bell tower

bell tower

Xi'an bell tower is located in the center of Xi'an, the intersection of four streets in the Ming city wall. It is the largest and most complete bell tower in China. It was built in the 17th year of Hongwu (1384) of emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty. It was first built at the entrance of Guangji street. It is opposite to the drum tower. It was moved in the 10th year of Wanli (1582) of emperor Shenzong of the Ming Dynasty.

The bell tower is built on a square base. It is a brick and wood structure with three eaves and four corners. It is 36 meters high and covers an area of 1377 square meters.

On August 6, 1956, the people's Committee of Shaanxi Province announced the bell tower as a provincial cultural relic protection unit. On November 20, 1996, Xi'an bell tower was announced by the State Council as a national key cultural relic protection unit.

Historical evolution

Xi'an bell tower was built in 1384, the 17th year of Hongwu in Ming Dynasty. It was originally located at the entrance of Guangji street, now the West Street, facing the drum tower. In the past, there was a big bell hanging upstairs, which was used to call the police and tell the time, so it was called "bell tower".

After the Ming Dynasty established the capital of Nanjing, there was another discussion about moving the capital. A minister, Zhang Yuanzhang, moved his capital to Xi'an. Zhu Yuanzhang once sent Prince Zhu Biao to Xi'an to investigate the site, select the Palace site, and draw a map of Shaanxi. After returning to Nanjing from Shaanxi, Prince Zhu Biao presented the map of Shaanxi to his father, Zhu Yuanzhang, and introduced the geographical advantages of Xi'an in detail. He thought that "the world is not like Guanzhong, and the mountains and rivers in the world are only close to qindi". He proposed to move the capital to Xi'an

. But soon the prince Zhu Biao died young. At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang was old. The old man who lost his son in his old age was exhausted and the matter of moving the capital was not over. However, the bell tower in Xi'an had been built according to the royal building level.

After the clock tower was built in 198, it experienced an overall relocation. This eastward movement is related to the eastward expansion of Xi'an's urban development. On the west wall of the second floor of the bell tower, there is a tablet embedded with the song of eastward movement of the bell tower, which describes the overall migration process of this huge building.

When the bell tower was first built, it was located in Yingyang view at the entrance of Guangji street to the north of West Street, opposite the north and south city gates, which is the center of the city. This position is on the central axis of Chang'an City in Tang Dynasty, and it is also the center of Chang'an City in Five Dynasties, Song Dynasty and Yuan Dynasty.

In the following 200 years, Xi'an city continued to expand. On the basis of the original, it expanded nearly a quarter of the area to the East and north respectively. With the eastward movement of the city center and the reconstruction of the city gate, the new four streets of East, South, West and North were formed, and the bell tower at yingxiangguan increasingly deviated from the city center. In the 10th year of Wanli reign of emperor Shenzong of the Ming Dynasty (1582), Gong Maoxian, the governor, presided over the relocation of the clock tower to the central location of Xi'an. It became an axis building connecting the East and the west, echoing the north and the south.

In 1699, 1740 and 1840, the bell tower was renovated on a large scale.

During the revolution of 1911, the rebel army had a fierce battle with the Qing army in the bell tower. During the national defense movement, Chen Shufan, the governor of Shaanxi Province, started a riot against Yuan Shikai from the bell tower. In 1927, Shilin, who came back from studying in the United States, opened the sound cinema in the bell tower, which was the first cinema in the history of Xi'an. During the Anti Japanese War, the bell tower became a warning station for Japanese air strikes because of its high terrain. The KMT also used the four side openings of the clock tower to imprison torture revolutionaries and progressives. Troops were stationed upstairs, and the bronze leaves on the gilded top were uncovered and sold, causing damage to the building.

Structural form

The clock tower is mainly of brick and wood structure, built on a square base made of green brick and white ash. The building is of wooden structure, with three rooms deep and three rooms wide.

The total height from the ground to the top of the building is 36 meters, which is composed of the base, the body and the top of the building. The square base of the lower masonry structure is 8.6 meters high, each side is 35.5 meters long, covering an area of about 1377.4 square meters. There are stairs that can spiral up. Above the base is a two-story wooden structure building, which is composed of cylindrical corridors and overlapping cornices, with a height of 27 meters. From the step to the platform of the base, you can enter the hall on the first floor. There are doors on all sides of the hall, platforms around it, checkered caisson on the top, wooden lattice windows on all sides of the second floor, and the door is connected with the veranda.

The construction technology of the bell tower applies the architectural rules of Tang and Song Dynasties, and also has the innovation of Ming Dynasty architectural technology. The overall style of the bell tower is typical of Ming Dynasty double eaves and three drops of water. The building is divided into two floors. The lower floor has a double eaves, and the upper floor has two eaves. The four corners of the roof are covered with blue glazed tiles. Each floor has a Dougong chiseled landscape painting. There are bright pillars, corridors, colored windows and carved door leaves around. In particular, each floor is decorated with Dougong, caisson, wood carving, color painting and other classic and beautiful patterns. It is a grand building with strong national characteristics.

