14 Stunning Photos of Fujian's UNESCO listed Hakka Roundhouses
Fujian Tulou (literally meaning “mud buildings”) is a property of 46 buildings constructed between the 15th and 20th centuries over 120 km in Nanjing County, south-west of Fujian province.
They were built for defence purposes and are inscribed as exceptional examples of a building tradition and function exemplifying a particular type of communal living and defensive organization.
Housing a whole clan, the houses functioned as village units and were known as “a little kingdom for the family” or “bustling small city.”
They feature tall fortified mud walls capped by tiled roofs with wide over-hanging eaves.
Yuchang is a round building and looks like other round houses from outside. It sits quietly on the mountain and by the river. Though the seemingly collapsing wooden frames look unsafe and even dangerous, the four-story house has been in use for over 700 years.
The ancestral hall, a site of ancestor worship in Chinese culture, was placed at the center of the round house representing the critical importance of the ancestral hall. Ancestral halls are believed to be closely linked to Confucian culture.
The heritage town of Yunshui (literally cloud and water) is a historical site with featured scenery spots such as enduring ancient paths, centuries old banyan trees and the famous earthen building.
One of the oldest banyan trees in the town covers an area of 1933 square meters (20806 square feet), it is also by far the largest banyan tree found in Fujian Province.
The two-story stores next to the ancient path are all brick-and-wood houses which have been in use for hundreds of years witnessing the town’s up and down as time goes by.
Hegui Building (Chinese: 和贵楼), a square earthen building served as the residence of the Jian Family, was built in the 10th year of Yongzheng Era of the Qing Dynasty (1732 AD). It was once the highest building in Nanjing County in history.
It is built on a swamp covering more than 3,000 square meters and is known as the “Onshore Noah's Ark.
Huaiyuan Building (Chinese:怀远楼), or Huaiyuan Earthen Building, built in 1905 in late Qing Dynasty, is located in Kanxia Village, Meili Town, 54 kilometers from Nanjing County.
Covering an area of 1384 square meters, Huaiyuan Building is 4-storey round earthen building in the height of 14.5 meters with 136 rooms. It is the best preserved earthen building with the most exquisite construction technology in Nanjing County.
Kazi Ahmed - Fujian earthen structures Tulou Chuxi, Chuxi tulou group, Tianluokeng tulou cluster
A tulou is usually a large, enclosed and fortified earth building, most commonly rectangular or circular in configuration, with very thick load-bearing rammed earth walls between three and five stories high and housing up to 80 families. Smaller interior buildings are often enclosed by these huge peripheral walls which can contain halls, storehouses, wells and living areas, the whole structure resembling a small fortified city.
The fortified outer structures are formed by compacting earth, mixed with stone, bamboo, wood and other readily available materials, to form walls up to 6 feet (1.8 m) thick. Branches, strips of wood and bamboo chips are often laid in the wall as additional reinforcement. The result is a well-lit, well-ventilated, windproof and earthquake-proof building that is warm in winter and cool in summer. Tulous usually have only one main gate, guarded by 4–5-inch-thick (100–130 mm) wooden doors reinforced with an outer shell of iron plate. The top level of these earth buildings has gun holes for defensive purposes.
A total of 46 Fujian Tulou sites, including Chuxi tulou group, Tianluokeng tulou cluster, Hekeng tulou cluster, Gaobei tulou cluster, Dadi tulou cluster, Hongkeng tulou cluster, Yangxian lou, Huiyuan lou, Zhengfu lou and Hegui lou, have been inscribed in 2008 by UNESCO as World Heritage Site, as exceptional examples of a building tradition and function exemplifying a particular type of communal living and defensive organization [in a] harmonious relationship with their environment.
* References used from Wikipedia
Fujian Tulou
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