Canton Tower (Chinese: 广州塔), 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), 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. The tower was topped out in 2009 and it became operational on 29 September 2010 for the 2010 Asian Games. The tower briefly held the title of tallest tower in the world, replacing the CN Tower, before being surpassed by the Tokyo Skytree.