Yueyang Tower (Chinese: 岳阳楼; pinyin: Yuèyáng Lóu) is one of the three famous towers south of the Yangtze River, along with the Yellow Crane Tower in Wuhan and the Prince Teng Pavilion in Nanchang.
The Yueyang Tower stands on the west gate of the Yueyang city wall, looking down at the Dongting Lake, facing the Junshan Island in the distance, and linking the Yangtze River to the north and the Xiangjiang River to the south.
Yueyang Tower was originally built for soldiers to rest on and watch out. In the Three kingdoms Period, Lusu, General of Wu State, trained his soldiers here and then rebuilt it as a tower to review his troops. The Yueyang Tower has its special architectural features. The main tower is about 21 meters high with flying eave, helmet roof and wood construction, the helmet-roof of such a large dimension is rarity among the ancient architectures in China.

This tower was made famous by numerous Chinese poets who visited and wrote poetries about the tower and the Dongting 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.
Standing on the tower, one can gaze at the distant view of the mists and ripples of the Dongting Lake, with boats sailing on the vast lake. 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."