The Bell and Drum Tower stood tall, constantly greeting the next moment
Next day, next month, next year, next generation"
——Liu Xinwu
From the city of Beijing through the north and south, stringing up the inner and outer city gates and the Forbidden City, stringing up the Zuozu Right Society and the Altar Temple, the central axis of Beijing extends north from the Yongding Gate, experiencing the magnificent ancient building complex such as the Forbidden City, which is bound in the north of the city.
Along this central axis of Beijing, the northernmost point of beijing in the Ming and Qing dynasties is the bell tower and drum tower of Beijing.
Beijing Bell and Drum Towers next to each other Picture source: Photo Network
For a hundred years, the order of time was born.
The so-called "morning bell and twilight drum", the roar of the capital city between morning and dusk, regulates the work and rest of the people living in the city. Civil and military officials went to the dynasty, and people lived and lived, and they all took this as the law.
Beijing Bell and Drum Tower is located at the northern end of Beijing's central axis Photo: Yu Han
In addition to chimes, bells and drum towers often mark the center of the city. The bell tower in Xi'an is located at the intersection of the four avenues in the southeast, southwest, and northwest of the city, and anyone who passes by must pay attention to it.
The bell tower of Xi'an, standing in the center of the city Photo: Yu Han
On the farther frontier, the Bell and Drum Towers are transformed into "Towers". Soldiers patrolled here to watch the drumming and summons, and even guarded the tranquility of the border plug.
Zhenshuo Lou, Xuanhua, Zhangjiakou Photo: Yu Han
Every bell and drum tower is a watchman in time. They are a symbol of imperial power and a standard in the capital. They bear witness to the exploits of the ancient capital and share the glory of the prosperous world.
The ancient city of Shuozhou restored the drum tower, still in the center of the city to calibrate the location Photo: Yu Han
They are witnesses to this land, where history is folded and condensed, brick by brick, faithfully recording the scratches of time.
Today, there are still a large number of bell and drum towers remaining throughout the country. Most of them were formed in the Ming and Qing dynasties, and have become indispensable landmarks of the city through the repair and reconstruction of later generations.
We have selected a "List of China's Bell and Drum Towers", so please follow in Xiaoyi's footsteps to visit these former ancient capital centers.
01/Beijing Bell and Drum Tower
Opening hours: 09:30-17:30 (04/26-10/25 Monday-Sunday), 09:30-16:30 (October 26 -04/25 Monday-Sunday)
Tickets: Gulou single ticket 20 yuan / person; joint ticket 30 yuan / person
Beijing Bell and Drum Tower, located on the north-south axis of Beijing, two ancient towers facing each other.
Bell tower and drum tower on the central axis Photo: Gao Qiang
The Beijing Bell and Drum Tower was built in the ninth year of the Yuan Dynasty (that is, 1272 AD), and has encountered many fires and destroyed many times in history. The drum tower we see now was rebuilt in the Ming Dynasty, while the bell tower was rebuilt in the Qing Dynasty. These two towers are not only one of the landmark buildings of the ancient capital of Beijing, but also the largest and highest shape of the bell and drum tower in the history of the city's bell and drum tower.
The courtyard in the city overlooks the Bell and Drum Tower in Beijing Photo: Gao Qian
02/Tianjin Drum Tower
Opening hours: April 1 - October 25 08:30-22:00, October 26 - March 31 8:30-17:00
Admission: Free
Tianjin Drum Tower is a landmark building in Tianjin City, in the second year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty, Tianjin set up a guard to build a city, but it is only an earthen enclosure and does not have the function of the city. Until the sixth and seventh years of Hongzhi, Tianjin built the Drum Tower, centering on the location of the Drum Tower, expanding the prototype of the entire Tianjin City.
Near the Drum Tower in Tianjin today, it is still the bustling city center Photo: Yu Han
The drum tower is three stories high, and the bottom floor has four arched doorways, connecting the four avenues of east, west, south and north.
