Today we will visit the city wall, the bell tower and the drum tower. Its my pleasure to serve you.
The ancient castle we now see is the Ming xi an city wall, which was built on the foundation of the imperial city of tangan in the early Ming dynasty. It is one of the most famous cities in the late middle ages of China, and it is the largest and most complete defense facility of ancient military castles in the world.
Xi an, as the ancient capital of the millennium, has built the wall many times in the past. Most of them are buried by the dust of history. The walls we see now go back to the sui dynasty. In 1369, the Ming dynasty moved xu da from shanxi to shaanxi, and changed the original fengtian road to xi an, meaning "western lasting peace and stability". It was the prelude to the construction of the wall in xi an. The eight - year - old wall shape is a rectangle. The wall is 15 meters high, 12 to 14 meters wide, 16 to 18 meters wide and 13.9 kilometers in circumference. The bottom layer is mixed with lime and glutinous rice juice. After drying, it is exceptionally strong.
The ancient city wall of xi an includes a series of military installations including moat, suspension bridge, gate building, archery building, zhenglou, tower, enemy building, parapet and crenel. Well, now lets feel the scientific, rigorous and complete military defense system in person.
The periphery of the wall is the moat, also known as the moat, which is the first line of defense of the wall. It can block an enemys attack, or even take advantage of the terrain to destroy the enemy. The moat around the city wall of xi an is 20 meters wide, and the gate is crossed over the moat, and the only access to the moat and the gate is the drawbridge. At ordinary times, the soldiers in the city of the city listened to the commander of the morning bell, lowered the drawbridge in the morning and opened the city gates. Hoist the bridge at night and cut off traffic. Once a war has occurred, the drawbridge rises, the gates are closed, and the gates become fortified and enclosed fighting fortresses.
The city gate is the focal point of the city defense system, also is the weak spot. At ordinary times, it is a passageway to and from the city. In war, it is also the primary goal of defending the two sides. Therefore, the Ming dynasty attached great importance to improving the city gate defense facilities. One of the most notable technological breakthroughs is the use of the arch gate to prevent enemy fire. Ming xian city gate is very solid, door leaf with 16 cm thick boards, a fan gate 2.8 cubic meters with wood, door leaf horizontal turn up and down the iron bar reinforcement, the interval of each two bars, 180 iron needle mushrooms nails. There are 1,800 iron mushroom needles on the door. This compels the wood of the door, increasing the rigidity of the door, so that the arrow cant be shot in.
In order to improve the insurance coefficient of the city gate defense, the gate is actually made up of three parts, namely, gate building, archway and main building. The gate tower is the most outside, its function is the lift suspension bridge. Its used to make more. The enemy entered the gate of the gate, as if entering the urn, and would be attacked from all sides, so this space downstairs is also called "wengcheng". The archery is in the middle, with Windows on both sides, for archery. The wall between the archery and the archery is also called "weng city", which can be tunneled. The building is the main building of the city gate, which is the main building of the city. On the outside of the wall, there is an enemy stand outside the main body, commonly known as the "horse face", every 120 meters. There are 98 horses on the whole wall, the building on the horses face is called the enemy building, and the two towers are 120 meters apart, and the other side is 60 meters, which is "a stones throw away". This layout makes it easy to shoot the enemy from the side. Therefore, the ancients commented, "there is a city without a platform, and without a city, it is a city, so the guard is there, and so is the city." On the outside of the wall there are short pheasants, also known as "battlements", with crenel and square holes for archery and lookout. The inside wall, called the parapet, is designed to prevent soldiers from falling into the wall while they walk. At the four corners of xi an city, there is a tower called the "turret". In the city of weng, which is formed in the archery and the building, there is a horse road leading to the head, which is convenient for the horse and the horse. During the war, this is the key point for the mobilization of troops, and must be kept clear. So the guards are extremely strict.
