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Bell and Drum Tower of Beijing

Index | Architecture | Function | Legend

The Drum and Bell towers of Beijing are situated at the northern end of the central axis of the Inner City to the north of Di’ anmen Street.

Although the Bell and Drum Towers have lost their function of telling time (The function was completely lost in 1924 when the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty was forced to leave the Forbidden City), you can still hear the rings of these ancient timepieces even now.

History
The Drum Tower was built in 1272 during the reign of Kublai Khan, at which time it stood at the very heart of the Yuan capital Dadu. At that time it was known as the Tower of Orderly Administration (Qizhenglou).
In 1420, under the Ming Emperor Yongle, the building was reconstructed to the east of the original site and in 1800 under the Qing Emperor Jiaqing, large-scale renovations were carried out. In 1924, the name of the building was changed to the Tower of Realizing Shamefulness (Mingchilou) and objects related to the Eight-Power Allied Forces’ invasion of Beijing and later the May 30th Massacre of 1925 were put on display. Nowadays, the upper story of the building serves as the People’s Cultural Hall of the East City District.
In the 1980's, after much repair, Bell and Drum Towers were opened to tourists.

Function
Bells and drums were musical instruments in ancient China. Later they were used to tell time and became watches for the officials and common people as well. Bell and Drum towers was time telling center during the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. More ...

Architecture
Drum tower is a two-story building. The two-story structure of Drum Tower was made of wood with a height of 47 meters. In ancient times the upper story of the building housed 24 drums, of which only one survives. Close behind the Drum Tower stands the Bell Tower, a 33-meter-high edifice with gray walls and a green glazed roof. More ...

Legend
According to legend, an official named Deng tried unsuccessfully for over a year to cast the bell. More ...

Entry ticket: 6 RMB;
Address: Gulou Xidajie, Dongcheng District