Dazhongting Park | The bell tower is west of the drum tower

| The Bell Tower is west of the Drum Tower. [WorldMap] The Hongwu Capital Atlas records: "The Drum Tower is located in the southeast of the present-day North City Bingmasi, commonly known as Huangnigang. The Bell Tower is to the west of the Drum Tower." Later, according to the Ming Unified Records: "The Drum Tower is two miles east of the Bell Tower." It was discovered that today's Big Bell Pavilion Park was not the place originally built during the Ming Dynasty. 🪨 It was not until 1972 that a five-ton stone column base and glazed tile fragments from the Ming Dynasty were discovered in the North Park of Nanjing University, which may be the location of the Ming Dynasty bell tower ruins. 🔔 During the reign of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty, the bell tower was destroyed. The standing bell was destroyed during the Taiping Rebellion, leaving behind a 635-year-old copper lying bell that was half sunken in the ground. At the time, there was no way to pull up this ancient bell, which was second only to the Yongle Bell in Beijing. During the reign of Emperor Guangxu, Xu Zhenyi, governor of Jiangning, raised and planted the tree with machines and built a pavilion to cover it. This was the predecessor of the Big Bell Pavilion. After liberation, the Big Bell Pavilion was listed as a cultural relic protection unit in Jiangsu Province. Today, the big bell pavilion has been transformed into a small and beautiful citizen park, and every flower and tree in the park is built to set off the bell pavilion. Looking up, the Zifeng high-rise building opposite and this quaint place can also be framed in the same shot. With the sound of morning bells and evening drums, Huangnigang became the center of Nanjing City. Six hundred years seemed like a blink of an eye. Tips❗️: The big clock is not open every day. It is now open from 9:00 to 11:00 every Thursday morning. [No tickets required, no reservations required] 📍 Address: No. 1, Dazhongting Road, Xuanwu District. Take Metro Line 1 to Gulou Station (Exit 4B) and walk for 5 minutes to the destination; take bus No. 1/3/35 to Zhongyang Road·Gulou Station and get off there. There is no parking lot in the park and parking is inconvenient around it. 🕐 Opening hours: 08:00~22:00 (open all year round) ⏳ Visiting time: half an hour, there is a tourist service center and toilets. 💌 Recommended nearby places: Drum Tower Park, Drum Tower Campus of Nanjing University.