The Bell Tower of Xi'an, built in 1384 during the early Ming Dynasty, is a symbol of the city of Xi'an and one of the grandest of its kind in China. The Bell Tower also contains several large bronze-cast bells from the Tang Dynasty. The tower base is square and it covers an area of 1,377 square meters. The tower is a brick and timber structure and close to 40 meters high.

There are several legends regarding the Bell Tower, one of them tells:

In Ming Dynasty, several earthquakes struck Guanzhong area, thousands were dead and injured. Then a legend appeared: There was a great river flowing across the center of Xi'an City. A dragon in the river was always active and caused trouble, so an earthquake occurred. An official of Xi'an government believed these words, so he ordered the blacksmith of the whole city to make a several thousand feet of long iron chain in order to lock the dragon and sink it to river. He then ordered 5,000 craftsmen to repair the Bell Tower day and night in order to use the tower to restrain the dragon. He believed this would suppress the dragon firmly under the river and so it would no longer be active and cause trouble again. After establishing the Bell Tower, earthquakes never occurred in Xi'an again.

According to another legend:

The forefather of Ming Dynasty named Zhu Yuanzhang was born poor and his parents passed away early. He depended on tending sheep for others when he was very little. When he grew up, he left home and became a monk. When he became the emperor, he was afraid that the real emperor ("dragon son of heaven"-means king sent from heaven, a dragon is the symbol of the emperor) in the country somewhere will fight for the throne with him. He then ordered to build the bell towers to suppress the "dragon power". Xi'an was the emperor city in ancient times and it was the place of emperor's throne and the "dragon power" was very strong of course. Zhu Yuanzhang was afraid, so the Bell Tower in Xi'an was built not only quickly, but also very tall.

Relief story

Clock Tower House, beautifully carved doors rotten window complicated, showing a prevalence of Ming decorative arts. DoorRelief on a fan site, tells the story of many ancient anecdotes, stories have the name of each piece of the top brand names. One famous story: Mulancongjun; Wen Ji Gui Han; flute cited Feng; Longevity Palace vows; Moon; Li Bai on the invitation; Ya Guqin; finishing touch; horses horses; "Eight Immortals, recount"; pole to attend the meeting; Yuemucizi; smell chicken dance ... ... and so on. Familiar with history will be carefully watched a lot of tourists harvest.

The most central location in Xi';an, a landmark, is a famous well-preserved ancient buildings, beautiful stately grace. Clock tower bells each day to perform, and displayThe Qi is also quite valuable paintings donated pro.

Traffic

Clock Tower is located in Xi';an, the most central location within the city walls, after many buses here. 4,6,7,8,11,12,15,16,26,29,32,35,36,37,43,45,46,118,201,203,205,206,208,214,215, 216,218,221,222,229,235,239,251,300,302,502,600, K600, 603,604, K605, 606,608,609,611,612,612 interval, K618, K630, 706, Tour 7, Tour 8 (610) bus can be reached, the clock tower station to get off.

Tip:do not intentionally look for which bus to the clock tower, the city almost all parts of this bus. Station, the bus station, hamlet, the Dayan Pagoda and other transportation hubs have a lot of bus stops locations, see the stop sign to find a "tower" to stop the car ride.

Tickets

27 yuan/person; Bell Tower, Drum Tower ticket 40 yuan/person; bell charge the 5 yuan.

Opening hours:April 1 -10 31 for the 8:00-22:00; November 1 - 8:00-17:30 March 31 next year.

Hint:the entrance to the towers around the ring at the bell tower of the underground pedestrian corridor.

Phone:029 -8728839787274580