Drum tower (Asia)

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.

This article about a building or structure in China is a stub.