Folk houses with peculiar styles are scattered in Yongding, Wuping and Shanghang in western Fujian and Nanjing, Pinghe, Huaan and Zhangpu in southwestern Fujian. Its modeling, decoration and construction technology are rare in the world, and the earth building is commonly called "raw earth building". Because most of them were built by Hakka people in Fujian, they are also called "Hakka Tulou". It is made of raw soil as the main building material, mixed with fine sand, lime, glutinous rice, brown sugar, bamboo chips, wood strips and so on. After repeated kneading, frying and squeezing. The roof is covered with fireproof tiles, which can be used for a long time. Tulou can be as high as four or five stories, so that three or four generations can live in the same building.
This kind of civil frame residence with raw soil as the wall is one of the more styles in the traditional residence category in China. There are many kinds of shapes, such as circle, square, semicircle, ellipse, vertex, pentagon, gossip, five phoenix, peach and irregular, among which circle, square, vertex and five phoenix tower are the most common.
Square buildings, called "Square Building" in Yongding and "Four Corners Building" in Nanjing, have the earliest origin and are the most complete, closed and solid so far. This kind of earth building is about 16 meters high, and can reach five floors, each floor is about 3 meters apart. The bottom wall is thicker and thinner, and the bottom wall is more than 1 meter thick. The higher the wall, the narrower it is, and the top layer is only 0.8 meters thick. The building covers an area of thousands of square meters, and the five floors have a total construction area of about 3000 square meters. There are more than 20 rooms on each floor, 1 hall, and the whole building has about 100 rooms. There are stairs leading upstairs in the east, west, north and south directions of the building. A building can accommodate more than 20 households, more than 30 households, 100 people. Its representatives are He Jiong Building in Pushan Village, Meilin Township, Nanjing, Dafudi in Wuping and Fuxin Building in Xiang Lei Village, Yongding Lake. Yongdingfu New Building, also known as "Xialou" and "Burning Building", was built in the fourth year of the Tang Dynasty (769), with a history of 1 200 years, and its residents have passed down to the 27th generation. The "Wu's Building" in Guzhu Township of Yongding is a special type of square building structure, and its corridor is designed in the wall, which saves a lot of wood and has strong concealment.
Round building is also called "round building" and "earth round building", and Yongding Hakka people call it "village". Cylindrical circular building is the most representative one of Fujian earth buildings. Yongding, Nanjing, Pinghe, Shanghang and Hua 'an are all based on this kind of earth building. According to legend, this circular building was developed from a military camp of Chen Yuanguang, a general of the Tang Dynasty, more than 300 years ago. The circular building is huge and magnificent in appearance, with a diameter of 50 ~ 70 meters everywhere. The "Chengqilou" round village in Gaobei Village, Guzhu Township, Yongding County, western Fujian Province, was built in the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty (1662 ~ 1723) with a diameter of 73 meters. It is a huge castle composed of concentric big rings, small rings and three rings. Each circle is separated by a circular well-shaped courtyard, the outer ring is 229 meters long, and the bottom soil wall is thick. The outermost ring is four stories high, the central ring is two stories high, and the third ring is a bungalow. At the center of the circle is an octagonal ancestral hall. There are 400 rooms in the whole building, with a total area of 5376 square meters, and more than 600 people have lived in 80 households. The round village of "Pingzuo Juening" in Lufeng Village, Luxi Township, Pinghe County, southern Fujian Province, with a round diameter of 77 meters, is the largest known round earth house in the world and is still inhabited. The main building is four stories high, about 14.5 meters high, with 77 bays on each floor. Up to now, there are still 77 families with more than 250 people, all belonging to the same clan. It was built in the early years of Kangxi in Qing Dynasty and lasted for 40 years before and after the project. At the peak, more than 700 people lived in it. Ordinary circular buildings cover an area of 1000 square meters. Generally speaking, Yongding Tower has three floors, while Nanjing Tower often has four or five floors. It is about 12 or 13 meters high, with about 30 houses on each floor and 2 to 4 stairs (depending on the size of the building). Many round buildings have another small round building covering an area of 20 to 30 square meters; As a place for ancestor worship and entertainment, it has a unique style; Usually, the small round building can