The Drum Tower in Xi'an was first built in 1380, dating back to the Ming Dynasty. Although the original drum no longer exists, there are many similar drums on display. Most of them, like this one, are made of wood with a drum head of hide. There were other smaller ones, though, made of pottery, bronze or stone. This one seems pretty big, but there is an even larger one inside, with a diameter of 9 feet 4 inches.

Visitors are allowed to beat on this drum, and since Lee is a drummer at heart, he gave it a try. The main purpose of the tower drum was to signal the end of the day and the closing of the city gates. In times of invasion, it was also sounded as an alarm. Of course, it would have taken a drum much larger than this one to be heard all over the city. On display inside was a smaller drum with a different purpose. It was beaten to signal to people sealed in their cubicles taking the official examination that they could begin writing.

The Bell Tower was built in 1384, four years after the Drum Tower. Again, this replica bell is much smaller than the one that would have originally been housed in this tower, but it is essentially like that bell. It is cast of bronze, and is rung by swinging an external striker against it, like a gong. Only small bells in China have clappers. Like the Drum Tower, the main function of the Bell Tower was telling time. The bell was rung at dawn to signal morning and the opening of the city gate.

Although these towers were utiltarian, they were also beautiful. The ceiling of the Bell Tower illustrates traditional Chinese architecture, using beams in brackets on columns. It also illustrates the delicate decorations of lanterns and paintings on the crossbeams.

At the Bell Tower, we sat and sipped green tea while watching a performance of traditional Chinese music and dance. The zheng, in the foreground is a plucked stringed instrument. The girl in the middle is playing a bamboo flute called a dizi. This instrument gets its distinctive sound from the vibration of a piece of rice paper glued over an airhole with garlic juice. The upper two rows of bells in the back are played with a mallet, while the bells on the bottom row are struck with a pole.

Xi'an's city wall was finished in 1378, and was built on the foundations of the earlier Tang Dynasty wall. It is one of the few city walls surviving from ancient times in China. This southern gate is called Yongning Men, or gate of eternal peace. In addition, around the outside of this gate there is a walled courtyard where defensive troops could mass, that had two small side gates. Beyond that courtyard there is a moat, and a third gate that controlled the bridge over the moat.

This view along the outside of the wall reveals some of its other defenses. The top of the wall is forty feet wide, and is lined with crenelations on it's outer edge. At the right side of the picture, you can see one of the ninty-eight platforms that are spaced around the outside of the wall, a bowshot apart. These solid towers are an extension of the wall, topped with a sentry building. The wall is constructed of rammed earth, faced with brick. The base layer of earth was strengthened by the addition of lime and glutinous rice.

This view is the same section of wall as the previous picture, but from on top of the wall. You can see the same sentry building in the background. Soldiers would hide behind the high parts of the wall, or merlons, while shooting throught the lower parts, or crenels. At various points behind the crenelations, brick steps had been built. Deanna climbed up one of these to get a better view. Perhaps an ancient general stood in this very same spot, devising strategy.

Because we took our trip just before the Chinese New Year, there were holiday decorations everywhere, including elaborate lanterns of all shapes and sizes along the top of the city wall. Here, Lee practices a little wushu with a dinosaur lantern.

Notice that the top of the inside edge of the wall is smooth, not crenelated. It's main purpose was just to keep soldiers from falling off the wall.

Copyright 2006, Dr. Lee Williams

Last Modified: 8 February 2006

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