Kuixing Tower

Kuixing Tower is the visual symbol of Liaoyuan — a traditional multi-storey Chinese tower that rises above the city centre and appears on virtually every photograph associated with the place. The tower follows the classical wooden-eave style found across northern China, its tiled rooflines stacked in diminishing tiers, and it occupies a commanding position that makes it visible from a considerable distance across the relatively flat urban terrain.

The structure has been restored and rebuilt over the years, as most such towers have, and its current form is a clean reconstruction rather than an original Qing-dynasty survival. That does not diminish its role as a landmark: it serves as the city's reference point and the standard starting place for any walking tour of the centre. The surrounding area has been landscaped as a small civic park, and the tower itself can be climbed for views over the city and the Dongliao River valley.

things to do sight
A story
Kuixing is the star deity of literature in Chinese folk religion — a one-legged figure who stands atop a sea creature, brush in hand, marking the names of successful candidates in the imperial examinations. Towers dedicated to him were common in Qing-era county towns, built to summon scholarly fortune. That Liaoyuan, a coal city best known for its mines, still centres itself on this scholar-deity tower is a quiet irony worth appreciating.