From ancient China until the beginning of this century, when there were no clocks, it was very popular in urban and rural areas to beat the drums at night to tell the time.
There are "Drum Tower" in big cities, and "Night Watch Building" in small towns or country houses. Every night, the night watchman (the servant who patrols and tells the time) walks out of the night watchman's floor on time and beats the drums all the way to tell the time. Today, in some remote villages, drums or wooden hammers are still used to "beat" time.
Extended data:
Twelve-hour system:
It was used in the Western Zhou Dynasty. In the Han Dynasty, it was named Midnight, Crow, Pingdan, Sunrise, Food Time, Horn, Japan-China, Sundial, Sunset, Dusk and Man's Decision.
It is also expressed by the twelve earthly branches, and it is the child time from 23: 00 to 1 at midnight, the ugly time from 1 to 3: 00, and the Yin Shi time from 3: 00 to 5: 00, which are recursive in turn.
24-hour system.
Before the Song Dynasty, a copper pot was used to measure time by dripping water, and a steel ruler was inserted into the leaky pot, which was above the water level, and it was clear at a glance after X. In the Song Dynasty, the water transport instrument was invented, and the gear passed behind the door with a villain holding a card. It is easy to judge two signs: the time when Woodenhead Jr. first appeared and the time when Woodenhead Jr. was in the right position.
Later, when the time was right, time was stuck in the right place, such as Zi Chu, Zizheng, Chou Chu, Chou Zheng, Yin Chu, Andrew, Mao Chu, Mao Zheng, Chen Zheng, Si Chu, Si Zheng, Wu Chu, Zheng Wu, Wei Chu, Shen Zheng, You Chu, You Zheng and Zheng Wu.