Gulou points out to the Drum Tower of Beijing that is located at the northern end of the central axis of the Inner City. The tower lies on the northern part of Di’anmen Street. The construction of this tower was carried out for the musical purpose but was later put to application of making the announcement of time.
In recent times, it serves as an attractive spot for the tourist. The bell tower of Beijing namely Zhonglou is situated at the back of the Drum Tower. Bells as well as drums were regarded as musical instruments in traditional China. They turned up to become watches that were used by the officials as well as by the masses. The Bell and Drum towers served in the form of the center of time telling at the time of the Ming, Yuan as well as Qing dynasties.
The building of the Drum Tower was done in the year 1272 at the time of the rule of Kublai Khan. During this time it was positioned at the center of the Yuan capital Khanbaliq. It was called as the Tower of Orderly Administration. The reconstruction of the building to the east of the actual site was carried out under the Ming Emperor Yongle in 1420.
Further it was in the supervision of the Qing Emperor namely Jiaqing in 1800 that huge renovations were made. The name of Drum Tower was altered to the Tower of Realizing Shamefulness in the year 1924 as it highlighted the objects of the invasion of Beijing by Eight-Power Allied Forces as well the May 30 Massacre of 1925. Currently the upper story of the building is used in the form of the People’s Cultural Hall of the East City District.
The Bell and Drum Tower was started for the tourists during the 1980s after some repairs. An American tourist was killed as well as one other tourist got hurt in an attack that took place on 9 August 2008 at the Drum Tower monument. These people were related to a US Olympic volleyball team coach. The attacker namely Tang Yongming went ahead and committed suicide by making a jump from the tower.
Drum Tower
