Beijing's Top Sights - Beijing - page 178

» Gulou Dongdajie
» admission ¥20, combined Bell Tower ticket ¥30

» 9am-5pm, last tickets 4.40pm

» 5, 58 or 107

Originally built in 1272, the Drum Tower was once the heart of the Mongol capital of
Dàdū, as Běijīng was then known. That structure was destroyed in a fire before a replace-
ment was built, slightly to the east of the original location, in 1420. The current structure
is a later Qing-dynasty version of that 1420 tower.

You can climb the incredibly steep inner staircase for views of the grey-tiled rooftops in
the surrounding hútòng alleys. Arguably the best view of the Drum Tower is from the top
of the Bell Tower. Annoyingly, though, the view isn't reciprocated because visitors aren't
allowed to walk round to the north-facing side of the Drum Tower's viewing balcony.

It's still well worth climbing the tower, though, especially if you can time it to coincide
with one of the regular drumming performances, which are played out on reproductions of
the 25 Ming-dynasty watch drums that used to sound out across this part of the city. One
of the original 25 drums - the Night Watchman's Drum ( gēnggǔ) - is on display; now
dusty, battered and worn. Also on display is a replica of a Song-dynasty water clock,
which was never actually used in the tower, but is interesting nonetheless.

The times of the drumming performances, which only last for a couple of minutes, are
posted by the ticket office. At the time of research they were as follows: 9.30am, 10.30am,
11.30am, 1.30pm, 2.30pm, 3.30pm and 4.45pm.