As the years change, now we can see changle of xi an city wall gate, AnDingMen, rosefinch door, including door, jade auspicious door light, etc., the origin of these names from one side also reflects the ancient city of ups and downs failure. The city wall of Ming xian shows the wisdom and wisdom of the ancient working people in China. Well, the city wall of xi an is here, and we will continue to take you to the bell tower.
Bell tower and drum tower are the unique buildings of ancient Chinese cities. Bells and drums were the earliest percussion instruments in China, with a history of more than 3,000 years. Originally as a ritual instrument and musical instrument. Since the spring and autumn period, it has been used for military command. The ancient Chinese cities had the nature of military castles. Besides the city walls, excavating the moat and setting up the suspension bridge, they also built the bell tower in the center of the city as the command center. At ordinary times, with the morning clock, the time of the report, the time to open and close the suspension bridge, the emergency condition is used to alert the police, command the city defense. This rigorous urban defense system reached its peak in the Ming dynasty. Xi an is a military and political town in the northwest of the Ming dynasty. Its bell tower and drum tower are the most similar buildings in the country, regardless of its size, historical value or artistic value.
What we see now is the bell tower, the building is located in xi an, north and south, east and west four street interchange, it was built in Ming seventeen years, the original is located in the west street meet auspicious view, with the shift in the centre of the city, in the Ming wanli decade, god will tower to a whole demolition, moved to address today.
The bell tower is typical of the Ming dynasty architectural style, the building is 36 meters high, the heavy eaves and arch, magnificent and solemn. It consists of a base, a building and a roof. The base is square, all made of blue bricks. The building, as a square wooden structure, is surrounded by a cloister, which is a two-story building with wooden ladders circling overhead. Inside and below the building inside two floors square hall, display the Ming dynasty since the Ming dynasty all kinds of precious porcelain and red nanmu furniture, all around the door is full of relief painting, the style is simple and vivid. The top of the building is a four-corner structure, covered with a green glazed tile, the top of the dome is 5 meters high, glittering and brilliant.
On the northwest corner of the bell tower is a Ming dynasty iron bell, weighing 5 tons. It is much smaller than the bronze bell that hung from the clock tower. The clock tower, which was originally hung, was a "jingyun bell" cast during the tang dynasty. Now the clock is in xi an stele forest. It is said that, although the style of the tower has not changed since it was moved to the present site, the jingyun bell is not going to sound. There is no alternative but to change. In order to move the jingyun clock to the new clock tower, an inclined bridge was built on the west side of the west street, and the jingyun clock was transported to the bell tower using the ramp. It is said that the "bridge" also got its name.
On the west wall of the clock tower, there are "bell tower song" and "bell tower" inscription. "Zhong Lou ge" is the shaanxi governor who built the bell tower in the same year. In the poem, the bell tower was praised enthusiastically. "The bell tower" is the governor of the bell tower, detailed description of the clock tower. On the door of the bell tower, there are 64 stories of carved wooden relief, including magnolia from the army, the moon and the moon, the book of liu yi, the sea of eight, and so on. After the founding of the Peoples Republic of China, the peoples government of xi an made three major repairs to the clock tower, which restored the ancient architecture to its former glory.
Compared with the bell tower, it is the drum tower. The entrance of the building is south to north, north to north gate and south west street. The drum tower was built in Ming for 13 years, and the bell tower is the sister building. On the north side of the drum tower, there is a huge drum, and the morning bell on the bell tower is known as the drum tower. The building is rectangular, with a height and width of 6 meters and a depth of 38 meters. The drum tower is a heavy eaves, glazed tile roof, heavy eaves and three drops of water. The building is divided into two layers. Under the eaves of the north and south, there was a plaque, which was written by emperor qianlong of the qing dynasty: "wenwu shengdi", which was written by li yunkuan, a scholar in xianning county. The outer eaves of the drum tower are decorated with dougong. Paint on the ceiling painted cloud patterns, antique, very beautiful. The bell and drum tower meet, making the ancient city of xi an more beautiful and spectacular. Well, this is the end of the bell tower tour. Thank you!
