According to records, the tower was first built in 223 A.D during the Three Kingdoms period (220-280).Destroyed many times in successive dynasties, the tower was rebuilt time and again until 100 years ago when it was, for the last time, reduced to ashes. The present tower is a complete reconstruction and is the result of four years of work beginning in 1981. Where the old tower was only 15 meters wide, the ground floor of the new structure was increased to 20 meters wide.

Yellow Crane Tower is 51.4 meters. It has five stories, of which each emphatically displayed poems and essays by poets and writers, fairy tales, and legends. The Tower is covered with tiny tiles glazed in gold. Frescos decorate the walls here and the entire construction is hung together with red auspicious columns. On the evenings of public holidays, the splendid and wonderful scenery of the tower illuminated by bright and colorful lights constitutes a superb sight of the whole Riverside City.

The new Yellow Crane Tower is regarded as the symbol of Wuhan city.