03/Baoding Bell Tower
Opening hours: 09:00-17:00
Tickets: 5 yuan / person
Baoding Bell Tower, also known as Mingshuang Building, Xuande Building, and Ganyun Building, was built during the Ming Xuande period.
This bell tower sits north and faces south, and the architectural pattern imitates the form of Liaojin: one large room on the ground floor, three rooms wide, three deep rooms, and a heavy eaves on the top of the mountain.
Baoding Bell Tower was included in the seventh batch of national key cultural relics protection units Photo: Yu Han
On the second floor hangs a large bell cast in the twenty-first year of Jin Dading (1181), and the Baoding Bell Tower was included in the seventh batch of national key cultural relics protection units.
04/Datong Drum Tower
Datong Drum Tower, built in the seventh to eighth years of Tianshun in the Ming Dynasty (1463-1464), was repeatedly repaired in the Qing Dynasty.
Datong Drum Tower and South City Gate Photo: Yu Han
This is a three-storey eaves, cross-stop hill top structure of the typical Ming Dynasty pavilion-style building, two or three floors of pavilion and full of doors and windows, around the cloister, peripheral railing, can be used to ascend to the far horizon.
A large drum is placed on the top floor. In ancient times, the sound of the twilight drum here could shock the ancient city and beyond, so that the suburbs were four townships.
05/DaiXian Bianjing Building
Opening hours: 08:00-17:30 (January 1 - December 31 Monday - Sunday)
Tickets: 20 yuan / person
Daixian Bianjing Building, commonly known as drum tower. Its appearance is majestic and simple, the foundation of the building is high, the beams are exquisite, the structure is strict, and it has been intact after hundreds of years of wind and rain erosion and many earthquakes.
DaiXian Bianjing Building, a landmark building in the center of Daixian County Photo: Yu Han
It was originally built in the seventh year of Ming Hongwu (1374), burned in the seventh year of Ming Chenghua (1471 AD), rebuilt in the twelfth year of Chenghua (1476), and repaired during the years of Qing Kangxi, Yongzheng, Jiaqing and Daoguang.
In 1985, it was listed as a key cultural relics protection unit in Shanxi Province.
06/DaiXian Bell Tower
Opening hours: Open all day
Daixian Bell Tower, the fourth batch of cultural relics protection units in Shanxi Province, is a brick and wood pavilion-style building built in the Ming Dynasty.
Daixian Bell Tower Not far from the Bianjing Tower, the two floors reflect each other in the city Photo: Yu Han
At present, the entire bell tower is five rooms wide, four rafters deep, and there is a stairway on the west side of the building. Inside the building, there is 1 iron bell of the 28th year of Jin Dading (1188) and 1 passage of the Qing Maintenance Monument.
According to the "BianjingLou Record", the Bell Tower of Daixian County was built "for the vigilance of soldiers and civilians". At the beginning of the completion of this building, "the bird leather flew away, the brilliance was dazzling, and the foot was reflected first after the city tower and the drum tower".
07/Yulin Bell Tower
Compared with other bell towers, Yulin Bell Tower is a building rich in Chinese and Western characteristics.
Yulin Bell Tower Photo: Weibo @ Ou Nan
The Yulin Bell Tower, which is currently seen, was built in 1921, and there are four water-milled green brick columns on the north and south sides of the bell tower, and the four sides are matched with European-style doors and windows. The roof was changed back to the Chinese style, and an octagonal wooden pavilion was used to hang a large bronze bell that chimes the time.
Located in the center of the ancient city of Yulin, this bell tower was one of the landmark buildings of Yulin City during the Republic of China because of its wide alleys and straight alleys, and because of its mixed with Western elements.
