The Tulou of Fujian: Fortress Houses of the Hakka
In the hills of south-western Fujian, clans of several hundred people lived inside single buildings of rammed earth, round or square, closed to the outside. Forty-six of them are World Heritage sites.
The tulou, or earth buildings, of Fujian are among the most unusual houses in the world. Each is a single structure built to hold an entire clan: a ring or a square of rammed earth, several storeys high, with one gate and no windows near the ground. They stand in the mountains of south-western Fujian, a region settled by the Hakka and by other groups.
UNESCO inscribed 46 of them on the World Heritage List in July 2008, as exceptional examples of a building tradition and of communal living organised for defence. It describes the property as 46 buildings constructed between the 15th and 20th centuries across about 120 kilometres.
How a tulou works
The outer wall is of earth rammed in layers, very thick at the base, and works as a fortification. The only entrance is a gate with a heavy wooden door. The lower storeys have no openings to the outside, and windows begin above the first floor.
Inside, the building turns to face a courtyard. Timber galleries run round each floor, and the rooms open off them. The buildings were divided vertically between families, each with two or three rooms on every floor, so that all shared the same space. The largest tulou housed up to 800 people. In contrast with the plain exterior, the interiors were often richly decorated.
The arrangement answered to a countryside where communities competed for land, and placed the whole clan behind one door.
The buildings to see
Chengqilou. Dated to 1709 and called the king of the tulou. It is round and among the most visited.
Zhenchenglou. Built in 1912 and known as the prince of the tulou. It belongs to the Hongkeng cluster and shows Western influences in its decoration.
Yuchanglou. Described as the oldest and tallest of the group, dated to 1308. The posts of its galleries lean at angles to one another.
Tianluokeng. A cluster of five tulou on a hillside: a square one at the centre, surrounded by three round and one oval, nicknamed “four dishes and a soup”. The view from the road above is the best-known image of the region.
For travellers
The inscribed buildings are spread through the counties of Nanjing, Yongding and Hua’an, within a few hours by road of Xiamen. They can be seen in a long day, but a night in the area allows a visit in the early morning and evening, when the tour groups are absent. Many tulou are still inhabited, and some take guests.
The roads between the clusters are slow and winding, and a car with a driver is the practical way to travel. Residents live in the buildings: ask before photographing people or entering upper floors. Admission is usually charged by cluster.
The same journey can include the old port of Quanzhou, on the coast north of Xiamen.