Canton Tower (Chinese: 广州塔),[11] formerly known as Guangzhou TV Astronomical and Sightseeing Tower (Chinese: 广州电视台天文及观光塔) and also known as Guangzhou Tower (Chinese: 广州塔),[10] is a 600-metre (1,969 ft) tall multi-purpose observation tower in the Haizhu District of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton or Kwangchow), Guangdong, China.[12][13] The tower was topped out in 2009 and it became operational on 29 September 2010 for the 2010 Asian Games.[14] The tower briefly held the title of tallest tower in the world, replacing the CN Tower, before being surpassed by the Tokyo Skytree in 2011.[15] It was the tallest structure in China prior to the topping out of Shanghai Tower on 3 August 2013. It is now the fifth-tallest freestanding structure in the world.