08/Xi'an Bell and Drum Tower
Opening hours: 08:00-21:30
Tickets: Adult ticket 30 yuan / person; student ticket or child ticket 15 yuan / person
Xi'an Bell and Drum Tower is located in the center of Xi'an City, the intersection of the four avenues of east, west, south and north within the Ming City Wall, which is not only the symbol of the ancient capital of Xi'an, but also one of the largest and best preserved buildings among the many bell and drum towers left over from ancient China.
Xi'an Bell Tower Photo: Yu Han
Xi'an Bell and Drum Towers were built in the Ming Dynasty, and the order of their construction was first the Drum Tower (Hongwu Thirteenth Year) and then the Bell Tower (Hongwu Seventeenth Year).
Both buildings are extremely exquisite, and the drum tower is built on a rectangular base and is a brick and wood structure. The eaves are covered with gray glazed tiles, and the entire building is painted with gold and carved beams.
Xi'an Drum Tower Photo: Yu Han
The opposite bell tower is even more beautiful, and the bell tower is divided into two floors.
Xi'an Bell Tower Photography: Yu Han
The lower floor is a heavy eaves, the upper floor has two eaves, the four corners are covered with turquoise glazed tiles, and each floor is painted with bucket arches, surrounded by pillared cloisters, colorful windows and carved door panels. Each floor is decorated with classical and beautiful patterns such as bucket arches, moi wells, woodcuts, and painted paintings, and is a magnificent building with strong national characteristics.
In 1996, the Xi'an Bell and Drum Tower was listed as a national key cultural relics protection unit.
09/Yinchuan Drum Tower
Opening hours:09:00-18:00 (January 1 - December 31 Monday - Sunday)
Yinchuan Drum Tower was built in the first year of the Qing Dynasty (1821) and is an ancient building in the style of Qing Dynasty architecture.
This drum tower is composed of three parts: the base, the pavilion and the corner square, and like other drum towers, the foundation is under the bottom, and the middle cross is connected to the street in all directions.
The roof of the Yinchuan Drum Tower is very distinctive Photo: The wind is somber
The pavilion is in the middle, surrounded by a circular corridor on all sides, which can be climbed on the pavilion and overlooked by the railing. The top is decorated with a dragon's head, and the middle is placed with beads, showing the trend of two dragons playing with beads.
The whole drum tower has a cornice flying ridge and is towering and beautiful, which is not only one of the landmark buildings of Yinchuan City, but also a key cultural relics protection unit in Ningxia and Yinchuan City.
10/ Jiuquan Drum Tower
Opening hours: 08:30-18:00 all year round (last admission 17:30)
Jiuquan Drum Tower, located in the middle of Jiuquan City, Gansu Province, was built in the second year of Emperor Mu Yonghe of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (346), and was originally only the eastern gate of Jiuquan City at that time.
Jiuquan Drum Tower Image source: Photo Network
In the 28th year of Ming Hongwu (1395), the Ming government expanded the city wall, leaving the original East City Gate in the center of the city and passing through the four main streets; the upper part rebuilt the wooden building with a large drum, and the garrison was stationed to fight and transformed into a drum tower, which echoed the JiayuGuan at the western end of the Great Wall.
After the drum tower was built, it gradually evolved into the center of Suzhou City, and was later destroyed by fire. The existing Jiuquan Drum Tower was rebuilt in the 31st year of Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty (1905).
11/ Zhangye Town Yuanlou
Zhangye Town Yuanlou, also known as Jingyuan Lou, is the largest existing drum tower in the Hexi Corridor.
Built in the second year of Ming Zhengde (1507), this drum tower is a three-story wooden tower with cornices and angles, carved beams and paintings, and a delicate structure and majestic. The base has a "ten" character cave leading to the east, west, south and north and the four avenues, and there are plaques hanging on the four sides of the upper floor: "Jincheng Spring Rain" in the east, "Yuguan Xiaoyue" in the west, "Qilian Qingxue" in the south, and "Juyan Gumu" in the north.