accommodate more than 20 households 100 people. The architectural style of circular building is similar to that of square building in the thickness of earth wall, but the difference is that the specifications of rooms on each floor in the building are more unified and standardized. Circular buildings also overcome some shortcomings of square buildings. For example, the four-corner house of a square building has dark light, poor ventilation, and is close to the wooden stairs, which makes a lot of noise, while the circular building eliminates the corners, the components are uniform in size, the construction is relatively simple, and the roof is more simplified. Compared with square buildings, there is no obvious difference in room orientation, which is beneficial to the distribution within the clan. In addition, the circular area surrounded by the same perimeter is 1.273 times of the square area, so the circular building has more inner courtyard space than the building. Because there is no angle, the demand for large wood is correspondingly reduced, and the wind, earthquake and fire resistance are higher. Shengping Building, which was built in Baoshan Village, Shajian Township, Hua 'an County in the 29th year of Wanli of Ming Dynasty (160 1), is the only three-story circular building in southern Fujian. It is also a unit structure. Because it is not sheltered from the wind and rain, the eaves are small and look like stone mills. This stone round building is a unique branch of Fujian earth round building family, but its seismic performance is not as good as that of earth buildings.
In Nanjing and other places, there is also an adobe building called "Top Chair Building", which is roughly the same as a square building. However, the front room is slightly lower, and it is a bungalow or a two-story building, and the left and right are slightly higher, and it is a two-story or three-story building, which looks like an "armrest" of a seat. The back room is the tallest, reaching more than three floors, just like the backrest of a seat. The whole building is like a "top chair", so it is commonly called "top chair building". Its characteristics are low in front of the earth wall and high in the back, abundant sunshine, fresh air, warm in winter and cool in summer. There are fifty or sixty rooms, 15 households, with about sixty or seventy people. The Changyuan Building in Shi Qiaocun, Shuyang Township, Nanjing County, which was built in the first year of Yongzheng (1723) is its representative.
In earth buildings, circular buildings and square buildings are usually built separately, but in some places, due to historical reasons, a group of earth buildings combining circular buildings and square buildings has also been formed. The Huang family in Tianluokeng, Shuyang Township, Nanjing County has built five complete round and square earth buildings in the past 100 years. Looking down from the air, a square building stands in the center and four circular buildings surround the four corners. It is like a huge plum blossom in full bloom, dotted on the green plain, scattered and beautiful. When the complex was first built, it was just a square building, and Huang's ancestors named it "Hechang Building". Later, due to the increasing population, four round earth buildings were built around the square building, guarding the "Hechang Building" from the east, west, south and north directions, making it look like a hut and a castle, which is amazing and impressive. In addition, there are a group of round buildings, square buildings and round buildings in Gaobei Village, Guzhu Township, Yongding. This ingenious idea and peculiar combination have been praised by architectural experts at home and abroad.
The ground floor of circular or square buildings is used as kitchen and dining room, and some are also used as cowshed and pigsty. The ground floor will never open to the outside. The second floor is a utility room for storing grain and farm tools, and there are few outward windows. The bedroom is above the third floor. The upstairs and downstairs rooms are the same size as each single room, generally around 10 m2, which is relatively narrow and can only accommodate one bed, one cabinet and one table, reflecting the habit of Hakka families taking the hall as the main activity space instead of the bedroom. The corridors of tulou are mostly open corridors for everyone to use, and the doors and windows of each room are facing the corridor. There are also some earth buildings that are cut in gossip units or each room from the first floor to the top floor is an independent unit. Every household is connected up and down by stairs. The "Sincere Building" in Hukeng Township, Yongding County is divided into 8 groups of bedrooms in the shape of gossip, with 6 bedrooms per unit, 48 bedrooms on each floor and 4 bedrooms on *** 192. Each unit is separated by a firewall and connected by an arch, and there is a bathroom downstairs.
