Built over 700 years ago during the Yuan dynasty, the Chinese musical instruments bells and drums find their way to be used of announcing time to the public. Over the years, bell towers and drum towers outlived their usefulness, and become tourist destinations with thousands of domestic and foreign visitors daily.

The drum tower was built in 1272 during the reign of Kublai Khan, at which time it stood at the heart of the Yuan dynasty capital Dadu.

The drum tower is a two-story building made of wood with a height of 47 meters. In ancient times the upper story of the building housed 24 drums, of which only one survives.

The Drum Tower used various instruments, like bronze clepsydras (water clocks) and drums, to mark the hours back then. Nowadays drum performance is staged every half hour in the tower, so be sure to stay and enjoy the performance.
 
Close behind the Drum Tower stands the Bell Tower, a 33-meter-high building with gray walls and a green glazed roof.

There is the heaviest and biggest bell in Bell Tower, 5.5 meters in height and 60 tons in weight. All old Beijingers use to know the time of the day. Its sounds could be heard as far as 20 miles away.