Hangzhou is a city with a long history, as one of the ancient capitals of the Seven Dynasties, Hangzhou has a deep historical allusion. Some people will say that Hangzhou, as an ancient city, why there is no ancient city wall, the existence of the ancient city gate. In fact, before the Southern Song Dynasty, Hangzhou had thirteen dry gates and five water gates, and since the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, Hangzhou City has been fixed as ten city gates. But as the city grew, the city walls, which once played a vital role, were submerged.
At the starting point southeast of the Qinghefang Historic District is a drum tower, which dates back to the Five Dynasties period, when social unrest and wars often broke out. In order to protect the people in the city, Qian Miao built ten city gates, one of which is the current drum tower, which was called "Chaotian Gate" at that time.
In the history of nearly a thousand years, this drum tower has been destroyed many times due to wars, fires, man-made disasters and other reasons, but it has been rebuilt. The name changed with the changes of dynasties, the "Chaotianmen" in the Five Dynasties, the Yuan Dynasty changed its name to "Gongbei Lou", and the Ming Dynasty changed to "Laiyuan Lou" and "Zhenhai Lou". During the Ming Zhengde period, placing a large bell on the Zhenhai Tower played the role of a drum tower, so it was renamed "Drum Tower" and is still used today.
In 1556, also during the Ming Jiajing period, the Drum Tower was destroyed by a fire, but then began to be rebuilt. Many people think that the drum tower they see in front of them will be from the Ming Dynasty, but it is not. In 1970, the drum tower, which is more than 400 years old, was demolished by a group of workers, holding iron shovels, iron pickaxes, and pieces of city bricks. The reason is also very funny, the Drum Tower City Gate blocked the route of the bus. More than 30 years later, in order to develop tourism, Hangzhou had to rebuild the drum tower that was originally demolished.
But seeing this new drum tower, many old Hangzhou people are very dissatisfied, because the drum tower has their common memories. At that time, the drum tower was made of stone blocks, and in the summer, the stone walls dripped water, and people walked in the door and the breeze was very cool. The original ancient building style and historical background that looks simple and natural are incomparable and replaced by the new ancient buildings made of bricks now.
Lin Huiyin, an outstanding architect in modern times, once said: What you have removed is the real antiques of history... In the future, sooner or later you will regret it, and then it will be a fake to cover it again. I don't know if Hangzhou now regrets the demolition of the ancient city gate and ancient city wall.