Beijing's fireworks atmosphere "Bell and Drum Towers"

⛰【Travel Tips】 📍Detailed address: No. 9, Zhonglouwan Hutong, Dongcheng District, Beijing 🚗Transportation strategy: Subway: Walk about 900 meters from Gulou Dajie Station of Line 2/8 🕙Opening hours: 9:30-17:30 💰Ticket price: Bell Tower 10 yuan/person, Drum Tower 20 yuan/person, Bell Tower + Drum Tower 30 yuan (half-price tickets available for college students, seniors over 60, and active military officers and soldiers) 🌟Highlights: The Beijing Bell and Drum Towers are a group of ancient buildings located at the northern end of Beijing's central axis, at the north end of Di'anmen Outer Street in Dongcheng District, and served as the time-reporting center of the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties. In the history of the city's bell and drum tower system, Beijing's Bell and Drum Towers are the largest in scale and the highest in form, and are one of the iconic buildings of ancient Beijing. The Drum Tower was originally built in the ninth year of Yuan Zhiyuan (1272), with a total height of 46.7 meters, a three-tiered Xieshan-style roof covered with grey tube tiles and green glazed tile edges, and is an ancient building mainly constructed of wood, sitting on a 4-meter-high brick and stone base. ☆ The Drum Tower, located at the center of the Yuan Dadu, was originally named "Qizheng Tower" symbolizing the seven elements of metal, wood, water, fire, earth, sun, and moon, but was later destroyed by fire; ☆ Rebuilt in the first year of Yuan Chengzong Dade (1297), it was again destroyed by fire; ☆ Rebuilt in the eighteenth year of Ming Yongle (1420) along with the reconstruction of the palace; ☆ Rebuilt after being struck by lightning and destroyed in the eighteenth year of Ming Jiajing (1539); ☆ Repaired on a large scale in the fifth year of Qing Jiaqing (1800), the twentieth year of Qing Guangxu (1894), and after the establishment of the People's Republic of China. Bell Tower: The Bell Tower was originally built in the ninth year of Yuan Zhiyuan (1272), with a total height of 47.9 meters, a double-eaved Xieshan-style roof covered with grey tube tiles and green glazed tile edges, and is a large monolithic ancient building with an all-brick and stone structure, which was later destroyed by fire; ☆ Rebuilt in the eighteenth year of Ming Yongle (1420), it was again destroyed by fire; ☆ Rebuilt by imperial decree in the tenth year of Qing Qianlong (1745), and completed two years later. To prevent fire, the entire building was constructed with a brick and stone arch structure (a "Qianlong Imperial Stele" stands in the center of the south gate of the Bell Tower, detailing the construction of the Bell Tower at that time). ☆ The large copper bell hanging in the Bell Tower, cast during the Yongle period of the Ming dynasty, is over 7 meters tall and weighs 63 tons. It is currently the earliest cast and heaviest time-reporting copper bell in China, known as the "King of Ancient Bells". When the bell rings, "within and beyond the capital, for more than ten miles, all listen attentively". ※Evening Drum and Morning Bell As the time-reporting center, the Beijing Bell and Drum Towers struck the drum and bell with great regularity. During the Qianlong period of the Qing dynasty, the time-reporting method was only twice at night, every evening at the fixed watch (i.e., the first watch, 19:00-21:00) and the bright watch (i.e., the fifth watch, 3:00-5:00), with the Bell and Drum Towers signaling with lights, commonly known as "matching the lights", striking the drum before striking the bell, called "Evening Drum and Morning Bell". The method of striking the drum and bell was the same, commonly known as "tight eighteen, slow eighteen, neither tight nor slow another eighteen. Fast and slow in alternation, struck twice in total." In this way, twice in total, 108 times, representing a year, is the sum of the numbers of the 12 months, 24 solar terms, and 72 pentads of the year.