Bell and Drum Towers
The bell and drum were originally used as musical instruments in China. Afterward they were used for telling time. Telling the time by bell and drum played an important role in helping people live and work regularly when there was no other means to keep track of the time. As a result, bell and drum towers became public architectures, and were widely constructed in almost every city throughout the country since the Han Dynasty. In the history of their construction, the bell and drum towers of Beijing are the largest and highest. Their layout is unique, in that they were placed fore-and-aft, not as the traditional sense of standing right-and-left horizontally.
Lying to the north of Beijing-south axis line in Dongcheng District, the bell and drum towers are visibly prominent constructions and represent the symbol of this old city. They were built in 1272, and rebuilt twice after two fires.
Bell Tower
This brick and stone towers have two floors: there is an arched door on all four sides of the tower on the first floor, and you can go up to the second floor through stone stairs. The same exists on the first floor. An arched door was also built on the four sides of the second floor. Additionally, there is a stone window on each side of the four doors. Hanging on an eight-square wooden frame of the second floor, the bell in this tower is the largest and heaviest in China. It is 7.02 meters high including the pendants, with a weight of 63 tons. The bell was made of copper, and you can hear its round and clear sound from far away. The two 2-meter-long wooden logs hanging sideward are used to ring the bell.
Drum Tower
Located 100 meters south to the bell tower, the drum tower was placed on a 4-meter-high stone and brick base. It is 46.7 meters high, a little bit lower than the bell tower that is 47.9 meters high . This tower is also a two-storey building; the first floor contains the China Committee for the Promotion of the Minority Art. The second floor contains the exhibition area. Originally, there was one big drum and 24 smaller drums, but only the big drum remains. The method of beating the drum is to beat it quickly for 18 times and then slowly for 18 times. Altogether there are three rounds and 108 tollings. People knock the bell and the drum 108 times, because 108 times represent one year in ancient times.
The Big Bell Temple of Beijing
The Great Bell Temple is located on the northern western of Beijing city, No. 31 Western Section of the North 3rd Ring Road . Built in 1733, the temple houses the largest bell in China. In addition, the temple also has a small ancient bell museum and some Chinese ancient bells displayed.
The biggest bell known as China’s “King of Bells”, which is 6.87 meters high, 3.3 meters in diameter, 0.22 meter thick and 46.5 tons in weight. It is hangings in the bell tower at the rear of the compound. The tower is 16.7 meters high with a square base, a circular upper structure and windows on four sides. It is said the bronze bell was cast during the Yongle period (1403-1424) of the Ming Dynasty, so the bell is called Yongle Big Bell.
According to the test by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Yongle Bell’s loud and clear sound reaches up to 120 decibels and can be heard 50 kilometers away in the depth of night. Music experts of the Chinese Acoustics Institute have found its tone pure, deep and melodious with a sprightly rhythm. Its frequency ranges from 22 to 800 hertz.
Forbidden City (Palace Museum)
The Forbidden City, also known as the Imperial Palace or Palace Museum, is located in the center of Beijing. Built between 1406 and 1420, it was the imperial residence of 24 emperors of the Ming and Qing (1368-1911) dynasties. Today it has become one of the most important tourist attractions in Beijing.
The entire palace area, rectangular in shape and 720,000 square meters in size, takes up one-third of the 8 kilometer-long central axis of Beijing’s old city proper, from the city gate of Yongdingmen on the south to the Drum and Bell towers on the north. This harmonious assemblage of buildings displays the best characteristics of Chinese architecture — majestic style, flawless construction, and fine coordination of the whole and the parts. The Forbidden City is also one of UNESCO’s World Heritage sites.
Gong Wang Fu (Gong’s Mansion Garden)
Built in late 18th century and situated on the west street of front Shichahai, the Prince Gong’s Mansion Garden used to be the private residence of He Kun, a famous scholar in the reign of Emperor Qiang Long (1736-1796). It was changed into Palace of Prince Qing in the forth year of Jia Jing Region (1786-1821).
In the initial Xian Feng Period (1851-1862), it was changed into the Prince Gong’s Mansion Garden . It was controlled by three hosts during 70 years. During the reign of Emperors Xian Feng and Tong Zhi (1862-1875), the garden was repaired in accordance with the orders of Prince Yi Xin, with palaces built, pools dug, mounts piled up and threes planted behind the Garden. As a result, the Cui Jin Garden — a beautiful garden with the same artistic conception as the Grand View garden described in the famous classical novel Dream of Red Mansions was constructed. It is as attracting as the Mansions of Prince Zheng and Prince Chun which were quite popular at that time. The Prince Gong’s Mansion Garden is the most intact ancient garden preserved. It was cited by government as the key unit of preservation of culture relics.
Covering a ground area of 38.6 mu (about 6.5 acres), the Cui Jin Garden is surrounded by earthen mounts. It is distinct by its three rows of buildings. Main buildings cover 20 different types including Bat Hall, Moon-inviting Platform, Goodwill Hall, Study Room, Theatrical House, Refreshing Pavilions, Gaily-painted Pleasure Boat, etc. The distinctive halls, platforms, houses and pavilions, together with waters and plants have created a delicate and elegant scenery. As a masterpiece of classical private gardens, the Prince Gong’s Mansion Garden is worth a good enjoying.
The Great Wall of China
For any average traveler who visits China for the first time, the Great Wall is always an indispensable fixture on the itinerary. Without it, a trip to China would be incomplete. The reason is simple: it is one of China’s most important cultural and historical symbols. It is also one of the best known ancient constructions in the world. The massive project stretches from Shanghaiguan in the east to Jiayuguan in the west, a distance of over 6,300 kilometers, covering eight provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions.
