The Bell and Drum Towers: Two Timekeepers Above the Four Great Streets

World Travel 编辑部 · 2026-09-16 · 6 min read

Xi'an's Bell Tower was built in 1384, the Drum Tower four years earlier. One bell, one drum, and the same city's hours between them. Today they face each other across a street — but four centuries ago the Bell Tower stood somewhere else entirely.

The Bell Tower moved house

It was first built at Yingxiang Temple at the mouth of Guangji Street north of West Main Street, facing the Drum Tower about a kilometre from its present site. That spot aligned with the north and south gates and was the centre of the city. As Chang'an expanded in the early Ming the centre drifted east; two centuries later the gates were rebuilt and the new four great streets formed, leaving the tower increasingly off-centre.

In 1582, under the censor Gong Maoxian, the magistrates of Xianning and Chang'an were ordered to move it to the crossing of the four streets. Only the base was rebuilt — the timber structure was the original throughout — which kept the cost low and the work quick. Moving such a building wholesale six centuries ago remains rare in architectural history.

What each tower shows

The Bell Tower is a square brick platform under a three-tier timber hall, about 36 m tall. The Jingyun Bell, cast in 711, once hung inside; it was moved to the Beilin Museum in 1953 and a replica hangs today.

The Drum Tower stands to the west, a tall brick base under a double-eaved timber hall, its archway once a thoroughfare. Boards on the north and south faces read "a place of civil and martial excellence" and "heard in heaven", both replacements for originals destroyed. The twenty-four solar-term drums and the great drum displayed around it are modern reconstructions explaining timekeeping and the seasonal calendar.

Bell at dawn, drum at dusk

Bell and drum announced the hours in turn, together forming the timekeeping system of Ming and Qing Xi'an and preserving the central axis of the historic city. When the provincial governor Zhang Kai rebuilt the tower to its original structure in 1740, he found the housing around the Jingyun Bell airtight, so that its sound was "held in and not let out" and barely carried. He moved the bell outdoors so the hours could be heard far and wide.

In 1996 both towers were listed as nationally protected sites.

Practical Notes

The two towers sell separate tickets; pick by what you want, mostly the street axes and the night view.
Go up after the lights come on — better value than daylight.
The Muslim Quarter entrance is at street level, so towers and food pair naturally.