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Drum Tower, BeijingSource: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Beijing_drum_tower.JPG
Author: Gisling
The Drum & Bell Towers are relics of medieval Beijing, when such instruments are used to call out time, or to warn of advancing enemy troops.
Today you can find the Drum Tower (Gu Lou), aligned to the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square, rising out from the midsts of the hutong. It is a squat structure built in 1420 during the reign of the Yongle emperor of the Ming Dynasty.
You can climb the steep staircase to the top, to catch a good view of Beijing, and take a good look at the 25 drums installed there. There's one big drum and twenty-four small ones, to indicate the different times of the day. These are not the original drums. Alas, those were destroyed a long time ago, during the Boxer Rebellion.
Beijing Bell Tower
Author: Gisling
The Drum & Bell Towers are relics of medieval Beijing, when such instruments are used to call out time, or to warn of advancing enemy troops.
Today you can find the Drum Tower (Gu Lou), aligned to the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square, rising out from the midsts of the hutong. It is a squat structure built in 1420 during the reign of the Yongle emperor of the Ming Dynasty.
You can climb the steep staircase to the top, to catch a good view of Beijing, and take a good look at the 25 drums installed there. There's one big drum and twenty-four small ones, to indicate the different times of the day. These are not the original drums. Alas, those were destroyed a long time ago, during the Boxer Rebellion.
Beijing Bell TowerSource: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Beijingbelltower1.jpg
Author: Zaptel
A short distance north of the Drum Tower is the Bell Tower (Zhong Lou). This was built in 1745 to replace an order one which burned down. A 42-ton, 15-feet tall bell, cast in 1420, hangs inside. During Chinese New Year, you can pay a fee to strike the bell for good luck.
The Drum and Bell Towers are open daily from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm.
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Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.
While I try my best to provide you information as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors and for outdated information which I am unaware. Nevertheless, I hope that what I have described here will be useful to you.
To get to know me better, do follow me on Facebook!
Author: Zaptel
A short distance north of the Drum Tower is the Bell Tower (Zhong Lou). This was built in 1745 to replace an order one which burned down. A 42-ton, 15-feet tall bell, cast in 1420, hangs inside. During Chinese New Year, you can pay a fee to strike the bell for good luck.
The Drum and Bell Towers are open daily from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm.
How to reach the Drum and Bell Towers of Beijing
The towers are located on the northern end of Tiananmen Wai Dajie, in Dongcheng. Take the subway to the Gulou subway station.
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Looking for information on Penang? Use this Map of Roads in Penang to zoom in on information about Penang, brought to you road by road.About this website
Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.
While I try my best to provide you information as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors and for outdated information which I am unaware. Nevertheless, I hope that what I have described here will be useful to you.
To get to know me better, do follow me on Facebook!
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