The
Bell Tower in Xi'an is situated in the very heart of the city and
at the junction of four main roads. The original city Bell Tower was
situated to the west of this site and the present construction was
built in 1582 and restored in 1739. It
has gained its name from the function it used to perform, to tell
the time in the morning. Ever since its establishment, the tower has
become the symbol of Xi'an.
The
Bell Tower is a square-shaped construction with the height of the
36 meters, built on the 8-meter-high blue brick base with for corridors
connected together. It occupies and area of 1,377 square meters.Three
storeys of eaves are seen from the exterior of the buildings. The
interior of the building is only two storeys. Colorful dougong --
a unique Chinese architecture of brackets inserted on the top of columns
and crossbeams strengthen the building and enhance the artistic. The
whole tower is a wooden structure with mortise and tenon jointed without
a single iron nail. All this makes the tower look magnificent and
grand.
There
is a huge bell hanging on the roof of the tower which was traditionally
used to tell the time by and there are other, smaller bells on exhibit
in the tower too. The
Bell Tower was then used for telling time, and the bell was stricken
for 70 times each day. The sound of striking reached far and wide.
A
legend about the Bell tower has it that first
emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, was born into a poor family.
He had to work as a shepherd, herding sheep for the rich landowners.
When he ascended the throne, he was afraid of being deposed by someone
of "real dragon" (i.e. royal descent). he ordered bell towers
to be built all over the country to repress the "dragon spirits".
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The
Bell Tower in Xi'an is situated in the very heart of the city and
at the junction of four main roads. The original city Bell Tower was
situated to the west of this site and the present construction was
built in 1582 and restored in 1739. It
has gained its name from the function it used to perform, to tell
the time in the morning. Ever since its establishment, the tower has
become the symbol of Xi'an.