Residents of the Nanzhao Township, Weishan County in Yunnan Province are lamenting the loss of a major historical site after a fire razed the 600-year-old Gongchen Tower.

The fire broke at 2:49 a.m. and burnt down the ancient city gate tower built in 1390 during the Ming Dynasty. Although the blaze was put out in two hours, it left only a few scorched wooden structure, reports China.org.

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Listed as a major cultural protection site in Yunnan, the tower measures 26 meters long, 15.7 meters wide and 16 meters high.

With the blaze, hundreds of years of history is gone, a resident cried.

According to Tribune.com.pk, Weishan is the first kingdom of the Nanzhao Kingdom and was a major trading center. The Gongchen Tower was the place where the local musicians gathered to practice and played in concert.

Before it burned, the Weishan Nanzha Orchestra performed at the wooden pavilion of the tower on Saturday and Sunday evenings. The tower is also a good place to view the Weishan landscape which reveals 1.5-kilometre long grid of small lanes and the highway running on the west side, parallel to Huaxing Lu to the east.

TagsMing Dynasty, Gongchen Tower