"Fujian Earth Buildings" include Gaobei Earth Building Group, Hongkeng Earth Building Group, Chuxi Earth Building Group, Yanxiang Building and Zhenfu Building in Yongding County, Fujian Province, and Tianluokeng Earth Building Group and Henan Earth Building Group in Nanjing County. The Keng Tulou Group, Hegui Tower, Huaiyuan Tower, and the Dadi Tulou Group in Hua'an County are mainly distributed in the mountains in western and southern Fujian. They are famous for their unique architectural style and long history and culture. Not only are the most common round earth buildings, but they also include square earth buildings, chair-shaped earth buildings, etc., covering a complete architectural style of earth buildings.
Fujian Earth Buildings originated in the Song and Yuan Dynasties. After development in the early and middle Ming Dynasties, they gradually matured in the late Ming Dynasty, Qing Dynasty, and the Republic of China, and have continued to this day. Fujian earth buildings are unique large-scale rammed earth residential buildings in mountainous areas in the world, and are creative masterpieces of earthen architectural art. Fujian earth buildings are located on the hills and have a reasonable layout. They absorb the "Feng Shui" concept of traditional Chinese architectural planning (see Dong Bin's "Modern Feng Shui Essence"), adapt to the requirements of life and defense where tribes live together, and cleverly utilize the mountains. The narrow flat land and local raw earth, wood, cobblestone and other building materials are a self-contained system, a type of raw earth high-rise building that is economical, sturdy, defensive, and extremely beautiful.
In the 1980s, the earth buildings in Nanjing County, Zhangzhou City, and Yongding County, Longyan City, Fujian Province were mistaken by Americans for mushroom-shaped nuclear weapons equipment. Little did they know that these unique earth buildings had been produced since the Song and Yuan Dynasties. Large-scale rammed earth residential buildings have been standing on a land of more than 600 square kilometers in southwestern Fujian for centuries before the first atomic bomb exploded.
China's "Fujian Earth Buildings" were officially included in the "World Heritage List" at the 32nd World Heritage Conference held in Quebec City, Canada, on July 6, 2008.
Edit this section Earth building classification
If earth buildings are divided according to their shapes, they can be roughly divided into round buildings, square buildings and five-phoenix buildings. There are also deformed concave fonts, semicircular fonts, and trigrams. Among them, round buildings and square buildings are the most common, and both shapes often coexist. The round and square buildings, which cover an area of ??several thousand square meters and are populated by groups, are constructed with simple geometric shapes between mountains and narrow valleys. The man-made buildings form a strong contrast with the surrounding green natural landscape. After China's economic opening up in the 1980s, the earth building landscape in southern Fujian and Guangdong, dominated by round earth buildings and square earth buildings, attracted the attention of the tourism industry around the world.
Round House
Round House is a round earth building, also known as Yuanzhai Earth Building, Fujian Round House or Hakka Enclosed House. Its purpose is more important than defense, so the name is embedded in the name of "zhai". Although there are not the most earth buildings in this shape, they are usually the largest in area. The largest area can even reach more than 72 bays.
Usually the ground floor of a round building is the dining room and kitchen, the second floor is the warehouse, and the third floor and above are the bedrooms. Each small family or individual room is independent, and each room is connected by a circle of public corridors. These designs usually focus on defensive functions.
Square building
Square building is the most popular earth building. The characteristic of this type of building is that a tall square or nearly square wall is first built, and then other buildings in the building are expanded along this wall. The standard specifications for expansion are usually an open patio and a corridor around the patio. These floors of the same construction style are stacked up to as high as six stories. Finally, wooden floors and wooden beams were used, and tile roofs were added, which became the most common square building among earth buildings.
Wufeng Tower
The "Fuyu Tower" in Hukeng Town is a typical Wufeng Tower. Wufeng Tower is also known as Da Fu Di, Mansion Style, Palace Style or Bijia Tower. Although their names are the same, there are some differences. This type of earth building is composed of two-sided rooms, a gate tower and other detailed structures. Its characteristic is that it usually has three concave and two protruding shapes from the outside, which looks like an ancient Chinese penholder. Wufeng Tower is mainly distributed in counties in western Fujian and Zhangzhou. Among them, the Zhangzhou Hakka who immigrated to Taiwan also brought their Wufeng Tower architectural style to Taiwan.
