Characteristics of Bell Tower in Beijing Bell and Drum Tower

In ancient times, drums were played in the Drum Tower and bells were rung in the Bell Tower, which was very regular. The ancients divided the night into five classes, each with an hour, which is two hours in modern times. There is no evidence to find out how to look at time in Yuan and Ming Dynasties. In the Qing dynasty, the original method of telling the time was to light the watch regularly, and then ring the bell, and the second to fourth watches only rang the bell without ringing it. After the dragon was dried, it was changed to only two night shifts. Every night in the night shift (i.e. the first shift, 19 -2 1 2) and the bright shift (i.e. the fifth shift, 3 -5), the drums are played first and then the bell is rung. When the bell rings, the city gate closes and the traffic is interrupted, which is called "clean street"; At dawn, the bell rings and the city gate opens, which is called "morning bell and evening drum". The method of beating drums and bells is the same, commonly known as "eighteen tight, eighteen slow, eighteen neither too tight nor too slow." So twice, *** 108. " The ancients used the sound of 108 to indicate a year with 12 months, twenty-four solar terms and seventy-two periods (the ancients called five days as one period, six periods as one month, and seventy-two periods a year), and these figures add up to 108.

When the ancient copperplate prints were timed, the drummer beat the drum to set the watch after hearing the cymbals, and the bell tower rang the bell to tell the time after hearing the drums. This set of scientific procedures for copper engraving, changing drums and striking copper bells systematically provides an important time reference for civil and military officials to go to court and the people's life and work. In the Qing Dynasty, the timepieces were changed to incense, and the strictly customized incense was spiral and burned evenly. A small ball is hung on an accurately calculated scale and connected to a metal plate. When the incense burns to the scale and the ball falls into the plate, remind the drummer to beat the drum.