How ancient Chinese night watchmen patrolled streets, used ‘dripping buckets’ to tell time

Read the original at South China Morning Post ↗
Cite

Lu, F. (2026, October 25). How ancient Chinese night watchmen patrolled streets, used ‘dripping buckets’ to tell time. South China Morning Post. https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3372045/how-ancient-chinese-night-watchmen-patrolled-streets-used-dripping-buckets-tell-time

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

South China Morning Post · collected 2026-10-25 · by Fran Lu

Quick Summary

In ancient China, before mechanical clocks, night watchmen were crucial for maintaining order and telling time. They primarily used clepsydras—water clocks that measure time by regulating the flow of water—and incense sticks. Clepsydras ranged in materials from common to precious, with those for royal palaces crafted from gold, silver, and jade.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-25, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

In ancient China, before mechanical clocks and digital devices, night watchmen were crucial for keeping time, preventing fires, and maintaining daily routines. They primarily used two methods to tell time: clepsydras (water clocks) and incense sticks. Clepsydras measure time by the regulated flow of water from a vessel, while incense sticks burned at predictable rates. In royal palaces, these water clocks were crafted from luxurious materials such as gold, silver, and jade. This system was in place before the modern era's technological advancements changed how people kept track of time.

Written for “Ancient Chinese Night Watchmen Patrolling” on 2026-10-25, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
This article does not take a side on a contested political question, so it has no leaning score. That is an answer rather than a gap: a match report or a rescue can be warmly or critically written without being left or right, and scoring it anyway is how approval of a subject gets recorded as a political position.
No political leaning scored for article 105550 · logged 2026-10-25

Story

📰 Ancient Chinese Night Watchmen Patrolling
Other · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

Nothing to compare against. No article is close enough to this one for the pipeline to have linked or judged the pair.
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
4
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
0%
0 of 4 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
64/100
South China Morning Post's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Other
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-25 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

South China Morning Post · 3032 article(s) · 6 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 6 correction(s)
2026-10-16
Nobel Peace Prize: the message behind Navi Pillay’s win
2026-10-16
Indonesian governor’s Singapore trip adds fury to forest fire, haze crisis
2026-10-04
Flight to Okinawa diverts back to Hong Kong after suspected landing gear fault
2026-10-04
Tennessee prisons chief resigning after botched execution of Christa Pike
2026-09-29
Indonesian prison chief suspended over secret VIP compound for inmates
2026-09-28
Trump ‘arms offer’ to China jolts Washington into moves to contain the fallout

Who wrote this

Fran Lu
23 article(s) here · 0 carrying a prediction
🔮 Chinese fugitive poses as dead twin brother for 2 decades exposed by sibling’s ex-lover At his arrest, Chen was leading an ordinary life under a false name, confident his ruse would keep him hidden A Chinese fugitive who posed as his deceased twin brother for 19 years was recently arrested after his late brother’s ex-girlfriend identified him. In 2002, a robbery took place in Yuhuan, in eastern China’s Zhejiang province.
2026-10-16 · assertive framing · Chinese fugitive poses as dead twin brother for 2 decades exposed by sibling’s ex-lover
🔮 Online community in China is heart-wrenched over a driver’s goodwill in pulling a rope across a road as a warning sign, which ultimately took the life of a passer-by.
2026-09-20 · assertive framing · Chinese Good Samaritan arrested for manslaughter after kindness leads to fatal accident
🔮 The video interview’s rapid success placed the 29-year-old woman in the spotlight, but she later expressed her willingness to “quit the Internet anytime” in an interview with the Chinese media outlet New Weekly if “my fame begins to consume my time.”
2026-08-24 · assertive framing · China PhD student famous for Christopher Nolan interview accused of widespread plagiarism
Also by Fran Lu
Chinese influencer who survived 35-floor fall returns to social media after near-full recovery
2026-10-22 · South China Morning Post
China university offers course pushing students to call strangers to build confidence, social skills
2026-10-21 · South China Morning Post
‘Outrageous’: Taiwan Mandopop band member assaulted by South Korean diver underwater
2026-10-18 · South China Morning Post
Chinese fugitive poses as dead twin brother for 2 decades exposed by sibling’s ex-lover
2026-10-16 · South China Morning Post
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 23 articles by Fran Lu →

Topics

China Chinese

Subjects

Chinese NORP · 2× China GPE · 1×

Narrative

How ancient Chinese night watchmen patrolled streets, used ‘dripping buckets’ to tell time Ancient water clocks were crafted from a variety of materials; those used in royal palaces were made from gold, silver, and jade In ancient China, before the advent of mechanical clocks and digital devices, people relied mainly on night watchmen to keep time, prevent fires and maintain their daily routines.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-25
2026-10-25 · South China Morning Post
How ancient Chinese night watchmen patrolled streets, used ‘dripping buckets’ to tell time · assertive framing

Claims (4 extracted, 0 hedged)

How ancient Chinese night watchmen patrolled streets, used ‘dripping buckets’ to tell time Ancient water clocks were crafted from a variety of materials; those used in royal palaces were made from gold, silver, and jade In ancient China, before the advent of mechanical clocks and digital devices, people relied mainly on night watchmen to keep time, prevent fires and maintain their daily routines. asserted
people → patrol → routines
But how did the watchmen tell the time? asserted
watchmen → tell → time
Chinese night watchmen mainly used two methods: clepsydras and incense sticks. asserted
watchmen → use → methods
A clepsydra, also known as a water clock, measures time through the regulated flow of water from a vessel. asserted
clepsydra → know → vessel
💬Give feedback
🕘History 🎫Support
Terms · Privacy · beta v2.0.0
Articles to 25 Oct 2026