The Drum Tower

In front of you rises the Drum Tower, Gǔlóu. For centuries Beijing's official time came from here: with no clocks in people's homes, the whole city lived to the rhythm of its beats.

1From Kublai to Yongle

The first tower was built in 1272, in Kublai Khan's capital, and was called the “Tower of Orderly Government”. When the Ming rebuilt the city they raised it again on this spot, around 1420, in line with the axis that runs through the Forbidden City. It is almost 47 metres tall.

2One hundred and eight strikes

Up top there were 25 drums: one large drum and 24 smaller ones, one for each period of the farming calendar. At dusk the drum, and then the bell, sounded 108 strikes between them, in series of eighteen. Beijingers summed it up like this: “eighteen fast, eighteen slow, eighteen neither fast nor slow”. It was the signal to close the city gates. After that, the bell in the neighbouring tower marked each watch of the night.

In 1900, during the occupation of the city, foreign soldiers damaged the drums. One of them survives with its bayonet slashes.

In 1924, after the last emperor was expelled from the palace, the tower stopped telling the time and for a while was renamed the “Tower for Remembering Humiliation”. Since 2001 the drums have been played again, now as a performance.

3What to look for

• The three arches of the brick base.
• The three grey roofs edged in green.
• The square that links it to the Bell Tower, to the north.