Night view of Zhangye Drum Tower Image source: Photo Network
In the fourth year of Qing Shunzhi (1647), Mi Layin and Ding Guodong rebelled against the Qing court and burned down this building. In the seventh year of Shunzhi (1650), the Qing government rebuilt this town and far building, and after its completion, it was also suspended on all sides: "Nine Heavy in Sight", "Xianbin of All Nations", "Sound Education Four Da" and "Lake and Mountain Overview".
12/ Yichun Drum Tower
Yichun Drum Tower is special, it is both the center of the chiming and the oldest surviving local observatory in China.
Yichun Drum Tower Photo: Weibo @ Fang Ping Guizi y
At the beginning of its establishment (the second year of the Southern Tang Dynasty, 954), the Yichun Drum Tower was used as a city tower to announce the time, and was part of the Yuan Prefecture Government.
In the twelfth year of Jiading in the Southern Song Dynasty (1219), the then Yuanzhou Zhizhou Tengqiang forgave the "Slightly New Building", and made uranium pots, leaky arrows, shadow watches, water seas, Dingnan needles, more chips, iron plates and other instruments, set up yin and yang rotation, waiting for the preparation of reports, and transformed it into an observatory that integrates measurement time, punctuality and timing.
In 2006, the building was listed as a national key cultural relics protection unit.
13/Nanjing Drum Tower
Opening hours: 08:00-17:00
The Nanjing Drum Tower was built in the fifteenth year of Hongwu (1382) of the Ming Dynasty, and because it was located in the capital, it was originally built on a grand scale and of extremely high specifications.
According to historical records, the bell and drum towers at that time were divided into two floors, the lower floor was arched without beams, and the upper floor was a heavy eaves and four slope roofs. In the bell tower, there were originally two sides of the big drum for chiming and ceremonial guards, twenty-four sides of the small drum, one side of the cloud plate, one side of the clock, four tooth sticks, a copper cylinder in the pot room, and other musical instruments.
Nanjing Drum Tower Photo: Yu Han
After the fall of the Ming Dynasty, all the furnishings were lost, and the drum tower collapsed completely, leaving only two sleeping bells half sunk in the earth.
During the Qing Dynasty, the remaining two bells were destroyed. In the fifteenth year of the Qing Dynasty (1889), the envoys of Jiangningbu moved a surviving bell to the current site and allocated funds to build a hexagonal pavilion with iron beams and iron pillars to hang, called "Great Bell Pavilion", which is one of the most famous giant bells in China.
In 2019, Nanjing Drum Tower was listed as a national key cultural relics protection unit.
14/Hangzhou Drum Tower
Opening hours: 09:00-21:00 (January 1 - December 31 Monday - Sunday)
Tickets: 10 yuan / person
Hangzhou Drum Tower was built in the Southern Dynasty during the Five Dynasties period, and was repeatedly destroyed by wars, rebuilt in the 40th year of Ming Jiajing (1561), and demolished during the ten years of turmoil.
Hangzhou Drum Tower Photo: Yu Han
The existing Hangzhou Drum Tower was rebuilt in 2002 in the style of a five-bay, double eaves and mountaintop, and the reconstructed drum tower echoes the City God Pavilion on the west side of Wu Mountain.
15/Ningbo Drum Tower
Ningbo Drum Tower was built in the first year of Tang Changqing (821) and has a history of more than 1,100 years.
Ningbo Drum Tower Image source: Photo Network
At that time, Mingzhou Assassin Shi Hancha moved the prefecture from Xiaoxi Town to Ningbo "Sanjiangkou", built an official building centered on the area from Zhongshan Square to Gulou, and then built a wooden fence as a city, and later built a city wall with large city bricks and stones, historically called Zicheng, and the southern gate of Zicheng is the current Drum Tower.
Therefore, this building is not only a symbol of the official establishment of the state and the establishment of the city in the history of Ningbo, but also the only remaining ruins of the ancient city building in Ningbo.