The Great Wall was first built as a defense line against nomadic incursions. Its military and strategic importance was unmatched by any other projects in ancient China. The construction of the wall began around the 7th-4th century BC during the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476BC). At that time, feudal states built walls for self-defense against the invasion of nomadic tribes. In 221 BC, after unifying China, Qinshihuang, the first emperor of China, had the walls linked up, reinforced and extended to form the Great Wall. During succeeding dynasties in later years, renovations were made in line with local geographic conditions, creating many enchanting sights. It was listed by UNESCO as its World Heritage in 1987.
Beijing’s Hutong
A hutong is an old city alley or lane, and the hutongs of Beijing are one of its most distinctive features. The capital city is home to thousands of hutongs, many of which were built in the area surrounding the Forbidden City during the Yuan (1279 – 1368), Ming (1368 – 1644) and Qing (1644 – 1911) dynasties.
During China’s dynastic heyday, the emperors planned the city and arranged the residential areas according to the etiquette systems of the Zhou Dynasty (1027 – 256 BC). At the center of the metropolis was the Forbidden City, surrounded in concentric circles by the Inner City and Outer City. Citizens of higher social status were permitted to live closer to the center of the circles. The aristocratic hutongs of those days were located just to the east and west of the imperial palace. The lanes were orderly, lined by spacious homes and walled gardens.
Further from the palace and to its north and south were the commoners’ hutongs, where merchants, artisans and laborers lived and worked.
The residences lining the hutongs, whether grand or humble, were generally siheyuan, complexes formed by four buildings surrounding a courtyard. The large siheyuan of high-ranking officials and wealthy merchants often featured beautifully carved and painted roof beams and pillars and carefully landscaped gardens. Commoners’ siheyuan were far smaller in scale and simpler in design and decoration.
The hutongs are, in fact, passageways formed by many siheyuan of varying sizes, all arranged closely together. Nearly all siheyuan had their main buildings and gates facing south for better lighting; so that the majority of hutongs run from east to west. Between the main hutongs, many tiny lanes ran north and south for convenient passage.
Around the turn of the 20th century, the Qing court was disintegrating, foreign influences were having a huge impact on people’s lives and China’s dynastic era was coming to an end. The traditional arrangement of the hutongs was also affected. Many new hutongs, built haphazardly and with no apparent plan, began to appear on the outskirts of the old city; while the old ones lost their former neat appearance. The social stratification of the residents also began to evaporate, reflecting the collapse of the feudal system. During the period of the Republic of China (1911 – 1948), society was unstable, fraught with civil wars and repeated foreign invasions. The city of Beijing deteriorated, and the conditions of the hutongs worsened. Siheyuan previously owned and occupied by a single family were subdivided and shared by many households, with additions tacked on as needed, built with whatever materials were available.
The 978 hutongs listed in Qing Dynasty records had swelled to 1,330 by 1949, with nearly 5,000 tiny alleys threading their way between the legitimate hutongs.
In the decades since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, many of the old hutongs have disappeared, replaced by the high rises and wide boulevards of today’s Beijing. Many citizens have left the lanes where their families resided for generations, resettling in comfortable apartment buildings with modern amenities. In Xicheng District alone, nearly 200 hutongs out of the 820 it held in 1949 have disappeared. And the Beijing Municipal Construction Committee says that in 2004, some 250,000 square meters of old housing – 20,000 households – will be demolished in 2004, which means that many more will disappear.
However, many of Beijing’s ancient hutongs still stand, and a number of them have been designated protected areas. The old neighborhoods survive today, offering a glimpse of life in the capital city as it has been for generations.
Summer Palace, Beijing
The Summer Palace, or Yiheyuan, is one of the China’s largest and best-preserved imperial gardens. It is a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design, integrating the natural landscape of hills and open water with man-made features into a harmonious and aesthetically exceptional whole. With a concentration of the best of ancient buildings as well as styles of gardening, it is a virtual museum of traditional Chinese gardening.
The Summer Palace was first named the Garden of Clear Ripples, which was burnt down by the allied forces of Great Britain and France in 1860. Reconstruction started 25 years later and was completed in 1895, and the name was changed to Yiheyuan (Garden of Good Health and Harmony). The design gives prominence to the Longevity Hill and the Kunming Lake. Other prominent features include the “Long Corridor,” with brilliant decorative paintings on the ceiling, the Marble Boat, built by Empress Dowager Cixi with fund allotted for building the Chinese navy, and the Seventeen-Arch Bridge.
The Temple of Heaven
The Temple of Heaven, or Tiantan, is China’s largest temple and altar complex. It was the place where emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties worshipped heaven and prayed for abundant harvests. As Chinese emperors called themselves Tianzi, or the son of heaven, they had to cede supremacy to the heaven in terms of abiding.
Apart from heaven, Chinese emperors also worshipped many other gods as well as their own ancestors. Therefore, god-worshipping was an important part of their busy schedules. Other than the Temple of Heaven, there are other temples of various kinds scattered in Beijing, including the Temple of Earth, the Temple of Sun and the Temple of the Moon. But the Temple of Heaven is the most important and the grandest of them all.
Situated 2km southeast of the Forbidden City, the Temple, plus subsidiary buildings and surrounding gardens, covers an area five times the size of the Forbidden City. With exquisite architectural workmanship, it is the largest existing ancient architectural group for worshipping in China
