Custom House, Shanghai
Neoclassical customs tower with a Big Ben style clock nicknamed Big Ching, its chimes tracking decades of political change.
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About this audio guide
This guide to Shanghai's Custom House traces the story behind its Big-Ben-style clock tower, nicknamed Big Ching, from its 1927 construction by the firm Palmer and Turner to the political tug-of-war fought over its chimes. It follows how the bells' Westminster melody was silenced for a Chinese revolutionary tune during the Cultural Revolution, briefly restored for Queen Elizabeth II's 1986 visit, then swapped again in 1997. Listen for the story of the lone keeper who has wound the century-old English mechanism by hand ever since.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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