Time- keeping

Post 137 The big drum at the police station

I grew up in Kulim, a small town in the northern state of Kedah. In the 1950s I used to hear the beating sounds from a big drum at night. The sounds came from the police station five shop lots away from our family shop house. I later found out that the sounds were meant to be heard by policemen who were on night duty patrolling the town. When it was 1.00am, there would be one bang on the drum; two bangs would mean 2.00am and three would mean 3.00am. The beating of the drum would stop at 6.00am. To light sleepers staying nearby the police station, it must have been disturbing for them to hear the sound of drum every hour. However whenever I go back to visit my hometown, I would pass by the police station to see if the big drum was still hanging there.

The ancient timing system was based on the law of nature: early to bed and early to rise. In ancient China there was a common career called ‘Dageng’ (打更), with people going round striking at their gongs to inform villagers at regular intervals what time it was at night. There was a lack of accurate time keeping means at that time. More people were engaged to ‘Dageng’ in rural areas where there was no cultural and recreational life at night. However with the popularity of watches and 24-hour TV programmes easily available, time keeping through the beating of gongs and drums has now become legendary.

Clock watchers, who do time-keeping all the time in office, are doing no job. – quote by Ho Nee Yong

27 March 2012