Anhui Fengyang Drum Tower, the largest existing drum tower in China with a long history, recently experienced a partial collapse of its roof, causing a significant amount of tiles to fall off accompanied by billowing smoke and dust. The drum tower underwent repairs just last year and has not even reached a year since its completion.
On the evening of May 19th, multiple videos of “Fengyang Drum Tower collapsing” circulated online. The videos showed a large number of tiles falling off the roof of Fengyang Drum Tower, creating a substantial amount of dust.
According to a report by Da Xiang News on May 20th, an eyewitness stated that around 6 p.m. on the 19th, she noticed the tiles of the drum tower starting to fall off and captured the scene with her mobile phone.
A nearby merchant mentioned that the primary issue was the falling tiles, with the most being from the top layer, falling onto the second floor and below.
Regarding whether the tile falling was due to strong winds, the merchant said that the wind on that day was not particularly strong.
Another nearby merchant mentioned that the falling of tiles from the drum tower, which is only about thirty to fifty meters from their storefront, lasted for one or two minutes. There were no reported injuries at the scene, and a perimeter has been set up around the drum tower as a precaution.
According to Modern Express, the Fengyang County Mingzhong Drum Tower had completed repairs last year with a total expenditure of 3.41206 million Chinese yuan. The final inspection was conducted less than a year ago.
On the evening of May 19th, personnel on duty at the Fengyang County Government in Anhui province confirmed the incident, describing it as a sudden event. They indicated that part of the drum tower had collapsed with tiles falling off, and authorities were present at the scene to handle the situation.
According to a notification from the Fengyang County Cultural and Tourism Bureau, around 6:30 p.m. on May 19th, a section of tiles on one side of the roof of the Fengyang County Drum Tower (rebuilt in 1995) partially fell off, resulting in no casualties.
Public records reveal that the Fengyang Drum Tower, also known as the Ming Dynasty Qiaolou, was first constructed in the eighth year of the Ming Hongwu era (1375 AD) in the center of Fengyang County. At that time, Zhu Yuanzhang planned to move the capital to his hometown of Fengyang and built this drum tower to announce time to the entire city. The drum tower of Fengyang used a copper pot drip to record time. From 5 a.m. to 11 p.m., every two hours, when each time period arrived, soldiers on the drum tower would strike the dozens of large drums to announce the time throughout the city.
The four characters “万世根本” (Foundation of Eternity) on the door lintel of the drum tower are visible from hundreds of meters away. The drum tower now houses the Zhu Yuanzhang Memorial Hall, with the first floor detailing the life of the Ming dynasty founding emperor born in Fengyang, and the second floor covering Zhu Yuanzhang’s endeavors in Fengyang and the construction of the Ming Dynasty capital during the Hongwu period in detail.
The Fengyang Drum Tower is composed of a platform and buildings. The platform is 72 meters long from north to south, 34.25 meters wide from east to west, and 15.8 meters high, making it the largest drum tower platform in China. The building was destroyed by fire in the third year of the Xianfeng period during the Qing Dynasty (1853), leaving only the city platform. In 1989, the platform was designated as a key cultural relic protection unit in Anhui Province, and the existing building was rebuilt in 1995. The two-story building is nine bays wide and five bays deep, making it the largest existing drum tower in China.