Others
Except for the round tower, square tower and Wufeng tower. Earth buildings classified by shape include concave-shaped, semicircular, and trigram-shaped earth buildings. Concave-shaped earth buildings are mainly distributed in Nanjing and Zhao'an in southern Fujian. Semicircular earth buildings are distributed in Pinghe and Yongding, while Bagua-shaped earth buildings are occasionally found in Yongding, Zhangpu, Hua'an, Zhao'an, Nanjing and eastern Guangdong, China. Among them, the largest Bagua Tulou in China is the Daoyun Tower.
Edit this paragraph Characteristics of Tulou
The most characteristic feature of Tulou is its long construction period. It usually takes two or three years to complete, and in larger cases it may even take decades. , the hard work of generations of craftsmen. The wood used must be 300 to 500 cubic meters. Because the earth walls are thick at the bottom and narrow at the top, they are solid and strong. They have good "three defenses" (windproof, waterproof, and earthquake proof). Some are also fireproof (three-ring earth walls are three fire sealing walls), especially their extraordinary earthquake resistance. It is amazing to see that almost all earth buildings have been tested by earthquakes of varying degrees and have survived unharmed. For example, the "Huanji Tower" in Hukeng Township, Yongding, built in 1693 AD, has experienced several earthquakes in the past 300 years. The big earthquake on the sixth day of the fourth lunar month in 1918 only cracked between the 3rd and 4th floors on the upper right side of the main entrance. A 50-centimeter-wide crack is 1.2 meters thick at the bottom of the round building wall structure. When it extends upward, it is slightly inclined inward and has a trapezoidal shape with strong centripetal force. Over the past 70 years, it has miraculously healed naturally, leaving only a crack one to two centimeters wide.
In recent years, in order to avoid the inconvenience of people entering and exiting through one door, people have opened another small door in the "Fuxin Building" with the most "experience" in Yongding. They invited stonemasons to spend a lot of effort to dig with steel chisels for several days. Opened, the toughness of this triple earth wall can be seen.
Another feature of Tulou architecture is that the structure is extremely standardized and the rooms are of the same size. Most earth buildings have only one door for entry and exit, and there is a patio inside the building, which can store food for more than half a year. It is like a strong castle and is easy to prevent theft and banditry (in the old days, the Hakka people often suffered from bandits, so they built tall earth walls to prevent accidents. ). Because the walls are taller and thicker, they can not only prevent moisture and keep warm, but also insulate and cool down, which has many advantages. When the Hakka people built earthen buildings, they built the chimneys into the earthen walls to protect the kitchen from black smoke pollution and make it very clean. The construction of earth buildings is also a manifestation of the old Hakka people's belief in Feng Shui. According to superstition, there is a "road evil" on the road, a "stream evil" on the stream, and a "concave evil" at the exit. When building a square building, they thought that one corner would encounter "evil spirits", so they carved the words "Taishan Shigandang" on the corner stone to ward off evil spirits, or nailed wooden boards with gossip and characters on the corner of the building. , used to "control evil spirits". Round buildings have no corners, and it is said that "evil spirits" can slip away. Therefore, in order to avoid "evil spirits", most earth buildings after the Qing Dynasty were round. Generally speaking, it is obvious that the construction of earth buildings should be practical.
Earth buildings are not only distinctive in architectural style, but the names of most earth buildings also have meaningful meanings. Yongding earth buildings may be named after their orientation, such as "Dongsheng Building" which faces east and west, which means the rising sun rises from the east; or they may be named after their owners, such as "Zhenfu Building", which was built solely by Su Zhenfu; or they may be named in memory of their ancestors. For example, the "Qingfu Tower", "Fuyu Tower", "Zhencheng Tower" and "Qingcheng Tower" built by the descendants of Lin Fucheng in Yongding are always inseparable from the words "Fu" and "Cheng"; or they are named after the natural environment. For example, "Wangfeng Tower" is named because it faces the Bijia Mountain Peak, and "Huanxing Tower" is named because it is surrounded by water on three sides and is shaped like a round building. Or it is named for blessings, such as "Songzhu Tower" and "Fifty Building" respectively take the meaning of "green bamboos and luxuriant pines" and "five winds and ten rains are auspicious"; or they are named to encourage future generations, such as "Jingxun Building" and "Chengqi Building"; or to start a business. For example, "Fuqiao Building" was built by Jiang's overseas Chinese, which means the lucky house of overseas Chinese; "Qunxing Building" was built because everyone raised funds, and it means that the group lives in prosperity; or it is named with a pun of praise or derogation, "Ru Sheng" "Lou", sitting east and facing west, is likened to the rising sun. Later generations also joked that it was as small as a meter rising.
