The Economist.
This intimidating sound is dear to my heart.
The drums of Beijing's gulou, its drum tower, for which this podcast is named.
Those drums were recorded by Colin Suyuan Chinnery, a Chinese-British sound artist.
We're in the drum hall of the drum tower.
It's quite high up above the city,
and there used to be 25 drums here that used to be beaten every two hours to announce the time for the city.
In imperial Beijing, sound was remarkably important,
and the drum tower was used to keep order.
And the way that the drums used to be beat was, the saying is in Chinese,
which means you hit the drums 18 times fast, 80 times slow,
and 18 times neither fast nor slow, which makes 54 times, and that's one cycle,
and you have to hit it two cycles, that makes 108 times.
And all these numbers, 18 and 72 and 54, Every single one of those things has a meaning.
The Junta has lost its official role.
It's a museum now.
And in many ways, today's Beijing sounds like any big modern city.
I'm going to take you to places where Beijing's ancient soundscape is being kept alive.
I'm David Rennie, The Economist's Beijing Bureau Chief.
This week, Alice is taking a break from all her reporting,