16/Hikari Tower
Opening hours: 08:30-11:30, 13:00-16:30
Guangyue Lou is one of the top ten famous buildings in China, it is a representative work of the transition from Song and Yuan architecture to Ming and Qing architecture, and occupies an important position in the history of ancient Chinese architecture.
Guangyue Tower in the ancient city center of Liaocheng Photo: Yu Han
In the early days of the Ming Dynasty, the situation in the north was very unstable, and in order to defend against the Restoration of the Mongols, Pingshan Wei commanded Chen Yong to transform the tucheng into a brick city, in order to "see the enemy far away" in order to "be strict and leaky" and look far away. A 100-foot-high bell and drum tower was built from the remnants of the city, and this building was the Guangyue Tower.
Guangyue Building is a four-eaves cross-ridge cross-street pavilion, most of which is still the original object when it was first built, basically maintaining its original appearance, and was listed as a national key cultural relics protection unit in 1988.
17/ Xuanyuan Building, Xuanhua
Xuanhua Qingyuan Tower, known as the "Second Yellow Crane Tower", is a majestic, chic shape and exquisite structure of the tall ancient building.
Qingyuan Building was built in the eighteenth year of Ming Chenghua (1482) on the eight-meter-high Cross Ticket Cave, with Changping in the south, Guangling in the north, Anding in the east, and Daxin in the west. There are ancient bells of the Ming Dynasty in the building, weighing about 10,000 pounds, and the bells are particularly melodious and loud.
Qingyuan Building, Xuanhua, Zhangjiakou Photo: Yu Han
Qingyuan Lou is extremely outstanding in wooden construction techniques, and is the leader in ancient architecture in mainland China, and was listed as a national key cultural relics protection unit in 1996.
18/Fengyang Drum Tower
Tickets: 30 yuan / person
Fengyang Drum Tower, also known as "Mingzhongdu Drum Tower", is the largest drum tower in mainland China, and is the largest in China with its tall and majestic.
Fengyang Drum Tower Photo: Yu Han
Fengyang Drum Tower was built in the eighth year of Ming Hongwu (1375 AD), six miles away from the Bell Tower, the second floor of the Bell and Drum, one west and one east, facing each other in the distance.
According to Fang Zhi, since Fengyang was Zhu Yuanzhang's hometown, the highest rules of the time were used in the construction of the Bell and Drum Tower. When the building was first built, "the eaves of the floor were covered three times, and the building was 100 feet". In 1989, it was listed as a key cultural relics protection unit in Anhui Province.
19/ Xingcheng Bell and Drum Tower
Opening hours: 08:00-16:30
The Xingcheng Bell and Drum Tower was built in the fifth year of Ming Jingtai (1454) by the Governor Jiao Li and has been rebuilt many times since. In the forty-second year of the Qianlong Dynasty (1777 AD), it was rebuilt according to the original site, and the bell and drum were merged into the first floor.
Liaoning Huludao Xingcheng Drum Tower Photo: Yu Han
After many repairs, the original appearance was basically preserved, and there is a giant drum side in the building, with a diameter of 2.25 meters, which is the largest drum in Asia.
20/Luoyang Drum Tower
According to the "Luoyang County Chronicle", the drum tower was built in the Ming Dynasty. After several restorations, it has a history of 350 years.
Jin Ming Luoyang City Drum Tower Photo: Yu Han
It is one of the landmark buildings in the old town of Luoyang, and is currently a municipal cultural relics protection unit in Luoyang.
Today, with the change of technology, time has become a more precise and ruthless scale for us.
When the life of "sunrise and daily inflow and breathing" is replaced by "four o'clock in the morning sunshine"; when the fluorescence of mobile phones replaces the chirping of clocks; when the endless busyness extinguishes the meaning of time. The bell and drum towers that still remain in the middle of the city may be the last souvenir of those distant times.
They may have lost their meaning as time-telling buildings, but they live in the long memory of every ancient Chinese city as a city landmark.
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