As an architectural form that Fujian Hakka people are proud of, earth buildings are a treasure among Fujian folk houses. At the same time, it also incorporates humanistic factors, which can be called the epitome of the tripartite combination of "heaven, earth, and man". Dozens of households and hundreds of people go to the first floor together, reflecting the Hakka family tradition of living together and living in harmony. Therefore, a history of earth buildings is a history of rural families. The descendants of Tulou can often tell the story of their family's origins without the need for a genealogy. In addition, local materials and the most common earth materials were used to build tall castles, turning the ordinary into magic and reflecting the Hakkas' ingenious creation 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 of various shapes preserved in western and southern Fujian. Among them, Yongding County and Nanjing County have the largest number. There are more than 100 large and small earth buildings. In Yongding, there are many Tulou squirrels in a few towns such as Hukeng and Guzhu. There are 54 in Hukeng Township alone; in Nanjing, they are mostly found in Shuyang, Meilin and other towns. Most of the earth buildings are well preserved and still inhabited. Mixed with ordinary residential buildings, the huge earth buildings stand out from the crowd and are particularly eye-catching. The "Chengqi Building" in Gaobei Village, Guzhu Township, Yongding County has frequently appeared in movies and TV shows. It has also been included in the "Chinese Dictionary of Scenic Places" and has become one of China's "Residences" stamps. With its unique round building specimen, it has made the reputation of "Yongding Earth Building" spread like wildfire and has become synonymous with Fujian Hakka Earth Building.
Edit this section for highlights
The most beautiful thing in Nanjing County is the Tianluokeng Tulou Group. Standing on the hillside of Nanshan District, you can see four round buildings arching down the mountain and a square building clustered together. The layers of earth walls echo the layers of terraces, which is strange and beautiful. Although the Hegui Building, the tallest earth building in Nanjing, was built in a swamp, it still stands tall today; the exquisite Huaiyuan Building currently has smooth walls and no peeling off, the rammed earth formula and construction techniques are extremely superb, and the interior is full of carved beams and paintings, full of quaint scholarly atmosphere. breath.
The most famous thing in Yongding County is Zhencheng Tower. Zhencheng Tower is known as the "Prince of Earth Buildings" and "the most magnificent round building". It consists of two rings of inner and outer buildings. It is built completely according to the layout of the "Bagua Diagram" in the "Book of Changes". A blue brick fireproof partition is built between the hexagrams. There are arches in the walls and partition walls. When the doors are closed, they form a courtyard without interfering with each other. When the doors are opened, the whole building is connected and connected into a whole. Moreover, the inner ring building of Zhencheng Building, which has a brick and wood structure and imitates Western-style decoration, is different from the outer ring building of beam-type civil structure. This architectural style of "earth on the outside and foreign on the inside" that combines Chinese and Western styles is very rare among earth buildings.
In addition to superb architectural skills, the builders of earth buildings are also very particular about the location of earth buildings. The environment of most earth buildings is elegant and quiet. When you open the windows, you can see the lush green trees one by one, and the fragrance of flowers and fruits lingers in your nose. It can be said that you are surrounded by scenery every step of the way.
Edit this paragraph's application process
- Taking the "Dadi Tulou Group" as an example
World cultural heritage refers to the world-recognized heritage accumulated in the course of human development. irreplaceable cultural monuments of outstanding value. It is divided into three categories: cultural relics, architectural complexes and ruins.
Hua'an Dadi Tulou Group has been declared a World Heritage Site and belongs to the cultural heritage category.
It is a major event related to the future development of Hua'an; it has extremely important strategic significance and far-reaching historical significance for protecting Hua'an's history and culture, improving Hua'an's domestic and international popularity, and promoting Hua'an's economic and social development.
In March 1991, Eryi Building among the Dadi Tulou Group in Hua'an was listed as a key cultural relic protection unit in Fujian Province; in November 1996, Eryi Building was approved by the State Council as one of the fourth batch of national key cultural relics protection units. Unit;
In October 1999, the Hua'an County Party Committee and County Government officially launched the "Hua'an Dadi Tulou Group Application for World Cultural Heritage" project;
In May 2006, Nanyang Tower was approved as a World Cultural Heritage The sixth batch of national key cultural relics protection units.
