A young woman sacrificing herself to save her father and his fellow artisans is just one of the things that makes a visit to Beijing’s Bell and Drum Towers an interesting cultural experience, while the drum performance is what turned my visit into a Chinese memory to cherish. Though it is not at the top of most people’s lists when visiting Beijing like the Forbidden City, Great Wall, and Temple of Heaven, this adventure is worthy of an hour or two of your time to the Chinese metropolis.
The two towers lie directly north of the Forbidden City on the main axis of Beijing. Like many of the other imperial structures they have been damaged and rebuilt a few times since first construction in the 15th century (though a much earlier drum tower was constructed by Kublai Khan a few centuries earlier in a different location of the city). The towers, like their counterparts in other ancient Chinese cities like Xi’an and Nanjing, were the official time keepers. Drums sounded at dusk to announce the closing of the gates and several times throughout the night. The bell, a massive bronze instrument, was struck in the morning and through the day.
Time keeping officially left the towers in the 1920s by direction of the last emperor. Since then the towers have been used for community centers, store houses, tourist destinations, and strongholds. Since being decommissioned they have been ransacked by foreign armies, burned, and restored. The drums, replicas, are beat a handful of times a day, and the bell is rung once or twice a year for ceremonial purposes like the New Year.
The Bell Tower
Beijing’s Bell Tower is a lovely grey brick building that doesn’t fall into the standard imperial architecture of the Ming and Qing dynasties. This makes a nice change from most of the rest of the city’s ancient buildings. The tall building is approached by four sloping courts.
It houses a single bell, the largest in China, cast in bronze. I would love to hear it, but I would not love to be in the building when it is struck. To see the magnificent bell and look out over Beijing from the tower, one must ascend a very steep and high staircase. It is very worth it.
This bell is legendary not just because of its size. It is because of its size though that the most notable legend surrounding it exists. The artisans making the bell for the emperor had tried a few times to get the fire hot enough to create something so large but had failed each time. The emperor was getting restless. The metalworkers knew it would mean their lives if they did not succeed on the next attempt and things were looking doubtful as the process went ahead.
That is when the daughter of the head craftsman decided to take matters into her own hands. She knew what would happen if the bell failed once again, so she threw herself into the fire hoping it would bring the heat up high enough. Her father tried to pull her out but only got her slipper. The sacrifice worked and brought up the temperature enough to complete the process.
The emperor was so taken with her sacrifice for the life of the artisans that he made her a goddess and erected a temple to her memory near the little community of metal workers.
The Drum Tower
Directly to the south of the Bell Tower sits a more typical Ming/Qing building like you’ll find at the Forbidden City and Summer Palace. The red tower is very similar in layout to the bell tower with the ramping approaches and steep stairs to get to the instrument chamber. In the main hall upstairs is where the drums are found. All but one are replicas. The one original is severely damaged from foreign invaders in the early 20th century.
Also upstairs is an exhibit about time-keeping in ancient China. Methods are shown such as different incense burning cabinets or methods and a water drop system. These each helped tell time according to the ancient imperial measurements and seasons and were used in drum and bell towers around the country by time keepers.
The views are also wonderful from this level of the drum tower. Anciently, these two towers would have been some of the tallest buildings in the city. Today, they are still two of the tallest structures within the second ring road, so the views are still impressive. You can look down on the hutongs around it, look out to the tall buildings around the city, and look south to Jingshan Park and Beihai Park.
Throughout the day, short performances are given in the drum tower. I caught the one just after their lunch break at 1:30. A small ensemble dresses in costume and beats the drums. This sounds less exciting than it is, but let me tell you it is amazing. I got a little emotional watching the performance. My whole being resonated with the drums in that spacious hall. I highly recommend being there for one of the performances.
Both towers are easy to access by subway with two stops being very close. You can get a single ticket for one tower or do a through ticket for both. After your visit to the towers, take a short walk over to Nanlouguxiang for a bite to eat or some fun shopping. I’ll share more about that in another post. For now, remember, adventure is out there, so go have one!
