High on the west cliff of Shicheng, the ancient stone fortress of Yingzhong, the Han River once washed directly against a sheer limestone foundation. Here, the historical Baiyun Tower overlooked the rushing waters, occupying a site steeped in the memory of the Chu State poet Song Yu and his musical masterpiece, Yangchun Baixue. Over the centuries, local chroniclers frequently conflated this structure with the legendary Baixue Tower, blending their histories into a single, enduring literary landmark.

The physical reality of the tower emerged through generations of hands. During the Song Dynasty, Governor Li Fang cleared the brush-choked ruins of the cliffside and discovered two ancient stones linked to Song Yu. He placed these relics before the tower and built the Wuke Hall directly behind it. In 1368, the first year of the Ming Dynasty's Hongwu era, Prefect Yu Bin rebuilt the local government office on the eastern edge of the ancient Baixue Tower foundation, placing the new Baiyun Tower behind the main administrative hall as a scenic vantage point. Later, Prefect Sun Wenlong restored the ruined Wuke Hall, installing a screen door painted with five symbolic birds: a celestial crane, a dark guest peacock, a western parrot, a snow egret, and a leisure guest silver pheasant. Nearby, the Meng Pavilion housed a celebrated portrait of the Tang poet Meng Haoran, painted by the artist Wang Wei.

Past conflicts and time eventually claimed the wooden pavilions, yet the natural stone cliffs still bear the physical scars of the river's ancient currents. Visitors standing on the remaining stone foundation can trace the erosion marks left by the Han River. This empty cliffside remains a quiet space where the voices of poets like Du Mu and Xu Hun, who once praised these elevated views, still echo in the wind.