The History of Beijing Drum Tower

The Drum Tower is 46.7 meters high and is located on a brick abutment with a height of 4 meters, covering an area of about 7,000 square meters. The floor is five rooms wide. It is shaped like a roof with three double eaves. It is located on the top of the mountain, with gray tiles and green glass edges. From the appearance, it is a two-story building. In fact, there is a hidden floor above two floors. The bottom floor of the Drum Tower is a masonry structure, with three doors at the front and rear, one door at the left and right, and a side door at the northeast corner. 69 stone steps can pass up and down. Above the second floor, there is a wooden structure, surrounded by cloisters, with sentries and railings on the outside.

In the history of Drum Tower, three buildings were destroyed and four were built. Founded in the 9th year of Yuan Dynasty (1272), it was named Qizheng Building, which took the meaning of Jin Mu's fire, water, earth, sun and moon, and was later destroyed by fire. It was rebuilt in the first year of Dade (1297) and was later destroyed by fire. In the 18th year of Yongle in Ming Dynasty (1420), it was rebuilt for the second time and was soon destroyed by lightning. The third reconstruction in the 18th year of Jiajing (1539) has finally been preserved to this day, and it was only in the 5th year of Jiaqing (1800) and the 20th year of Guangxu (1894) that partial repairs were carried out.

The inside of the drum tower is covered with colorful paintings, resplendent and magnificent. The copper pot dripping water on the second floor and the idol of the Song Dynasty were originally used to tell the time, but they were lost in the early Qing Dynasty. Since the Qing Dynasty, it has changed from time to time, and the main drum 1 and the group drum have been set to tell the time 24 hours, symbolizing the 24 solar terms in a year. At present, there is only one main drum, with a diameter of 1.7 1m and a height of 2.22 m. The drum surface is full of cowhide and covered with many knife marks, which was cut by Eight-Nation Alliance. 1924, the Drum Tower was renamed "Ming Shame Building" to display pictures, objects and models of Eight-Nation Alliance.

The front of the Drum Tower was an important business district in Beijing in Yuan Dynasty. According to the stipulation of the ancient capital "Zuo Zu You She, Qian Chao Hou Ye", the Drum Tower is behind the imperial city, and there are many powerful houses nearby, while the nearby Jishuitan and Shichahai are also places where merchants gather, thus promoting the commercial development in front of the Drum Tower. It was not until the rise of commercial streets such as Wangfujing and Xidan that they gradually declined. After 1949, Gulou Commercial Street flourished again. While retaining its old name, it has opened many new shops, restaurants and snack bars, becoming one of the commercial centers in northern Beijing.