Zhiyu Tower. [Photo provided to nantong.gov.cn]

Ancient cities usually have ancient towers and Nantong has three ancient towers.

Nearly 35-meter Zhiyun Tower is the highest architecture on Langshan Mountain, one of the eight renowned Buddhist mountains in China. Built in the Song Dynasty (960-1279), Zhiyun Tower forms the central axis of Nantong with Bell Tower, Watchtower, and Changqiao Bridge.

The tower has four stories. The first story is Ksitigarbha's Hall while the three other stories have one door on their three sides and a niche for a statue of the Buddha.

Guangxiao Tower. [Photo provided to nantong.gov.cn]

Guangxiao Tower, the oldest tower in Nantong, is located in the downtown area. Built in the Tang Dynasty (618-907), Guangxiao Tower is 30 meters in height and has an ancient tablet under the tower with words saying that Guangxiao Tower was built before the establishment of Nantong city and the city is built based on the tower.

Wenfeng Tower. [Photo provided to nantong.gov.cn]

Wenfeng Tower was built in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) in hopes of helping boost the cultural development in ancient Nantong. Since then, many renowned literati, including Zhang Jian who won took top place in annual national-level recruitment exams for officials, in China have come from the city.

Wenfeng Tower is 39 meters in height and has five stories with each having one door and two windows.