In January 2007, the State Council officially approved the Fujian Tulou (including the Hua'an Dadi Tulou Group) as a project to be submitted to the United Nations as a world cultural heritage on behalf of China in 2008. The English application text has been accepted by UNESCO. In August 2007, experts from the International Council on Monuments and Sites conducted an on-site assessment and inspection of the Hua'an Dadi Tulou Group.
On July 6, 2008, as an important part of Fujian Tulou - Hua'an Dadi Tulou Group will be voted on at the 32nd World Heritage Conference
Edit this travel post Taxi
Transportation: Hakka earth buildings are mostly distributed in Nanjing County, Zhangzhou City, and Yongding County, Longyan City, Fujian Province. There are trains from Guangzhou to Zhangzhou and Longyan. By car, most of the roads in towns and villages in Nanjing and Yongding counties are asphalt, so driving is generally no problem.
Accommodation: The accommodation conditions in Nanjing and Yongding counties are good. There are hotels of various grades. Living in a tulou is also a good choice. Although the conditions are difficult, you can appreciate the authentic Hakka style.
Food: Hakka cuisine has a strong taste and is characterized by "salty, fat and cooked". Salt chicken, Yong Tau Fu and braised pork are must-trys.
Edit this travel guide
From Xiamen to Yongding Tulou, you can take a special car or a bus. Taking a special bus is more expensive but more convenient. If you take the bus, you have to get off at Hukeng Town. Hukeng There is a branch road in the town to the Nanxi Tulou Group. You can take a motorcycle back and forth at the intersection of the branch road, and the price of a car will not exceed 25 yuan. You can also take the road from Nanxi towards Tianluokeng, and along the way you can see the earthen buildings on the other side of Luxi. If you don’t go to Nanjing Shuyang, you can go over from Nanxi to see Tianluokeng, and then return to Gaotou, Hongkeng and Hukeng via the road under the tower. If you still want to go to Shuyang, it is recommended to go back and forth to the observation deck, see Hongkeng and Gaotou, and then go to Shuyang via Taxia Village and Tianluokeng, which will be more smooth. It is said that the observation deck can see the whole picture of Nanxi Tulou. Due to time constraints, I didn’t go there this time and I don’t know what the scenery is like. However, the gurgling Nanxi water is like a ribbon, stringing together the earth buildings and pearls in various villages along the way, embellishment. With the small bridge and flowing water, the scenery is very beautiful and worth recommending.
The westernmost one is the Octagonal Building (Dongcheng Building) in Nanjiang Village. It is actually a square building, but with small bevels cut into the four corners, it is not a regular octagonal shape. If there are residents in the building, there is no admission fee. I really like the small garden building next to Dongcheng Building, where four brothers and seven families live. In front of the door, there is a small bridge and running water, which is full of vitality and interest.
Then drive 5 minutes east to Huanji Tower in Nanzhong Village. The Huanji Building charges a sanitation fee of 5 yuan per person, but the building is indeed quite clean. The biggest feature of the Huanji Building is its extremely strong earthquake resistance, having experienced many earthquakes in the past 300 years. After an earthquake, a crack more than 3 meters long and 1 foot wide was left. Due to the centripetal force of the round building and the traction of the structure, the crack miraculously closed slowly, leaving only a slender crack, and the entire building Safe and sound, standing tall. There is no ancestral hall in the center of the building. At the center of the Huanji Building, if you stamp your feet or shout or sing loudly, you can hear a very obvious echo, like the echo wall of the Temple of Heaven in Beijing.
Five minutes further east is Yanxiang House in Xinnan Village. Yanxiang Tower is located next to a pool of clear water, with nice scenery. The name of the pool is Youhuangtan, which is regarded as a miniature reservoir and has a small generator set. The gate layout of this earth building is quite special, with a series of peripheral accessories added. The brick and wood carvings in the hall, the outer walls of the building, and the small doors on the left and right are relatively fine, and the paintings and calligraphy on the walls are also exquisite. The lintel of the door reads "Da Fu Di", which belongs to a family of poets and calligraphers. This building also charges a sanitation fee of 5 yuan/person, and it is also very clean.
Continuing back east for about 10 minutes, Zhenfu Tower stands by the stream. This building is not on the roadside. The gate faces Nanxi River, surrounded by mountains and rivers. Since it is currently being contracted to be developed into an exhibition hall, it has not yet been opened. It is said that a lot of stones and bricks were used in the building, and the carvings were fine. It was a mixture of Chinese and Western elements, and it was magnificent.