Good morning everyone！
Today we will have three places to visit—the Bell Tower the Drum Tower and the City Well. First we come to the Bell Tower.
The Bell Tower, a classical building with carved beams and painted rafters, has been served as the symbol of Xi’an. It stands in the center of the downtown area where the north street, the south street, the west street and the east street meet. And the tower house a huge bell which in ancient times was use to strike the time every morning. This is how the tower got its name. now it is an important historical monument in shaanxi Province.
The Bell tower was first built in Ying Xiang temple in 1384 during the Ming dynasty. It was moved to its present site in 1582 as a result of the city‘s expansion program.
Ladies and gentlemen, There is a story about the Bell Tower. It’s said that the first emperor of Ming dynasty , Zhu yuanzhang , he was born in a poor family. Both his parent died when he was young, and he had to live a hard life. Later, he went to a temple to become a monk. When he ascended the throne, he was afraid of being deposed by someone of “real dragon”. Therefore, he gave orders to build bell tower all over the county to repress the “dragon spirits”. Xi’an has been the imperial capital city since ancient times. So the “dragon spirits ” must be very strong here. That’s why the bell tower in Xi’an was not only built earlier, but also bigger than the other ones in the country. The base of the tower is 1,337.4 square meters in size, 8.6 meters high and 35.5 meters wide. It was laid with blue bricks all over. The whole building is 36 meters above ground. It is a brick-and –wood structure. The eaves are supported by colored “dou gong” a traditional structural system in which brackets are used to join columns and crossbeams, the use of dou gong made the whole building firm and beautiful.
Well, next we will visit the Drum Tower nearly.
The Drum Tower stands 500 meters to the northwest of the Bell Tower. It was built in 1380. There used to be a huge drum in the tower, which told the time at dark, and that is how the tower got its present name. Besides marking the time, the drum was also used to give warnings to people in times of war. The base of The Drum Tower is 1,924 square meters in size, and 34 meters in height. It was built with blue bricks. The Drum Tower has a rectangular shape and shows tier and the outside eaves are decorated with networks of wood arches.
At last, we will visit the famous city wall of Xi’an. The most complete and the best preserved city wall in china.
The city wall of Xi’an is an extension of the prior Tang dynasty structure. It was stared in 1370 and finished in 1378 and has a rectangular –shaped construction. It is over 4 kilometers from the east to west and about 3 kilometers from the north to south. And the total length is 13.7 kilometers. It stands 12 meters high, 12-14 meters wide across the top and 15-18 meters thick at the button. On the top of the city wall, there is a rampart every 120 meters, which extends out from the main wall. The top of the rampart is at the same level as the top of the wall. The ramparts were built to allow soldiers to see those enemies who would try to climb up the wall. The distance between every two ramparts is just within the range of arrow shot from either side. This allowed soldiers to protect the entire wall without exposing themselves to the enemy. There are altogether 98 of them on the city wall and each has a sentry building on top of it.
There are four main gates of the city wall-one on each side-named the east gate, the west gate, south gate and north gate. The four gates of the city wall were the only way to go into and out of town. In Xi’an, each of the four gates consists of three gate towers. The main gate tower is called ZhengLou which is located on top of the main part of the city wall. It is the inner one and is also the main entrance to the city. Zha lou is the gate tower which a suspension bridge and located outside of the city wall. It’s used to lift and lower the suspension bridge. Jian lou is the arrow tower and located in between the Zhenglou and Zhaloutowers. There are square windows in the front and on the two sides to shoot arrows. Jianlou and Zhenglou are connected by walls and the encircled area is called Wongcheng in which soldiers could be stationed. From Wongcheng, there are also horse passages leading to the top of the wall. There are altogether eleven horse passages around the city.
A watch tower is located on each of the four corners of the wall. The one at the southwestern corner is round, probably after the model of the imperial city wall of the Tang dynasty. But the other three are square and are higher and larger than the sentry building on the ramparts. This shows the strategic importance of the corners of the city wall.
All right, we have finished visiting the famous city wall of Xi’an. Thank you.