Among the Hakka dwellings in western Fujian and southwestern Fujian, there is also a kind of earthen house with a different style from the square earthen house, commonly known as "Wufeng House" (known as "Dawuxia" in Nanjing), which is a kind of mansion-style earthen house. The five phoenixes originated from the five elements of five colors (East, West, South, North and Middle). The famous Wufeng Tower represents the corresponding meaning of the Quartet and the Central Committee. It is like a palace in the ancient Central Plains, and it is also like the form of the Forbidden City in Beijing. Highlight the center of the central axis, and on the basis of plane development, pay attention to balance and symmetry, orderly front and rear, and orderly layout. The most common five-peak pagoda is three halls and two horizontal styles, and there are also three halls and one horizontal style, four horizontal styles and six horizontal styles. The building contents of a Wufeng building with three halls and three horizontal buildings include: fish pond, side seats, Wu Hui, Heping, lower hall, middle hall, back hall and hatchback horizontal house. In modeling design, the hall and patio are uniquely configured. The hall is open, facing the patio and connected with it. The edge of the hall is the edge of the patio, which forms an inseparable whole and has the comprehensive functions of ingenious space collocation and communication and coordination. Three halls and two horizontal Wufeng Building, five patios and nine halls. There are three patios and three halls on the central axis. The central axis has always been a patio and an open hall, and the end can be seen from the gate. There are patios between the two horizontal houses and the central axis, which are small hall, middle hall and side hall respectively. The open corridor in the building is a cloister, which connects all parts of the building with each room. There are three patios on the central axis of the building, and sheds can be built on the patios of both houses. In case of red and white ceremonies, the room is spacious and convenient. Wufeng Tower generally has 30 rooms up and down, and there are several kitchen warehouses, which can accommodate more than ten households and hundreds of people. The largest has more than 60 rooms, which can accommodate more than 200 people. The Wufeng Pagoda, which emphasizes the decorative arts and is exquisite, is the most "luxurious" of all kinds of earth buildings. The beauty of its color modeling is widely praised by experts. The representative works of Wufeng Pagoda include Dafudi in Fuling Village, Yongding Gaobei Township, Fuyu Building in Hongkeng Village, Hukeng Township, and Cultural Relics Building in Shangyang Village.
Tulou * * * is characterized by a long construction period, which generally takes two or three years to complete, and the older one even needs decades and generations of craftsmen's hard work. The wood used must be 300 ~ 500 cubic meters. Because the earth wall is thick under and narrow on the top, it is strong and firm, and its "three defenses" (windproof, waterproof and shockproof) performance is good, and some can also prevent fire (the three-ring earth wall is a wall built by three walls), especially its extraordinary earthquake resistance is amazing. Almost all the earth buildings have been tested by earthquakes to varying degrees and are safe and sound. For example, the "Huanji Building" in Yongding Hukeng Township, which was built in A.D. 1693, has experienced several earthquakes in the past 300 years. 19 18 The earthquake on the sixth day of the fourth lunar month only opened a 50 cm wide crack between the third floor and the fourth floor at the upper right of the main entrance. Because the structural thickness of the circular building wall is1.2m, it extends slightly upwards. For more than 70 years, it magically healed naturally, leaving only a crack one or two centimeters wide. In recent years, Fuxin Building, which has the deepest "qualifications" in Yongding, opened another gate to avoid people's inconvenience from entering and leaving through one gate, and invited masons to try their best to dig it with a steel chisel for several days before opening it. This shows the tenacity of this three-in-one earth wall. Another feature of the earth building is that the structure is extremely standardized, and the rooms are all the same size. Most earth buildings have only one gate for access, and they all have patios, which can store food for more than half a year. Just like a solid castle, it is easy to guard against theft and bandits (in the old days, Hakkas were often attacked by bandits, so tall earth walls were built to prevent accidents). Because the wall is tall and thick, it can not only prevent moisture and keep warm, but also insulate the heat and enjoy the cool, which has many benefits. When Hakka people build earth buildings, they build chimneys into the earth walls, so that the kitchen is clean without black smoke pollution. The construction of tulou is also a manifestation of Hakka people's belief in geomantic omen in the old days. Superstition says that there is a "road evil spirit" on the road, a "stream evil spirit" on the stream and a "concave evil spirit" at the exit. When building a square building, they think that one corner of the building will encounter "Shaqi", so they carve the words "Taishan Shi Gandang" on the cornerstone of the corner of the building to ward off evil spirits, or nail the corner of the building with wooden boards with gossip and words to ward off evil spirits. Circular buildings have no edges and corners, and it is said that "Shaqi" can run away, so in order to avoid "Shaqi", earth buildings after the Qing Dynasty are mostly circular buildings. Generally speaking, it is obvious to emphasize the effectiveness of tulou.
