Drum tower (Asia)

Drum tower in Wat Si Saket, a Buddhist temple in Vientiane, Laos

A drum tower (Chinese: 鼓楼; pinyin: gǔlóu) or gulou is a tower in the center of an old Asian city or village, mainly China, housing signal drums.^[1] There was usually also a bell tower nearby.^{[citation needed]}

They were once found all over China in villages, marking the symbolic center of the settlement and used to mark nightfall and to summon the people for civic ceremonies and significant occasions, such as Chinese New Year.^[2]

The drum tower often being located in the symbolic center of a city, downtown districts of several Chinese cities have been named after the tower.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Drum tower (Chinese Buddhism), a different type of drum tower

Individual drum towers

• Gulou and Zhonglou (Beijing) (Drum Tower and Bell Tower of Beijing)
• Drum Tower of Xi'an
• Drum Tower of Nanjing
• Bianjing Drum Tower

References

1. Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, ed. (1 September 2016). 现代汉语词典(第七版) [A Dictionary of Current Chinese] (in Chinese) (Seventh ed.). Beijing: The Commercial Press. p. 470. ISBN 978-7-100-12450-8. 鼓楼】gǔlóu 名 旧时城市中设置大鼓的楼，楼内按时敲鼓报告时辰。
2. Young, Michael (28 August 2019). "Lindy Lee's Drum Tower in New York". Asian Art Newspaper. Retrieved 25 September 2021.