Drum Tower

　　Introduction   Located on Di’anmen Outer Street in Dongcheng District. Built in the 18th year of the Yongle reign during the Ming Dynasty (1420), and renovated in the 5th year of the Jiaqing reign of the Qing Dynasty (1800). The base is a city platform about 4 meters high, with three arched gateways in the front and back, and one on each side. The tower has five bays with a double-eaved hip-and-gable roof covered in gray tiles. The Drum Tower was where drums were beaten to tell the time throughout the city during the Ming and Qing dynasties. In 1924, it was temporarily renamed the “Hall of National Humiliation” and displayed relics related to the national shame of the invasion of Beijing by the Eight-Nation Alliance. One of the surviving drumheads on the upper floor still bears knife marks made by the soldiers of the Eight-Nation Alliance. Transportation   Accessible via bus routes 5, 60, 107, 124, 734, 815, and 819.

　　 Beijing Dongcheng District

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