits flew up to the sky. And the five rams turned into the fossils. For this Guangzhou is sometimes referred to as "Goat Castle" or "Rice Castle".
