Big Bell Pavilion Park

Big Bell Pavilion Park

Dazhongting park is located in Xuanwu District of Nanjing. Dazhongting was built in 1382, the 15th year of Hongwu in Ming Dynasty. In the pavilion, there is a red copper bell cast in 1388. This clock was originally suspended in the bell tower in Jinchuan gate. In the 25th year of Hongwu Period, a sleeping bell was also made. During the reign of Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty, the bell was destroyed here and fell to the side of the road. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, it was moved here and built a hexagonal pavilion with iron beams and columns. The Ming Dynasty sleeping bell was hung, which became the "Big Bell Pavilion". The bell is exquisite in quality, beautiful in shape and loud in sound. It has a lotus petal pattern on the top, a cloud pattern and a wavy angle on the beam, and an inscription of "cast on the auspicious day of the 29th year of Hongwu".

The scale of the building is rare in China. It is divided into two layers. The lower layer is arched and has no beams. The upper layer is double eaves and four slope roofs. It is very spectacular. The tower used to be the place where the imperial concubines and imperial concubines were welcomed and the imperial edicts were sent to announce the time. There were two big drums used to announce the time and guard of honor. The next year, a huge stele was built on the tower, and the drum tower was changed into a stele tower, but the local people still used to call it the drum tower.

Historical evolution

Dazhongting park is located in the northeast of Gulou square, No.1 dazhongting Road, with a total area of 5500 square meters, fountain water surface of 60 square meters, and green space rate of 65.45%. The garden is named after the Big Bell Pavilion. It is a municipal cultural garden.

In 1395 of the 28th year of Hongwu in Ming Dynasty, it is indicated that the bell tower is located in the west of the drum tower. According to the capital annals of the Republic of China, "there are two Ming clocks beside the stele tower (Drum Tower), and the old objects in the tower." "Nanjing Chronicles" contains: "Big Bell Pavilion, in the east side of the drum tower, commonly known as inverted bell factory."

According to the annals of the southern capital of Chayuan, "the bell tower was originally built in zuizipu in the 15th year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty (1382). On April 20 in the 24th year of Hongwu (1391), a standing bell was cast in front of the tower. On December 14 in the 25th year of Hongwu (1392), a sleeping bell was made in Hougang of the government.

During the reign of Emperor Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty, the bell tower collapsed, and both the bell and the standing bell were destroyed. Only the sleeping bell was still in the soil, which was commonly known as the inverted bell factory (the date of the casting of the sleeping bell was wrong with the existing inscription on the big bell).

In 1889, Xu Zhen, Jiangning's political envoy, built and hung a pavilion here, which was called the iron pillar Pavilion (the Big Bell Pavilion). The plaque of "vowel rising again" in the front of the door has disappeared. As mentioned above, the Big Bell Pavilion in the period of the Republic of China is commonly known as the inverted bell factory, which is not the location of the original bell tower (zuozipu).

The Bell Pavilion is located in the northeast corner of the Drum Tower Square in the center of Nanjing. In 1382, a drum tower and a bell tower were built. At that time, there were two bells. In the prime of the Qing Dynasty, one was destroyed. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Xu Zhenwei moved one of the remaining bells to the current site, and allocated funds to build a hexagonal pavilion with iron beams and columns to hang, namely the Big Bell Pavilion. The bell is made of red copper. It is 4.27 meters high and engraved with the inscription "cast on September 4, Hongwu 21". The clock is 19.60 meters high.

In the Big Bell Pavilion, there is a bronze bell made in 1388. This clock was originally suspended in the bell tower in Jinchuan gate. In the 25th year of Hongwu Period, a sleeping bell was also made. During the reign of Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty, the bell was destroyed here and fell to the side of the road. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, it was moved here, and a hexagonal pavilion with iron beams and columns was built to hang the Ming Dynasty sleeping bell, namely "Big Bell Pavilion". The bell is exquisite in quality, beautiful in shape and loud in sound. It has a lotus petal pattern on the top, a cloud pattern and a wavy angle on the beam, and an inscription of "cast on the auspicious day of the 29th year of Hongwu".

Located in the northeast corner of the Drum Tower Square in the center of Nanjing, the Bell Pavilion is a provincial-level cultural relic protection unit. It is listed as the first of the newly evaluated "forty scenes of Jinling", namely "morning bell in the ancient pavilion". With a long history of places of interest, but also located in the downtown area, the original status of the park is not satisfactory. The park has a total area of 1700 square meters, including 658 square meters of buildings. There is only one entrance and exit in the West. The buildings in the north and East are dilapidated, and nearly 100 families live in low shantytowns. Due to its good location and unique features, it has become a tourist destination for Chinese and foreign tourists. The average annual flow of tourists is 120000, and the number of foreign guests is 10000. The flow of tourists on holidays can reach 4600 person times per day. Many foreign-related activities and negotiation activities are held here. In order to protect cultural relics, beautify urban landscape, expand urban public greening, and improve environmental quality, dazhongting park is expanded and reconstructed in combination with civil air defense project.

Main landscape

Zhongting big bell

It is located in the west of the center of the park. Cast in red copper, the bell is 3.65 meters high, 2.3 meters in diameter, 0.17 meters thick at the bottom and weighs 23000 kg. On the top of the bell, the lotus petals with Yang pattern are cast for one week, and the lifting beam is decorated with cloud pattern and wave pattern, with the inscription of "cast on the auspicious day of September in the 21st year of Hongwu (1388)". Beautiful shape, loud voice, can be heard for several miles. The former Bell Tower was hung with two bells. In the reign of Emperor Kangxi of Qing Dynasty, the bell tower collapsed. Two bells fell to the ground, one standing and one lying. The Big Bell Pavilion has double eaves, six corners and a pointed roof. It is supported by six iron pillars and is 14.5 meters high. It is equipped with a six corner cross iron beam, and the big bell is suspended under the beam. The iron pillar Bell Pavilion is made by "Jinling machinery bureau" (the predecessor of Chenguang machinery factory today) There is an inscription on the column. The Bell Pavilion and the drum tower form horns. It is located in the center of the city, with one bell and one drum. It is suitable for the place. The Bell Pavilion and the big bell are listed as one of the newly evaluated "40 scenes of Jinling", which is called "the morning bell of the ancient pavilion".

Sangu Hall

Located in the north corner of the park. It is not easy to cast a big bell in Ming Dynasty, so people make up a touching legend tragedy. It is said that Zhu Yuanzhang cast a big bell within the time limit, and the violators killed them. The craftsmen couldn't cast it for a long time. Seeing that the time limit is coming, they fled one after another, and were punished by the prison officials. They were taken to the smelting furnace to cast it on the same day. All the craftsmen were worried, and suddenly saw three daughters of a craftsman come and jump into the furnace The mouth of the furnace immediately spurted out a flame, the liquid copper solidified quickly, and finally cast into a bell. For this reason, some later generations called this bell God bell, and built Sangu temple here to worship it, couplet with Japan: "three younger sisters filial piety, cherish history, thousands of Dendrobium clang bell white door". It is said that February 19, June 19 and September 19 are the birthdays of the three girls. At this time, incense is burning in the Sangu hall behind the pavilion.

Address: No.1 dazhongting, Xuanwu District, Nanjing

Longitude: 118.78456377983

Latitude: 32.060468569203

Tel: 025-57713865

Chinese PinYin : Da Zhong Ting Gong Yuan