Drum Tower Square

Xi'an Bell and Drum Tower Square is located at the intersection of four streets in the East, West, North and south. On the east side of the square stands the bell tower with a history of more than 600 years, and on the west side stands the largest Drum Tower in China. The bell and Drum Tower Square was built in the late 1990s. At the beginning of its construction, the disordered buildings built between the two floors were demolished, which made the bell tower and the drum tower, which were difficult to meet each other before, become a major landscape in Xi'an. The bell and Drum Tower Square is a comprehensive project of historic preservation and old city renewal. Environmental art design extends to the ancient and modern along the theme of "morning bell and evening drum". It draws on the experience of traditional Chinese space in space processing and combines with the theory of modern urban external space to provide an "urban living room" for the ancient city of Xi'an.

Drum Tower Square

Xi'an Bell and Drum Tower Square is located at the intersection of four streets in the East, West, North and south. On the east side of the square stands the bell tower with a history of more than 600 years, and on the west side stands the largest Drum Tower in China. The bell and Drum Tower Square was built in the late 1990s. At the beginning of its construction, the disordered buildings built between the two floors were demolished, which made the bell tower and the drum tower, which were difficult to meet each other before, become a major landscape in Xi'an. The bell and Drum Tower Square is a comprehensive project of historic preservation and old city renewal. Environmental art design extends to the ancient and modern along the theme of "morning bell and evening drum". It draws on the experience of traditional Chinese space in space processing and combines with the theory of modern urban external space to provide an "urban living room" for the ancient city of Xi'an.

Practical information

Ticket information: Free

Opening hours: all day

Best season: All Seasons

Suggested visit: 2 hours

Traffic information

There are 610 tourist coaches in Xi'an. Starting from the railway station, they pass Beixin street, revolutionary Park, bell tower, Drum Tower, Guangji street, ZhuQueMen, xiaoyanta, Nanshaomen, Daxingshan temple, Shaanxi History Museum, DaYanTa, qinwanggong and other places. The ticket price is between 1 and 2 yuan. They all get off at the main entrance of the scenic spot, which greatly facilitates tourists. In Xi'an bus, the number 1, 2 and 6 is the first bus, which costs 1 yuan; the number 5 and 7 is the first bus, which costs 5 jiao in the first three stops, and 5 jiao every four stops in the future.

Historical evolution

"Zhou Li kaogong Ji" records: "craftsmen run the country, square nine Li, side three doors, nine longitudes and nine latitudes in the middle school, nine tracks in the middle school, zuozu and YouSHE, the former dynasty and the later Dynasty, and the city is a man of one dynasty." This is a clear regulation of urban setting and scale in ancient China, which has always affected the urban construction of all dynasties. Chang'an in Tang Dynasty was a strict Lifang system, with East and West markets. The capital construction of Song Dynasty broke the Lifang system, and there appeared "CaoShi", "Hui" and "Chang", which gathered acrobatics, entertainment, teahouses, taverns and other facilities. However, in yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, it returned to the pattern of the former dynasty and the latter, the most typical of which was Beijing at that time. Urban space is the street, "shopping" has become the most popular urban lifestyle of Chinese people for thousands of years, even today.

Before 1949, Xi'an city after Tang Dynasty was almost ignored. It has always been regarded as a remote area. Because of the inconvenient transportation in Shaanxi, the railway was built to Xi'an in 1934. Therefore, in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there were no large-scale ground buildings in Shaanxi. The most respectable ground buildings in Xi'an are bell tower, Drum Tower and ancient city wall. Bell and Drum Tower Square, fashionable and open, let Xi'an reappear in the eyes of the world.

The bell and Drum Tower Square was built in 1996. It is a comprehensive project of historic site protection and old city renewal. The environmental art design extends to the ancient and modern along the theme of "morning bell and evening drum". In terms of space treatment, it absorbs the experience of traditional Chinese space and combines with the theory of modern urban external space to provide an "urban living room" for the ancient city of Xi'an.

Xi'an Bell and Drum Tower Square, also known as Shangshu provincial square, covers an area of 60000 square meters, second only to Tiananmen Square in Beijing. According to textual research, as early as the prosperous Tang Dynasty, it was the seat of Shangshu Province, the highest administrative organ of the state. It is this Shangshu province that governs six ministries, leads hundreds of officials, reviews government decrees, assists Emperor Taizong Li Shimin and Emperor Xuanzong Li Longji in Tang Dynasty, and brings the country to the most glorious period of feudal society. The green lawn is divided into nine longitudes and nine latitudes by stone slabs, which is the chessboard structure of Chang'an neighborhood in Tang Dynasty. Only Chang'an, the capital of the Tang Dynasty, has such a city pattern as "a hundred or thousands of houses are like a go game, and twelve streets are like vegetable fields.". On the north side of the square, there are "tongshengxiang", "DeFaChang", "Wang Haitang" and other time-honored shops. The bell and Drum Tower Square was also used. Century Jinhua shopping center is a large-scale urban public service and commercial facilities project jointly developed by Xi'an Municipal People's government and Jinhua Enterprise (Group) Co., Ltd. The project integrates the development and utilization of urban underground space, urban transformation, civil air defense project, cultural relics protection, commercial circulation and other functions. It has become a landmark area of Xi'an and a good place for people's leisure and entertainment in the ancient city.