Tulou is not only unique in architectural style, but also meaningful in naming most tulou. Yongding earth building is named after its location, such as "Dongsheng building", which faces east and west, and Yuxiu rises from east; Or named after the owner, such as "Zhen Fu Building", which was built by Su alone; Or named for the memory of ancestors, such as "Qingfu Building", "Fuyu Building", "Zhencheng Building" and "Qingcheng Building" built by Lin Fucheng's descendants in Yongding, which are always inseparable from the words "Fu" and "City"; Or named after the natural environment. For example, "Wangfeng Building" is named after facing the peak of Bijia Mountain, and "Huanxing Building" is named after being surrounded by water on three sides, and its shape is round and round. Or named to wish good luck, such as "Songzhulou" and "50th Floor", which respectively mean "bamboo is green and lush" and "five winds and ten rains are auspicious"; Or give names to encourage future generations, such as "Jing Xun Building" and "Chengqi Building"; Or named after entrepreneurs, for example, the "Fuqiao Building" was built for overseas Chinese in Jiang's family, which means that overseas Chinese are blessed, and the "Qunxing Building" was built to raise funds for all people, which means that they live in groups and prosper; Or named after a pun, "If you rise to the floor", you sit east and west, like the sun rises, and later generations jokingly call it as small as one meter.
Tulou, as a proud architectural form of Hakka people in Fujian, is a treasure in Fujian folk houses. At the same time, it also incorporates human factors, which can be called the epitome of the combination of heaven, earth and people. Dozens of families and hundreds of people go to the first floor together, which embodies the family tradition of Hakka people living in harmony. Therefore, a tulou history is a rural family history. Descendants of Tulou often can tell the origin of Kan Kan family without genealogy. In addition, the use of local materials and the most common soil materials to build tall castles, turning ordinary into magic, reflecting the unique creation of Hakka people in the process of conquering nature.
After the 1960s, the construction of traditional earth buildings has basically stopped. Today, there are hundreds of earth buildings with different shapes in western Fujian and southern Fujian, among which Yongding County and Nanjing County have the largest number, each with more than 100 earth buildings. In Yongding, there are 54 earth building dens distributed in small towns such as Hukeng and Guzhu. In Nanjing, there are many towns such as Shuyang and Meilin. Most of the earth buildings are well preserved and still inhabited. It is mixed with ordinary houses, making the huge earth building stand out from the crowd. The "Chengqi Building" in Gaobei Village, Guzhu Township, Yongding County has frequently appeared in movies and TV dramas, and has also been included in the Dictionary of Places of Interest in China, becoming one of the marks of "residential houses" in China. With its unique round architectural modeling specimens, the reputation of Yongding Tulou spread like wildfire and became synonymous with Hakka Tulou in Fujian.