The big bell pavilion in downtown.

White clouds and pale dogs. Inadvertently, I stayed in Nanjing for more than 20 years. However, for me: Nanjing is still a strange city; To Nanjing: I also seem to be a lonely traveler.

My home is here; Home is here; Friends, most of them are here How can you feel this way?

Counting the past, I have an unspeakable alienation from Nanjing. After all, there are people I know, sights I know and things I know. For example, the big bell pavilion.

The big bell pavilion is in the drum tower. Busy streets, high-rise buildings and shuttling vehicles are really an inconspicuous corner in this noisy modern urban landscape painting.

I don't know why it is unique and left such a deep impression on me.

It was 1988, and I was seconded to the Nanjing Federation of Literary and Art Writers. At that time, the Municipal Federation of Literary and Art Circles borrowed a small building in the cadre retreat at No.66 Gaoloumen. Get off at the Drum Tower and walk along a deep alley.

My home is in the outer suburbs, and the traffic is very inconvenient. I go out early and come back late every day. Lunch break is usually the hardest thing to kill. I am a quiet and lazy person myself, and wandering in the street is unbearable for me. Finally, one day, I found the big bell pavilion-a place where I can be accommodated and my soul can rest in peace. Now, when I lift the pen, an indelible memory comes into view clearly and affectionately.

At that time, the Public Pavilion was a small park without charge. Go along Central Road to Gulou Square, and the corner of the road is Gulou Food Department Store, a large food store in Nanjing at that time. I'm going in to buy a loaf of bread. Turn around and cross the street, and you will find the public pavilion park. A long carved blue tile red wall separates the garden from the outside world into two worlds, and the arched moon door is like a big faint eye. Once inside, winding up along the cobblestone path, it is a small and exquisite cloister. There are several stone piers under the porch, which is covered with dense vines and surrounded by unique and beautiful trees. The cloister is winding, lush and antique, just like the back garden of an ancient official family. Outside the gallery is the bell pavilion, with overlapping hexagonal cornices and gray tiles and red columns. It's not high, but it's surrounded by exquisite rocks. It's really exquisite and you can't put it down.

There is nobody here all day, let alone at noon. Often only a few old people sit inside and outside the teahouse, or sit quietly drinking tea, or idle chess pieces. There is no language, at most, the sound of chess pieces falling. I usually just sit quietly on the porch, have a cup of tea and a roll of Song Ci. In the silence, it seems that the flowing water of light drifts into the distance at any time ... Everything in front of me is like Wu Daozi's paintings: green tea, Xiao Xuan window, ancient blue lantern scrolls and exquisite ladies. This kind of pure elegance, even the fatigue that is hard to find in the secular world, has gradually penetrated into the soul. When it is calm, the eyes of "Yulin Ridge" and "Pruning Plums" are accompanied by the sound of swaying branches and leaves in the ear, which often makes people feel trance. I always feel that there is a figure: gentle, elegant, bookish, wearing a gown and fluttering with shoes. This dreamlike feeling often fills my heart with sour sadness and sweetness. When I am upset, I will be alone in a daze on the stone, watching the sky light blue, dark blue, blue and gradually blue. The clouds are dancing like silk, getting thinner and shallower ... the sky is wide and quiet. There are different feelings in emptiness.

Hanging under the pavilion beam, the clock is made of copper casting pottery, with a height of 3.65 meters, a diameter of 2.3 meters and a weight of 23,000 kilograms. It is the largest bronze bell in Nanjing, which was cast on the auspicious day of September in the 21st year of Hongwu in Ming Dynasty (1388). The big bell pavilion and the drum tower form an angle, which is called "morning bell and dusk drum"

Later, when I left the Federation of Literary and Art Circles, I never had a chance to go to Dazhong Pavilion again. It's not that I haven't been there, but I'm a passer-by every time. On the speeding car, I will still take a look at the big bell pavilion covered by tall buildings and look forward to hearing its bell.

Note: According to the data, Dazhong Pavilion is located in the northeast corner of Gulou Square, formerly known as Bell Tower, with double-eaved hexagonal conical roof and grey tile roof, with a height of14.5m.. Hanging under the beam, the clock is exquisite and antique. The big bell pavilion and the Drum Tower form a trumpet, which is called "Morning Bell and Evening Drum". The big bell is a copper runner with a height of 3.65 meters, a caliber of 2.3 meters and a weight of 23,000 kilograms. It is the largest bronze bell in Nanjing, which was cast on the auspicious day of September in the 21st year of Hongwu in Ming Dynasty (1388).