• Fujian (Hakka) Tulou

• Name in Chinese characters: 福建土楼
• Name in Pinyin: Fújiàn Tǔlóu

• General Overview

  Written by James Coote

  

  Fans of Thunderbirds might imagine the floors of the central courtyard sliding apart and stone and slate buildings neatly folding into recesses in the walls to reveal one of the big rockets from the children’s' TV show launching from its underground bunker into the skies above China. The story goes that US intelligence initially mistook aerial and satellite imagery of the Hakka roundhouses or 'tulou' as serving the rather more sinister purpose of missile silo's.

  Fortunately for us, the Hakka tulou are not secret military installations, but fascinating structures nestled in the hills of South-East China. The Hakka, their creators, are an ethnic sub-group of the Han, persecuted and forced to move many times in their history until finally settling inland on the borders between Fujian and Guangzhou provinces. Here, each clan or extended family would build fortified homes from rammed earth and stone, typically cylindrical affairs with rooms and apartments looking inward to a central courtyard. Part farmhouse, part apartment block, part miniature castle, many have survived to this day, though increasingly problems with installing utilities and the decline in the need for defendable homes has seen many Hakka move out. Some tulou have fallen into disrepair, but others are kept as family heirlooms, or used in a variety of other ways from theatres to storehouses and increasingly as tourist attractions.

  The Hakka culture has also remained largely intact and a visit to the tulou provides a glimpse into peasant life of the past, and also how rural life is continuing to adapt and evolve in China

  Attractions For Visitors

  Added by China Journeys

  

  Most tourists head to the densest concentrations of Tulou in Yongding County and Nanjing County. There are other areas Hakka Tulou and not just in Fujian Province; there are quite a few just over the provincial border in Guangdong Province.

  The most famous clusters are at:

  • Zhencheng (Yongding);
  • Chengqi (Yongding);
  • Tianluokeng (Nanjing);
  • Yuchang (Nanjing); and
  • Eryilou (Zhangzhou)

  Our 14 night journey from Shanghai to Guangzhou, East Coast Explorer, visits the two Fujian Hakka Tulou in Nanjing County on day 12.

  

  Although now listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Fujian Hakka Tulou are almost all still in use as residential homes. To date, only two have been vacated and converted to museums. This makes a visit much more interesting. It is true that many of the young people have now moved away, and that the Tulou population is an ageing one, but that is a trend across the nation and not one peculiar to this particular form of rural habitation. The Tulou themselves are still sound and make quality homes.

  
  
  
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• Current Comments

  2 comments so far (post your own)

  Hi Kiera
  
  For sure. We have a contact in the Tianluokeng Tulou (near Nanjing, Fujian). She speaks very good English and is always happy to talk about life there.
  
  Check out our East Coast Explorer. This visits Tianluokeng on day 12

  Posted by China Journeys on Sun 18 Dec, 2011

  Do people really still live in these? Is it possible to meet and talk with them?

  Posted by Kiera on Sun 18 Dec, 2011

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