Drum and Bell Towers

Part of A Better Guide to Běijīng’s coverage of North, Around the Back Lakes

The Drum and Bell Towers stand next to each other on Běijīng’s main axis and to the north of the Forbidden City, directly in line with its main halls, the Zhèngyáng Mén, and the newly rebuilt Yǒngdìng Mén. For now both towers give excellent views across a labyrinth of hútòng, but mass redevelopment, despite being staved off once, is now again under way and much has been demolished.

Drum Tower 鼓楼

The two towers are quite different in style. The original Drum Tower, now entered from the north side, was built in 1272 as the Orderly Administration Tower and stood in the centre of the Mongol city of Dàdū. When the Míng Yǒnglè emperor remodelled the city in the 15th century, he placed the Imperial Palace at the centre, leaving a portion of the northern side of Yuán-dynasty Dàdū outside his new wall. The original of the modern Drum Tower was built partly from materials taken from the Mongol one; its wooden superstructure is topped by imperial yellow tiles and stands on a brick plinth. It’s a substantial, squat, three-storeyed structure in red with complex roof brackets, its exterior painted with dragons in blue and green. Destroyed and rebuilt on at least five occasions, the tower originally contained 24 drums, the destruction of 23 of which has been blamed on the allied forces in 1900.

It’s a steep climb up to the interior, where one drum remains. The rest is used for ‘exhibitions’, but everything (carved tree roots and assorted souvenirs) is for sale.

Gǔ Lóu, 9am–4.30pm. ¥20. m Gǔlóu Dàjiē (Line 2) exit B and walk south; Shí Chà Hǎi (Line 8). b to 鼓楼: 635. To 鼓楼南: 5, 60, 82, 90车内环, 90车外环, 107电, 124电.

The Bell Tower is immediately adjacent, and while the two buildings are run by different dānwèi (单位, work units), there are occasionally joint ticketing arrangements.

Bell Tower 钟楼

The Bell Tower stands immediately north of the Drum Tower (see above) and has a similar history, although it was reconstructed in stone in 1745, and is also easily distinguished from the Drum Tower by its black tiles. It has a very high crenellated brick plinth with a marble walkway, and then a paler brick pavilion with a plain two-tiered green and gold roof. The bell, a 42-ton bronze monster, was cast sometime between 1403 and 1424, and it and the drums were sounded together to mark the changes of the morning and evening watches. Time was kept using a clepsydra (water clock). Legend has it that the foundry, after several unsuccessful attempts to make a perfect casting, was facing the emperor’s possibly lethal displeasure. At the next attempt the daughter of the foundry’s head threw herself into the molten bronze, hoping to placate whatever force was interfering and thus to save her father. A servant tried to save her but was left holding merely a shoe. A perfect cast was made, but when the bell was struck it was said that in the reverberations could be heard a cry of ‘Xié!’ (鞋), the Mandarin word for ‘shoe’. This is a popular story, however, and is sometimes told of the slightly larger bell at the Great Bell Temple, and also of bells in other parts of China.

The time-keeping functions of the two towers were abolished in 1924, and during the Republic the Nationalist Party established a propaganda office in the Drum Tower, while the Bell Tower became an unlikely cinema.

▶ Zhōng Lóu, t 8403 6706, 9am–4.40pm. ¥15. m and b as for Drum Tower.

There are excellent views across Běijīng from both towers, and you can take your bearings before setting off towards the Back Lakes (Shí Chà Hǎi or Hòu Hǎi). As can be seen from the balcony, any surviving westwards hútòng leads there. Long-resisted but massive redevelopment began in the hútòng here in 2014.

Next in North, Around the Back Lakes: Déshèng Mén Arrow Tower
Previously: East Bank of the Hòu Hǎi
Main Index of A Better Guide to Beijing.

For discussion of China travel, see The Oriental-List.