The Bell Tower stands opposite the Drum Tower not far from the exit from the Forbidden City. The Drum Tower was originally constructed in 1272 during the reign of Kublai Khan. The two towers were central to imperial time keeping and continued to function as official time pieces until 1924 and the expulsion of Puyi the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty from the Forbidden City. Henceforth western style clockwork was used for official time keeping and since the 1980s both Towers have been open to tourists.
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