Drum and Bell Towers

It finally stopped raining today. Of course, to look outside you'd never know it from a count of all the umbrellas people are still carrying. In China, tan skin is associated with farming and other low class professions, so on sunny days many women carry decorative parasols -- an odd custom, but not much different from 18th century America or Great Britain. Even today, many consider an overdone fake tan trashy.

Anyway the only reason I bring it up the parasols is because I had to squeeze by hundreds of them on my walk to the Drum and Bell Towers, which I found exceedingly frustrating. I really didn't want to go to any more touristy places this time around, but because I keep ending up in the area for one reason or another (which is literally called Drum Hall), I figured I might as well see what all the fuss is about.

The museum aspect of the towers is disappointing. There is almost nothing you can't learn about these places from Wikipedia. In fact I probably could have stayed home and written a completely convincing yet utterly fake account of my trip. On the other hand, the buildings themselves are really cool to experience first hand. For 30 kuai, you can purchase a ticket to climb up the steep stairs (why did it take humanity so long to invent the staircase with reasonable grade?) to the top of each tower for a panoramic view of the city. On a clear day like today, this alone is probably worth it. The other bonus is that there is a live drum show every hour at the Drum Tower, which I happened to arrive just in time for, a short but awesome demonstration of the power of large-scale low frequency percussion.

The towers face each other across a long and narrow plaza. Standing directly in between the two, one develops a sincere appreciation for the timekeeping function these buildings once served. According to one of the plaques at the top of the Bell Tower, these things used to go off five times throughout the night to indicate the hour. A series of bells at 7:00pm announced the closure of the city gate, followed by another at 9:00, 11:00, 1:00, and 3:00. Knowing the time is important to me, and if I didn't have a watch or a cell phone I suppose I'd be okay with a similar system, but after 11:00 I think I'd rather sleep than know exactly how long it's been since the last cacophony that jolted me awake. I guess what I'm trying to say is I'm glad they're no longer in use.

So now I've officially officially seen all the historical tourist sites in Beijing. Phew, please no more.

再见

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