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Return to Hukeng Town. In the town, you can buy noodles and motorcycle taxis, as well as FB for accommodation, supplies, and food. There is a cheap hotel not far from the intersection with simple facade and facilities. A big bowl of steamed rabbit in soup only costs 10 yuan, and there are also pork belly with pickled vegetables, braised tofu, pickled cabbage and duck blood... all of them taste pretty good. Compared with the Aqing Hotel next door, it is really much better.
If you don’t go to Chuxi, you can take the [Yongding-Gaotou] shuttle bus directly from Yongding County to Hongkeng (Tulou Cultural Village) (9 yuan) or Gaotou (Gaobei Tulou Group) (11 Yuan). The road between Gaotou and Hongkeng is being repaired with cement pavement, and it is said that it can be repaired before New Year's Day. There are basically a lot of motorcycles (3 yuan/person) during the trip.
Tickets for Hongcun Tulou Cultural Village are 40 yuan. You can bring motorcycles directly in, but you can't enter the Tulou without a ticket. And once someone is found to have entered the village without buying a ticket, the security will arrange a ticket check. It feels uncomfortable to be kicked out. The earth buildings in Hongkeng, such as Zhencheng Building, Fuyu Building, and Kuiju Building, are still very representative. Compared with the 50 yuan ticket in Chuxi, you can still go in and have a look. (It is said that in the morning and evening after the security guards are off duty, you can go in and see for free:).
You can stay in Hongkeng. It costs about 30 yuan per person to stay in an earthen building. The transportation is also convenient.
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It takes about 20 minutes from Hongkeng to Gaotou. The Gaobei Tulou Group is on the left hand side of the road as you approach Gaotou. The most classic one is of course Chengqi Building, known as the "King of Earth Buildings". "Four stories high, four circles of buildings, four hundred rooms up and down; circles within circles, circles within circles, it has gone through three hundred years of vicissitudes." Fujian residential stamps feature Chengqi Tower as the pattern. The ticket is 30 yuan, and you can sneak in and take a look when the administrator returns home (the current administrator's home is next to the earth building), regardless of the villagers' well-intentioned threats. Touring the earth building, one is a macro view, looking down from a high place; the other is a micro view, wandering around the building. It would always be a pity not to go in and take a look. Going from the direction of Hongkeng, at the corner of the road approaching Chengqi Tower, there is a small sign indicating the direction to the observation deck. It is said to be a viewing platform, but it is actually the top of a hill. Here you can overlook the earth buildings in Gaobei Village. There is a round building next to Chengqi Building, called "Parkview Building", which charges a sanitation fee of 5 yuan. The building is empty and not worth visiting. In fact, the appearance of other private houses in Gaobei Village is also very unique, and you can look around.
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A short distance away from Gaotou, you will reach a fork in the road. One side is heading toward Qujiang, and the other is Head down the tower. There are two roads to Shuyang, and there are earth buildings along the way. However, the journey to Taxia Village is a little shorter, and the Yuchang Building (staggered building) in Taxia Village and Banxia Village is absolutely not to be missed. Therefore, the recommended route: you can first go to the direction of Qujiang to see the seven-star earth buildings in Hekeng, and then turn back and walk under the tower.
It is about 2-3 kilometers from the fork in the direction of Qujiang. The road climbs to a curved slope. There is a path on the slope that can lead down to the village. Here you can see the three buildings at the end of the Seven-Star Earth Building Group in Hekeng. There is a small path on the left hand side of the road that goes uphill. You have to climb to the high-voltage electric wire tower before you can see the full view of the Hekeng Tulou Group. There are a lot of earth buildings in the village, but individually they don't look very special. If you are interested, you can cross a bridge before the road goes uphill and enter the village along the riverside road.
If you have time, you can continue to Shiqiao Village. It is said that various forms and distribution patterns of earth buildings can be found here. They are part of the earth buildings in the book "Chinese Residential Architecture" Template.
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Return to the fork in the road and continue towards the bottom of the tower. When you are drowsy, the road turns a corner, and a stream appears in front of you. The flowing water spreads out in layers. The houses on both sides look a bit like stilted buildings at first glance. There is a long and special style building across the stream. bridge. When you yell at the driver to stop, the driver will tell you: This is Taxia Village.
Unlike the large-scale earth buildings in other villages, the houses here are more of small families built on top of the mountains. Walking back and forth in the alley, I accidentally walked through the back door of someone's house. I was worried that a big black dog was looking at you with a cold eyebrow. Someone was making tea. The fragrance of tea lingered in half the village, better than the porch of every house. Various flowers and plants are placed on the window wall.
