Chapter 7 The Story of Beiping Bell Tower

From Di'anmen to the north in Beiping, there are two tall buildings with flying eaves and heavy ridges, the Bell Tower and the Drum Tower. The bell tower was originally built in the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty more than 500 years ago.Later, it was hit by Thunder and lightning and caught fire and turned into ashes. It was rebuilt in the twelfth year of Qianlong in Qing Dynasty. The Drum Tower has a longer history than the Bell Tower. It was built from the Yuan Dynasty to the ninth year of the Yuan Dynasty. People in Yuan Dynasty called it "Qizheng Tower".Every month in Shuowang, vendors gather and a variety of operas are displayed, which is as lively as the fairs in the East and West temples (Longfu Temple and Huguo Temple).Emperor Yongle of the Ming Dynasty was particularly interested in the Lantern Festival during the Lantern Festival. Later, he designated the Drum Tower area as the distribution center for the Lantern Festival Lantern Festival, repainted the base of the gate of the Drum Tower, and simply renamed the avenue Gulou Street.Until the 35th year of the Republic of China, Gulou Street was still the busiest place in Beicheng.

Now that the times are progressing, everyone sees that the Bell and Drum Towers are out of date, and they are just two decorative buildings for show.In fact, there were no clocks and clocks in ancient times, and there were sundials, moondials, copper pots, and hourglasses in the palace to correct the time. Ordinary people rely on bell towers and drum towers to beat drums and bells to adjust the time.When the author was a child, when I dreamed back at midnight, when the leaks were exhausted and changed, I heard Yuanyuan bells and drums, as if it was not long ago, but after careful calculation, it was already a matter of sixty years.I heard that during the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty, there were still people who were in charge of their own affairs, and they had to report every update. In the Xuantong period, the report was also exempted, and they only beat the drum and the bell twice at Jiaozi and at noon.The bell is struck to beat the drum, and the drum is matched with the sound of the bell. Each time the bell is struck fifty-four times, the legend is "eighteen tight, eighteen slow, eighteen if neither too fast nor too slow". The sum of day and night is one hundred and eight .When the night is quieter, the bell can be heard as far away as forty miles.

In the early years of the Republic of China, although the midnight bell was still striking, every day at the middle of the day, it was changed to firing the noon cannon, with a loud bang so that everyone in the city could adjust the time. In the empty field behind the Drum Tower and in front of the Bell Tower, there has been a big bell with ancient and mottled green rust. It is said to be a relic of the Yuan Dynasty. The big bronze bell hanging on the Bell Tower was cast in the Ming or Qing Dynasty to tell the time. .This bronze bell is 3.56 meters tall, taller than two people, and more than eight inches thick. It is hung on a wooden frame with a dragon head.Generally, the sound of the bell is "dang-dang--", but the big clock in the Beiping Bell Tower, the coda is: "I want shoes--I want shoes--" There is another section about this big clock in Peking. Touching legend.It is said that a long time ago, the emperor of a certain dynasty wanted to cast a big bell, but the bell was not cast for the first time, so Xinyou bell-casting masters were gathered together to cast it, and they failed one after another.Few of the bell-casters in and outside of Beiping city dared to undertake this bell-casting work, so the emperor had to issue an order to recruit skilled workers.Later, an old coppersmith applied for casting. After several days, after exhausting all methods, the bell still couldn't be cast.Seeing that the deadline is up, if this kind of recruitment work cannot be completed within the deadline, they will be exiled into the army at least, and their heads will be beheaded at worst.The old coppersmith only had father and daughter, depended on each other for life, so he went home to bid farewell to his daughter.The father and daughter were in grief, and the girl had to go to the scene with her father to see how the bell was being cast. The old coppersmith had no choice but to take his daughter to the melting furnace to watch.Unexpectedly, when the last furnace of copper liquid was about to be melted, the daughter suddenly jumped into the furnace, and when her father stood up to rescue her, it was too late and he only grabbed one of her shoes.After the daughter threw herself into the furnace, the furnace of copper juice was poured into the mold and turned into a huge and famous clock.After the giant bell was cast, it was naturally a great joy. Not only the old coppersmith was saved from death, but also all the craftsmen who assisted in the work were rewarded generously.But whenever the bell was rung, the old coppersmith thought of his beloved daughter who died for the bell, and the phantom of his beloved daughter combined with the sound of the bell to make a strange sound: "Shoes—" the old coppersmith talked about the bell with his colleagues. Everyone could clearly hear the sound of the bell as "shoes", and then it was passed to the residents of Shangjiucheng as "asking for shoes".Until now, every old Beijinger knows this story.