THE LANDMARKS of XIAN: The Bell & Drum Towers

This is a view of the Drum Tower or Gu Lou approaching it from the east along the pedestrian walkway from the Bell Tower or Zhong Lou. Yours truly walking towards the night food market haven of Beiyuan Men Islamic Street one of Xian's night happening place where people milled around.

Yours truly was travelling alone from KL to Xian via Guangzhou by train. At Xian's Zhong Lou there were hordes of visiting shooting photos of the tower. There was indeed no problem getting someone to snap me with the tower. Indeed yours truly helped a couple of similar single travellers to take photos of them with the tower.
The Bell Tower (Zhong Lou) is the most iconic structure in Xian. For this reason it is the object of photo shoots by locals & visitors alike. Yours truly too
did a number of photo ops at this site both during the day & at night.

The Drum Tower (Gu Lou)derived its name from the huge drum located inside the tower. In contrast to the Bell Tower where the bell would be struck at dawn the drum would be beaten at sunset to indicate in the days long gone by the time to stop work & to rest. The entrance fee to enter the Drum Tower is RMB27 but to access both the Drum & Bell Towers the entrance is RMB40.

In front of the Drum Tower is the Drum Square, a popular place for the people to gather in the evenings. Behind the tower is Beiyuna Men street which is thronged with people at night as there are many eating shops & restaurants selling a variety of exotic food. This street marks the beginning of the Muslim Quarter. Most of the 30,000 or more Muslim Hui minority of Xian resides here. The Hui people are descended from Arab traders who since the eight century plied the Silk Route linking Chang-An or old Xian with Rome & the Middle East. The Hui minority look typically Han Chinese except that many of their men wear white Muslim skull caps whilst their women folk don a Muslim scarf.

The Drum Tower lies adjacent to the Bell Tower but it is not at the intersection of the four main streets. It lies along Xi Dajie. The tower was erected in 1380 in the early years of the Ming dynasty.

The Bell Tower is at the centre of Xian inner city surrounded on four rectangular sides by the city wall.

The Bell Tower lies at the intersection of North Main Street (Bei Dajie), South Main Street (Nan Dajie), East Main Street (Dong Dajie) & West Main Street (Xi Dajie).

The Bell Tower was constructed in 1384 during the early years of the Ming dynasty. Inside the Bell Tower are some large bronze bells from the Tang dynasty. The bells were used to tell the time.