Passing through the small village, on the slope behind the village is the ancestral hall of the Zhang family - Deyuantang. Deyuantang is the best-preserved ancestral hall we have seen along the way. The brick carvings on the eaves are gorgeous in color, including colorful phoenixes, blue dragons, lions, kingfishers, and various flowers... The wood carvings and lacquer paintings on the gates and beams are well preserved, finely crafted, and as new in color. The reason why this hall is a provincial cultural relic protection unit is that there are 23 coiled dragon pillars (21 old pillars and 2 new pillars) standing in front of the ancestral hall. There is a local custom of erecting dragon flag pillars for meritorious people, and the forest of flag pillars in front of Deyuan Hall is numerous and well-preserved.
No tickets are required here, all the scenery is FREE, highly recommended:).
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Go east for a few minutes from Taxia Village to Yuchang Building in Banxia Village. Yuchang Building is the famous rickety building. Charge 5 yuan/person. It is said that the building was built for five families at the same time, and they took turns providing meals to the carpenters who built the earth building. However, due to poor communication with each other, the food supply to the carpenter was not very punctual. This offended the master, so he did something secretly. As a result, even though the building is habitable, the 2-3 floors slowly tilt clockwise, while the 4th floor tilts counter-clockwise.
Maybe the mechanical structure is just balanced, so it has been peaceful for hundreds of years, and it is regarded as an architectural miracle by modern people. There are still many families living in the building today. Another feature of Yuchang Building is that every house on the first floor has a well. The well water is very full in the Fujian Tulou. The water level is very high and it is clear and sweet. A villager in the building may invite you to his home to drink organic tea brewed with well water. It’s okay to taste the tea. If you don’t understand tea, be careful when buying it.
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Exit Yuchang Tower and go forward to Tianluokeng. It is the famous four dishes and one soup. It is named after the image of four round buildings surrounding a square building. It is said that when viewed from directly below, they look like five mushrooms of different colors (the earth buildings are slightly different in color, some are light green and some are light red); when viewed from the side, they resemble the Potala Palace (which is far-fetched); when viewed from above, that is Four dishes and one soup. Without entering the village, after taking pictures from the side on the road, the car drove directly to the observation deck. The viewing platform is right next to the road, just above the village, and the angle is tightly sealed. You can't see a trace from the side angle. Therefore, the management office confidently charges 20 yuan per person for admission, but tourists are really helpless just for that glimpse of the scenery.
After passing Tianluokeng, we went all the way down the mountain to Shuyang Town, which took less than an hour. There is honey pomelo for sale on the way, the price is about 50 cents per catty, and the small ones are about 1 yuan each.
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There are not many cars in Shuyang Town, and there are only one train to Nanjing every day. There are only 4-5 classes, about 7 am, 9 am, around 12 o'clock, around 1 pm, and around 4 o'clock in the afternoon. The ticket is 10 yuan per person. You can take a pickup truck to Nanjing, which is 48 kilometers away and costs about 100 yuan. The motorcycle taxi charges 50 yuan (the price of motorcycles here in Shuyang is much higher than that in Hukeng, so be careful to bargain).
Along the way, you will pass Lu Fenglian’s hometown. If you have time, you can also visit the Huaiyuan Tower in Changjiao Village, Meilin Town and the Hegui Tower in Pushan Village, as well as the Fu Tower in Xiashan Village, Shiphang Town, in Nanjing County. Xinglou, Longxing Tower, Banyue Tower, Cuilin Tower in Xinluo Village, Nankeng Town, and the most compact earth building - Rusheng Tower.
The road winds along the Shangchang River, with many banana groves and beautiful scenery. The journey takes about 1 hour and the road conditions are good. In addition to earth buildings, Nanjing also has hot springs and tropical rainforest reserves. The road conditions are not bad and it is still worth a visit.
Nanjing belongs to Zhangzhou City. You can take a taxi to Zhangzhou, which is very convenient. It costs 10 yuan per person and takes about 35-40 minutes.
Value-added information
1 Solid earth buildings built with sand and gravel protein
The history of Fujian earth buildings can be traced back to the Song and Yuan Dynasties. Today, more than a thousand earth buildings are distributed in Fujian. In the southwestern mountainous area, they are mainly divided into round buildings, square buildings and Wufeng buildings. The building materials are soil, sand, stone, bamboo, and even brown sugar and egg white. Local materials are used to build exterior walls with thicknesses of one meter to two meters. The earth building, which is about 100 meters tall, is strong enough to withstand attacks from wild beasts or thieves. It is also fireproof, earthquake-proof, warm in winter and cool in summer.
