Its roof covered with yellow glazed tiles (黄色琉璃瓦) has a smooth curve, precipitous yet warped, just like a general's helmet in ancient China.

Later, Sun Quan of Eastern Wu dispatched Lu Su to lead troops to defend Baqiu (巴丘; today's Yueyang), so as to scramble for Jingzhou with Liu Bei.

Lu Su built Yuejun Tower (阅军楼) on the top of the city wall by Dongting Lake, to train and review the navy.

Under the Yueyang Gate, and by Dongting Lake, was the site of the Call-officers-roll Platform (点将台), where Lu Su reviewed the navy of Eastern Wu at that time.

After the Tang dynasty, it gradually became a famous scenic spot where men of letters chanted poetry and composed fu.

Li Bai, a poet of the Tang dynasty, drank against the wind and wrote: "The water and the sky merge in one color, and the wonders of natural beauty and boundless" (水天一色，风月无边).

[3] The verses "the waters around Dongting Lake are covered by steam, and the rolling waves shock Yueyang city" (气蒸云梦泽，波撼岳阳城) by Meng Haoran and "the vast waters cover an area of 500,000 metres (1,600,000 ft),[4] and layer upon layer of mountains are as tall as 100 floors" (江国逾千里，山城仅百层) by Du Fu in the Tang dynasty, describe this place.

However, it was Fan Zhongyan, an eminent minister of the Northern Song dynasty (960–1127), that really made Yueyang Tower world-famous.

In the fifth year of the Qingli period, namely 1045, Fan Zhongyan was dismissed from his post of assistant administrator (参知政事) and demoted to Deng Prefecture (today's Deng county), Henan, because the reform viewpoint he proposed influenced the interests of the conservative party of the court.

On September 15 that year, Fan Zhongyan wrote down the eternally famous article Memorial to Yueyang Tower.

In 1983, according to the principle of remaining old as before (整旧如旧原则), it was pulled down for overhaul, and the original artistic style and architectural features of the Qing dynasty were kept.

[5] Lü Dongbin Drunk at Yueyang Tower Three Times is a well-known Chinese Taoist tale often depicted in plays, novels, and other forms of art.

The story recounts that Lü Dongbin visited Yueyang Tower and met the willow spirit, who wanted to become a god but was trapped in a wooden body.

Lü Dongbin told the willow spirit to be reborn as a human, promising to return and help him after thirty years.