Beijing Travel Guide
Written by china guide April 25th, 2010 No Comments Category: China Travel Guide
What do a tiger, a rat, a bell and a drum share in common? No idea? Well, the answer is time – or, to be precise, telling the time. These two animals, along with the dog, the ox and the pig, were time periods in the night for Chinese in days of old, and the drum and the bell were struck to let people know whether it was the hour of the pig, the tiger, or whatever.
If you would like to learn more about time-telling in olden days you should make a trek out to Beijing's Drum Tower and Bell Tower. These two sites, which are situated near to each other, are a popular sightseeing spot with tourists.
Not only do the towers offer fascinating examples of architecture, but you can get sweeping views of the city from the top of both of them. You may even get the opportunity to see a drum performance if you arrive at the designated time. Drum performances start at 9:30 a.m. and then run pretty well every hour, on the half hour, throughout the day, with the last performance at 4:50 p.m.