"Dong! Dong! Dong!"
The beat of drums first started from the Drum Tower.
Slow and steady, heavy and deep, like a knock on a person's chest.
The drum sounded three times.
On both sides under the Drum Tower, two burly men, bare-chested, wielded large drumsticks, continuing onward.
Three more sounds, ten feet away, another burly man wielded a drumstick.
One after another, one drum after another, passed relay.
Dong dong dong! Dong dong dong! Dong dong dong!
The sound of the drums stretched on, passing along like a relay of torches, awakening the slumbering giant beast, yellow dust lightly rising, ripples waving, and small stones on the roof tiles softly trembling, all tourists stopping in their tracks, holding their breath, raising hands to their hearts.
Sounding until the Shangrao Wharf.
Seventy-two people on both sides of the altar, in two lines of a hundred and eight.
