Fujian Tulou

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One of the world's oldest 5 storey community apartment
Yuchanglou in Yongding county, built in 1308

Fujian Tulou (simplified Chinese: 福建土楼; traditional Chinese: 福建土樓; pinyin: Fújiàn Tǔlóu) is a unique and mysterious Hakka architecture with a thick earth wall enclosure found only in the mountainous areas in southwestern Fujian province bordering Guangdong in southern China. Tulou is usually an enclosed buildings, mostly square or circular in configuration, with a very thick earth wall (up to 6 feet thick) and wooden skeletons, from three to five storeys high, housing up to 80 families. These earth buildings have only one entrance, guarded by 4-5 inch thick wooden doors reinforced with an outer shell of iron plate. The top level of these earth building have gun holes for defence against bandits. What is amazing about these earth buildings is the fact that in spite of the earth wall, some of them are more than 700 years old, surviving through centuries of natural elements, including earth quakes, yet still standing solid. There are more than 20,000 earth buildings to be found in southern China.

In the 50s, US spy satellites picked up the images of earth buildings in southern China, which led the US intelligence to believe that China was in the process of massive buildup of nuclear reactors!

[edit] Distribution of Hakka Tulou

There are about 20,000 tulous located in southwestern region of Fujian province, mostly in Yongding county and Nanjing county.

[edit] Yongding county tulous

Zhenchenglou tulou, an earth rotunda in Yongding county

• Hongkeng village tulous, there are more than forty tulous in Hongkeng village, Hukeng township of Yingding county, including:
  • Zhenchenglou, nicknamed "the prince of tulou", built in 1912 by the descendents of a rich tobacco merchant. Zhenchenglou is a double ring tulou, its outer ring is 4 storey high, total 184 rooms, the inner ring is 2 storey with 32 rooms.
• Gaotou village tulou group
  • Chengqilou, nicknamed "the king of tulou", built in 1709. A four ring rotunda tulou, the outer ring is 4 storey high, with 72 rooms on each level, the second rings are 2 storey high, with 40 rooms on each level, the third ring is one storey with 32 rooms; the community hall is

at the center.

[edit] Nanjing county

• Tian Luo Keng tulou group is located at Fujian province, Nanjing county, Shuyang township, Tian Luo Keng village (literally "Snail Pit" village) in southern China, about four hours drive by motor coach or taxi from Xiamen, through winding and pumpy narrow mountain roads. It consists of five tulous with a square "Buyunlou" at the center, surrounded by three rotunda tulous and an oval tulou, forming a pattern of "four dishes and a soup".The five earth buildings at the Snail Pit village are:
• The square Buyunlou (Reaching the Cloud building) at the center of the quincunx. It was the first tulou at this site, built in 1796. It is three storeys high, each storey has 26 rooms, four sets of stairs, and a circular corridor in front of the rooms at each level. The Buyun building was burnt down by bandits in 1936, rebuilt in1953 according to the original shape.
• The Hechang building, a three storey high round earth building,
• Zhenchang building, three storey, round shape, 26 rooms per storey, built in 1930
• Ruiyun building, built in 1936,
• The oval shape Wenchang building of 1966, 3 storeys, 32 rooms per storey.

Fujian Tulou at Tian Luo Keng(Snail Pit) village

Buyun building main gate

Wenchang building main gate

Interior of a rotunda tulou:Hechanglou

[edit] Pinghe county

[edit] Huaan county

[edit] Shaoan county

[edit] Zhangpu county

[edit] UNESCO World Heritage Tentative list

Fujian Tulou was submitted by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage of the People's Republic of China to UNESCO World Heritage Committee in Jan 31 2002 and is listed in the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative list #1689 ^[1].

[edit] See also

• Tulou

[edit] References