镇海楼

This guide to Zhenhai Tower in Guangzhou opens among the bronze and iron cannon still standing on Yuexiu Hill, cast in the city over more than two centuries to guard the river below. It traces the tower's founding in 1380 under Ming general Zhu Liangzu, built on the belief that whoever held this hilltop held the city, and follows the guns through their upgrades in the 1620s. You'll hear how those cannon fared when British warships arrived during the Opium War of 1840 to 1842, and why the fifth floor now holds relics from that conflict. The tower itself has been torn down or wrecked five times over the centuries.