Fujian Tulou

Overview

About

The Fujian tulou, some 3,000 in all, include the tulou of the Minnan people and some of the Hakka. They are large communal buildings for living and defence, their walls rammed from raw earth in formwork, found chiefly in the mountains of south-west Fujian where Fujian, Jiangxi and Guangdong meet, among the Hakka and Minnan: Zhangzhou, mainly Minnan, and Longyan, half Minnan and half Hakka.

In July 2008 46 tulou were inscribed on the World Heritage List: the Chuxi, Tianluokeng, Hekeng, Hongkeng and Gaobei clusters, the Dadi cluster in Hua’an County, and the Yanxiang, Zhenfu, Huaiyuan and Hegui towers.

Travel tips

Getting there: the tulou are in the hills of Yongding (Longyan) and Nanjing and Hua'an (Zhangzhou). Most visitors start from Xiamen, taking a long-distance or tourist bus to the Yongding or Nanjing tulou areas, two to three hours away. The clusters are far apart, so many people hire a car.

Yongding: the Hongkeng cluster includes Zhencheng Lou; the Gaobei cluster has Chengqi Lou; the Chuxi cluster lies deeper in the hills.

Nanjing: shuttle buses run from the tulou visitor centre in Shuyang to Tianluokeng and Yunshuiyao. The Tianluokeng cluster (three round and one oval building around a square one) is seen from a viewpoint on the hill above. Yuchang Lou, Taxia village, the Hekeng cluster and the old village of Yunshuiyao are nearby.

Hua'an: the Dadi cluster with Eryi Lou is farther from Nanjing and Yongding and needs a separate trip.

Time: one day for either Yongding or Nanjing; two days for both.

Where to stay: Hongkeng, Yunshuiyao and other villages have guesthouses inside tulou; a night there lets you see them early and late in the day.

Note: most tulou are still lived in; do not walk into private rooms. Residents often sell tea and local products; there is no obligation to buy.

Season: any time of year. Spring is rainy and summer hot. The mountain roads are winding.

The Tianluokeng cluster, Nanjing

The Tianluokeng cluster is in Shuyang township, Nanjing County, Zhangzhou: one square tower, three round towers and one oval tower.

The square tower in the middle, Buyun Lou, was built in 1796, more than two hundred years ago: three storeys, 26 rooms to a floor and four staircases. Around it stand the round Hechang, Zhenchang, Ruiyun and Wenchang towers.

Yuchang Lou

Yuchang Lou, a round tulou 700 years old, stands in Xiaban village, Shuyang township, Nanjing County. Built in 1308, it has five storeys of 54 rooms each, 270 rooms in all, one of the earliest high-rise apartment buildings in the world. It once had a single-storey inner ring around the ancestral hall, demolished around 2003; its foundations can still be seen.

Each kitchen on the ground floor of the rear half has its own well beside the stove.

Stamps

In 2021 China Post issued 2021-8 “Fujian Tulou”, four stamps: Zhencheng Tower, Eryi Tower, the Tianluokeng cluster and Chengqi Tower.

One of the 14 stamps of the 1986 definitive set R23 “Traditional Dwellings” shows a Fujian dwelling, a round tulou.

Map

Photo credits: Tianluokeng tulou cluster: Scott Edmunds (CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons)

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