The top of the bell tower is a triple four side structure with a sharp top supported by Dougong. Jinding was originally wrapped in copper and made of wood. After liberation, the people's government replaced it with a thin top made of gold and platinum hammered with real gold

. The eaves are covered with dark green glazed tiles. The building is decorated with gold and painted with carved beams. In the center of the four sides of the base, there are cross shaped ticket holes with a height and width of 6 meters, which are connected with the four streets in the southeast, northwest and North. In the past, it was the channel for the intersection of the four streets. People and vehicles can pass through the ticket holes. With the development of urban construction, the tunnel can not meet the needs of traffic flow. A highway turntable is set up around the ring building. The clock tower radiates four main streets in the East, West, South and North, which are connected with the East, West, South and north gates of the Ming City Wall. Underground, there is a special circular passage for pedestrians.

The design structure of the bell tower reflects the great wisdom of the ancient Chinese people. The external double eaves with three drops of water and a sharp top not only increases the beauty of the building shape, but also eases the impact of the rain on the building when it falls along the eaves. The bucket arch at the end of the beam skillfully uses the mechanical principle to form a uniform load. The top of the building with four sharp corners is built with four vertical ridges according to the diagonal line. From the eaves angle to the top of the building, the score gradually increases, making the golden roof steady and solemn. The glazed tiles on the upper floor are connected with tubular tiles and fixed with copper tiles, which makes the building more stable and solid.

Throughout the Ming Dynasty, Xi'an Bell Tower's architectural form and level were even higher than that of Nanjing. In the imperial society, all the buildings must follow the strict hierarchy system. The double eaves of the bell tower in Xi'an is the same as the Zhonghe palace in the National Palace Museum. The Hexi painting of dragon and phoenix is also only used in the royal buildings.

Cultural relics

Jingyunzhong

Since it is called "bell tower", the "bell" on it must be mentioned.

The big bell hanging in the northwest corner of the clock tower no longer has the function of telling the time, but it will still be sounded every new year and festival to pray for peace. At the beginning of the bell tower, it was not this big bell, but a big bell named "Jingyun bell" cast in the Tang Dynasty.

Jingyun bell was cast in 711, the second year of Jingyun in Tang Dynasty. Li Dan, Emperor Ruizong of Tang Dynasty, personally wrote an inscription for it. The bell is 2 meters high, 1.5 meters in diameter and weighs 10000 Jin. The crane flies and the bell sounds for tens of miles. It has been used by the royal road Dragon View (later renamed Yingxiang view) at the entrance of Guangji street in West Street. The Central People's broadcasting station once recorded jingyunzhong, and the CCTV Spring Festival Gala is broadcast every new year's Eve as the "New Year's bell" to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new, which has been used all the time. In 2000, jingyunzhong also appeared on Chinese stamps, known as "the first clock in the world".

During the an Shi rebellion, Yingxiang temple and bell tower were reduced to ashes, and Jingyun bell was abandoned. When the bell tower of Ming Dynasty was rebuilt on the original site, Jingyun bell was also released again. When the bell tower moved eastward, in order to move jingyunzhong to the newly built bell tower, an inclined bridge was built in the west section of the West Street, and the bridge slope was used to transport jingyunzhong to the bell tower. It is said that the place name "qiaozikou" got its name. It's strange that although the style and size of the bell tower have not changed, Jingyun bell can't ring any more. As for the reason why Jingyun bell doesn't ring, some people think that it is "a long time, powerful and spiritual" and they don't want to be moved by the heat; others say that the clock placed indoors is just like "waiting for the urn to shout" and should be moved outside the building. But in any case, it adds another layer of mystery to the history of the bell tower. In the end, Jingyun bell was imitated according to the ratio of 1:1, and an iron bell was made and hung on the clock tower.

In 1996, Xi'an decided to imitate Tang Jingyun bell. The imitated Jingyun clock is similar to the original clock in appearance, with a height of 2.45 meters, a weight of 6.5 tons, an outer diameter of 1.65 meters, and its ornamentation and inscriptions are similar to the original clock. After many efforts, on January 30, 1997, the morning bell and evening drum, which had been silent for hundreds of years, sounded again in the ancient city and is now hanging in the northwest corner of the bell tower.

Jingyunzhong is a national treasure. In 1953, it was moved to Xi'an stele forest museum and displayed in the East Pavilion of ermenli. It is forbidden to go abroad for exhibition. The Ming Dynasty iron bells are collected in the Xi'an Museum where the little wild goose pagoda is located.

inscriptions on a tablet

The west wall of the hall on the first floor of the bell tower in Xi'an is inlaid with three inscriptions.

The first is the inscriptions left by the people's Government of Xi'an city after the renovation of the bell tower in 1953; the second is the monument of "rebuilding the bell tower in Xi'an" written by Zhang Kai, governor of Shaanxi Province, after the five-year overhaul of the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty; and the third is the monument of "song of the bell tower moving eastward" written by Gong Maoxian, the imperial envoy of Shaanxi Province.

Song of the bell tower was written by Gong Maoxian, governor of Shaanxi Province, who built the bell tower when he was dismissed and went to Beijing

Chinese PinYin : Xi An Zhong Lou