Main attractions

bell tower

Xi'an bell tower is located in the center of the city. It was first built in the 17th year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty (1384 AD). The original site was at the entrance of Guangji street, now the West Street. It was moved to the current site in the 10th year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1582 AD). It became an axis building linking East and West, echoing north and south. 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". The whole structure of the bell tower is mainly made of brick and wood. From bottom to top, there are three parts: the base, the building and the top. The building is of wooden structure, with three rooms deep and three rooms wide. It is a building form of "double eaves, three drops of water" and "four corners and top". From the ground to Baoding, it is 36 meters high and covers an area of 1377.64 square meters. The base is square with a height of 8.6 meters. In the center of the four sides of the base, there are ticket shaped door openings with a height of 6 meters and a width of 6 meters, which are connected with the four streets in the southeast, northwest and North. The building is divided into two floors. The four corners of each floor are decorated with bright pillars, corridors, colorful windows and carved doors. In particular, each floor is decorated with classic and beautiful patterns such as Dou Gong, caisson, wood carving and color painting. It is a magnificent building with strong national characteristics, and also the largest and most complete bell tower that can be seen in China. The four corners of the eaves fly up, like birds spreading their wings. The animal kisses composed of various Chinese classical animal patterns are set off by the glazed tile roof, giving people the beauty of simple form, elegant art, gorgeous color and distinct layers. The top of the pagoda is shining in the sun, which makes the ancient building more beautiful. From the North steps of the bell tower, the round painted pattern of "ten thousand rays" on the top of the hall on the first floor first came into view, surrounded by 184 painted ceilings composed of four seasons flowers, which are bright, gorgeous and lifelike. The west wall of the hall on the first floor is inlaid with three inscriptions The first one is the inscription left by the people's Government of Xi'an city after the renovation of the bell tower in 1953; the second one 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; the third one is the monument of "song of the bell tower moving eastward" written by Gong Maoxian, governor of Shaanxi Province, after the bell tower moved eastward The value of the bell tower and the political color of the feudal ruling class are appropriately reflected and evaluated.

drum-tower

In the city of Xi'an, the sister building which is comparable to the bell tower is the drum tower in Xi'an. The two floors reflect each other, so they are called "sister building" and "Wenwu building". Li Xian, a poet of the Tang Dynasty, described the two buildings with his poem "the bell can't reach the ear in the morning and the evening, the moon is lonely and the clouds are long".

The drum tower in Xi'an is a large ancient building in Ming Dynasty, which is second only to Taihe Hall of the Forbidden City and Lingen Hall of the Changling mausoleum. It is the oldest and best preserved of the similar buildings in China. It is the highest in terms of historical value, artistic value and scientific nature.

Drum Tower was founded in the 13th year of Hongwu in Ming Dynasty (1380 AD). It is about 200 meters west of the bell tower and 75 meters north of the drum tower. The building is a rectangular structure of brick and wood, 34 meters high, 52.6 meters long from east to west and 38 meters wide from north to south. The building foundation is built with green bricks, 8 meters high. There are 6 meters high and 6 meters wide arched door openings in the middle of the base, Nantong West Street and Beiyuanmen in the north. Covering an area of 1998.8 square meters, the landing steps have been changed from the original northwest side to the current east side.

The structure of the drum tower is two floors up and down and three floors with double eaves. The front (South) is seven. According to the distance between the pillars, there are nine on the front and seven on the side, which is commonly known as "seven nine" in ancient architecture. The roof is covered with cut edge grey tiles, and the foundation is not decorated except at both ends, but it is full of vigor and solemnity.

On the basis of the application of Tang Dynasty style and Song Dynasty architectural rules, there are many innovations in the construction technology of Drum Tower. There is no iron nail in the structure of the whole building. The eaves and seats of the building use the principle of Dou Gong structure. The appearance of the building is majestic and grand, elegant and beautiful, and full of strong national characteristics.

Roof is the crown of Chinese ancient architecture. As early as the Han Dynasty, the working people created many kinds of roofs, such as veranda, Xieshan, Xuanshan and zanjian. In feudal society, the roof has a strict hierarchy, double eaves is the ruling class to improve their dignity and authority and exclusive of a form: Double eaves veranda for the most respected, such as the Palace Museum Taihe hall; double eaves mountain followed, such as Tiananmen Square. The roof form of the drum tower, that is, Xieshan type, is the same as Tiananmen Square, but higher than it

Chinese PinYin : Zhong Gu Lou Guang Chang