Yueyang Tower, standing on the city wall of the West Gate of Yueyang City by the Dongting Lake in the north of Hunan Province, is one of the three famous towers in the region south of the Yangtze River. It has long enjoyed the reputation of being the "first tower under heaven," as the Dongting Lake is known as the "first water under heaven."

It is said that it was used as a parade tower by Lu Su, a general of the State of Wu during the Three Kingdoms Period. It became more famous when the essay "On Yueyang Tower" was written by Fan Zhongyan in the fifth year (1045) of the Qingli reign period of the Northern Song Dynasty.

The timber-structured three-storied main building with a double-eaved roof is surrounded by a veranda on which is a carved bench of impressive workmanship. The Yueyang Tower is 1700 years old and it sits on the shore of the Dongting Lake, China's second largest lake.

This tower was made famous by numerous Chinese poets who visited and wrote poetry about the tower and the lake.

Chairman Mao also visited this tower and wrote a poem about the tower. The third floor of the tower has his handwriting preserved on wooden boards.

Dongting Lake is a large, shallow lake in northeastern Hunan Province of China. It is a flood-basin of the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang); hence the lake's size depends on the season. The provinces of Hubei and Hunan are named after their location relative to the lake: Hubei means "North of the Lake" and Hunan means "South of the Lake" in Chinese.