Sundial in the Forbidden City of Peking; it is many centuries old and was the most important clock in China in the 18th century.
In these days China had another system of measuring the time. A day was dividewd into 12 "Shi".
Later, after the Europeans introduced the day of 24 hours, an hour of 60 minutes was called "xiao shi" (small shi).
Still today the Chinese word for "hour" is "xiaoshi"
 
The clock is made of marble and the rod is made of copper.