2 The United States once mistook it for a nuclear missile silo
The unique-shaped Hakka earth building was mistaken for a nuclear missile silo by the United States during the Cold War in the 1960s. After 20 years of Research and using spy satellites to take countless pictures (overhead view of earth buildings), still unable to understand the "secrets" in the 1,500 "nuclear missile silos", the CIA sent a couple disguised as tourists to Nanjing County in southern Fujian in late 1985 After investigation, it was finally discovered that those "launch silos" turned out to be historic earthen buildings and were by no means the "nuclear weapons facilities" discovered by spy satellites, which relieved the US authorities.
Fujian Earth Buildings Selected as World Heritage:
At around 6 a.m. on July 7, 2008, Lin Zhicheng, a resident of Yongding County, Fujian, who had not slept all night, was "waked up" by an overseas text message. , the text message contained only three words: "Success!" The sound of firecrackers only heard during the Chinese New Year rang outside the window. When Lin Zhicheng went out, he saw that the good news had spread throughout the countryside, and every household in the earthen buildings hung up festive red lanterns.
The "Fujian Earth Buildings" that were successfully applied for World Heritage status are composed of "six groups and four buildings", namely Chuxi, Hongkeng, Gaobei Tulou Groups in Yongding County, Yanxiang Building, Zhenfu Building, and Tianluo Group in Nanjing County. Keng and Hekeng Tulou Group, Huaiyuan Tower, Hegui Tower, and Dadi Tulou Group in Hua'an County. Yesterday, the counties and districts where the above-mentioned earth buildings are located held warm celebrations, and the ten-year joint "Inscription on World Heritage" project finally came to a successful conclusion. This is another example of residential ecology in southern China that has impressed the world after the Kaiping Diaolou and Villages in Guangdong were selected as World Heritage in 2007.
"Fujian Earth Buildings originated in the Song and Yuan Dynasties. After development in the early and middle Ming Dynasties, they gradually matured in the late Ming Dynasty, Qing Dynasty, and the Republic of China, and continue to this day." "Fujian Earth Buildings" announced by the World Heritage Network The application introduction reads, "Fujian Tulou is a unique large-scale rammed earth residential building in mountainous areas in the world. It is based on the mountain and has a reasonable layout. It absorbs the 'Feng Shui' concept of traditional Chinese architectural planning and adapts to the life and lifestyle of ethnic groups. In order to meet the requirements of defense, the narrow flat land in the mountains and local raw soil, wood, cobblestones and other building materials are cleverly used. It is a self-contained system that is economical, strong, defensive, and extremely beautiful. High-rise building type..."
Compared with many sites, monuments, and imperial palaces selected for the World Heritage List, the peculiarity of China's "Fujian Earth Buildings" is precisely contained in a kind of ordinary and civilian life. middle. "Fujian Tulou" has a prosperous population, prosperous culture, and harmonious coexistence. It is a "living" specimen of the Hakka family's life style. Lin Zhicheng told reporters that there are more than 400,000 people in Yongding County, most of whom still live in more than 23,000 earth buildings; the earth buildings have been connected to water, electricity, and coal, making the earth buildings not only meet the convenience of modern life, but also completely retain the Hakka lifestyle and philosophy of life.
Among the 36 world heritage sites in China, the ancient city of Lijiang in Yunnan was selected in 1997, the ancient villages in southern Anhui were selected in 2000, the watchtowers and villages in Kaiping, Guangdong were selected in 2007, plus the newly selected Fujian Earth buildings and folk houses in southern China have become the only world heritage of all mankind.
Edit this paragraph: Researcher Dong Bin explains the Feng Shui of Fujian Tulou
At the invitation of relevant parties, Mr. Dong Bin, a senior researcher at the School of International Environmental Landscape and Ecological Management of the International East-West University in the United States, made a speech on Fujian Tulou Evaluation: He believes that Fujian Tulou uses various round buildings to drive away the "evil spirit" with no corners. In fact, the so-called "evil spirit" is a cultural atmosphere that does not conform to the moderate factors in Chinese culture, leading the inheritance of harmonious folk customs and family traditions. , for thousands of years, the descendants of the Tulou have multiplied and prospered, and the Tulou are each named with auspicious names, reproducing the cultural epitome of the perfect combination of "heaven, earth, and man". Dozens of families and hundreds of people go to the first floor together, reflecting the Hakka family tradition of living together and living in harmony. In terms of construction mode, it also embodies the perfect traditional Chinese painting effect and accommodates the culture of "framed scenery". In terms of site selection, it fully conforms to Feng Shui's choice of Mingtang and Anshan. The builders of ancient earth buildings chose earth buildings. Of course the address is also very particular. The environment of most earth buildings is elegant and quiet. When you open the windows, you can see the lush green trees one by one, and the fragrance of flowers and fruits is lingering in your nose. It can be said that every step is a scenery, every step is auspicious, and every step is good luck. Only then did we welcome today’s selection of world cultural heritage.
