My tour to Yongding Tulou cluster

Yongding Toulou cluster

Yongding Tulou is one of the most attractive places for me in Fujian. Last month, I had a visit to the fantastic buildings with my family and it was really an impressive trip!

The moment I stepped out of the airport in Xiamen, the capital of Fujian province, I felt the passion and warmth of the southeast city. Beijing was still cold in those days but Xiamen was already in a hot days! I like the green trees, blue sky and clear sea! It gave me a great start of the pleasant journey.

The next day, we headed towards Yongding with our guide Tim Yang from Beijing Chinaholidays. During our trip, he gave us a quit detailed introduction of the mysterious building. Fujian Tulou is a type of Chinese rural dwellings of the Hakka is in the mountainous areas in southeastern Fujian, China. They were mostly built between the 12th and the 20th centuries. A total of 46 Fujian Tulou sites, including Chuxi tulou cluster, Tianluokeng tulou cluster, Hekeng tulou cluster, Gaobei tulou cluster, Dadi tulou cluster, Hongkeng tulou cluster, Yangxian lou, Huiyuan lou, Zhengfu lou and Hegui lou, have been inscribed in 2008 by UNESCO as World Heritage Site, as "exceptional examples of a building tradition and function exemplifying a particular type of communal living and defensive organization harmonious relationship with their environment".

Hakka Earth Building

When we got there, we found there were so many buildings ranging on the green trees and mountains of this area. We had a visit to the Zhengcheng Tulou and other buildings around it. You could not imagine they are such lofty buildings unless you see them by yourself!  It is a large, enclosed and fortified earth building, most commonly rectangular or circular in configuration, with very thick load-bearing rammed earth walls between three and five stories high and housing up to 80 families. Smaller interior buildings are often enclosed by these huge peripheral walls which can contain halls, storehouses, wells and living areas, the whole structure resembling a small fortified city.

When you came into the earth building, you will feel the strong ethnic atmosphere in it! Local people live there, cook in it and have the whole in the traditional buildings. The building has become a part of their life! We had a lunch in the building with local people, the food was delicious and unique, I did not taste such flavor in other places!

I really enjoy the trip to Yongding Tulou cluster and had learnt a lot about the mysterious building! Hope I could return and taste the typical food one day!

You could find more Fujian tours on Beijing Chinaholidays http://www.chinaholidays.com/. If you would like to have a visit to Yongding Tulou, you could try the tour I picked 4 days Xiamen Tour Package http://www.chinaholidays.com/tours/xiamen-tour-package.html and Gulangyu Island Daytrip http://www.chinaholidays.com/tours/xiamen-daytrip-gulangyu-island.html.