Mr. Dong Bin believes that Zhencheng Tower, the "Prince of Earth Towers" among Fujian Tulou, and "the most magnificent round tower", is composed of an inner and outer ring tower and is completely in accordance with the "Eight Diagrams" of the "Book of Changes". It is built according to the layout of "Figure". A blue brick fireproof partition wall is built between hexagrams and hexagrams. Arches are set up in the partition walls. When the doors are closed, they form a courtyard without interfering with each other. When the doors are opened, the whole building is connected and connected into a whole. This structure embodies the profound and rich livable principles of Bagua Feng Shui. Moreover, the inner ring building of Zhencheng Building, which has a brick and wood structure and imitates Western-style decoration, is different from the outer ring building of beam-type civil structure. This architectural style of "outside soil and inner foreign" combining Chinese and Western styles reflects the fusion of culture. This is a manifestation of Fujian culture's ease in accepting excellent foreign culture and absorbing all things in the world as its essence. It is very rare in earth buildings and is also an excellent humanistic inheritance.
Mr. Dong Bin believes that in terms of cultural inheritance, Fujian Tulou uses a square and circular structure as the criterion, embodying the "Three Changes" principle in the Feng Shui of the Book of Changes. The 21st session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee reviewed When Suzhou classical gardens were approved to be included in the World Heritage List, the highly praised garden was called "Yi Garden". Why was it called "Yi" Garden? "Simple, changeable, not easy" can also be used as an aesthetic standard. When you travel around Suzhou's famous gardens, you will feel refreshed. This is simplicity. The refreshing and winding paths lead to endless changes. This is called change. Simplicity and change complement each other. This is It is not easy. These three changes are the cultural soul of Chinese garden architecture. Therefore, I say that the application of the I Ching lies in the method, and the beauty lies in the people. The "three changes" explain the most basic and complex aspects of Chinese aesthetics. In principle, is there any more appropriate name than "Yiyuan"? It can be said that "Three Changes" are the soul principles of Chinese garden aesthetics! The most exquisite thing in Nanjing County is the Tianluokeng Tulou Group. Standing on the hillside of Nanshan District, you can see four round buildings arching down the mountain and a square building. The layers of earth walls echo the layers of terraces. In this way, layer by layer they are accepted and layer by layer echoed. Not only is the appearance strange and beautiful, And in terms of momentum, it responds to the heaven, earth, mountains and rivers. Although the Hegui Building, the tallest earth building in Nanjing, was built in a swamp, it still stands tall today; the exquisite Huaiyuan Building currently has smooth walls and no peeling off, the rammed earth formula and construction techniques are extremely superb, and the interior is full of carved beams and paintings, full of quaint scholarly atmosphere. Breath is a perfect combination of Feng Shui and humanistic spirit.
The solid three-in-one earth wall combines the "three defenses" (windproof, waterproof, and earthquakeproof) functions with anti-theft and anti-bandit functions. Mr. Dong Bin believes that the practical and aesthetic principles are also very closely integrated.
Fujian Tulou is a unique large-scale rammed earth residential building in mountainous areas in the world, a creative masterpiece of earthen architectural art.
Its existence reflects the perfect and harmonious combination of man and nature, and its adaptability to local conditions is also in line with the principles of Feng Shui. Fujian earth buildings are located on the mountain and have a reasonable layout. They not only absorb the "Feng Shui" concept of traditional Chinese architectural planning (see Dong Bin's "Modern Feng Shui Essence"), they adapt to the requirements of life and defense where tribes live together, and cleverly utilize It combines the narrow flat land in the mountains with local raw soil, wood, cobblestones and other building materials. It is a self-contained system that is economical, sturdy, defensive, and extremely beautiful. Mr. Dong Bin It is believed that this heritage project integrates Feng Shui, culture, landscape, ecology and humanities, and is a sample of environmental landscape ecological Feng Shui.