skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Posted On Sunday, December 5, 2010 at
at
5:59 PM
by Alvin
I have read a lot about the ancient and giant Hakka living quarters called Tulou (客家土樓) in Fujian (福建) province for a long while, but I was still not prepared for the stunning vista of first coming face to face as well as entering these huge structures. More interestingly, these fabulous looking "houses" were not built for tourists nor had their occupants moved out and been replaced by souvenir shops - these Hakka buildings are still being "lived-in" ! So we saw clothes hanging out to dry, residents cooking and paid absolutely no attention to strange camera-clicking tourists fussing over their open kitchens and so on, water-drinking wells being used for daily use as well as residents going about their card-playing and mahjong-gambling as they had for hundreds of years ! These clusters of Hakka structures were designed and built to ward off bandits and such that a whole family and extended members could live under "one roof". The clusters of Tulou we visited were 田螺坑, 洪坑土樓群 (=客家土樓民俗文化村) and 高北土樓群 where we admired such classical Tulou as 承啟樓 (圓樓之王), 振成樓 (土樓王子), 奎聚樓 (宮殿式土樓), 福裕樓 (府第式土樓) and 如升樓 (袖珍土樓); representing the biggest, smallest and the most spectacular Tulou in this region. We stayed two nights in the picturesque tiny villages of Ta Sha (塔下) and Hung Keng (洪坑) where numerous Tulou abound, and took some superb photos in the atmospheric morning mists when tourists had not arrived en mass. Also, interestingly, the whole population of Ta Sha Village were surnamed Zhang (張) ! We absolutely enjoyed our stay in these quaint villages !
I have read a lot about the ancient and giant Hakka living quarters called Tulou (客家土樓) in Fujian (福建) province for a long while, but I was still not prepared for the stunning vista of first coming face to face as well as entering these huge structures. More interestingly, these fabulous looking "houses" were not built for tourists nor had their occupants moved out and been replaced by souvenir shops - these Hakka buildings are still being "lived-in" ! So we saw clothes hanging out to dry, residents cooking and paid absolutely no attention to strange camera-clicking tourists fussing over their open kitchens and so on, water-drinking wells being used for daily use as well as residents going about their card-playing and mahjong-gambling as they had for hundreds of years ! These clusters of Hakka structures were designed and built to ward off bandits and such that a whole family and extended members could live under "one roof". The clusters of Tulou we visited were 田螺坑, 洪坑土樓群 (=客家土樓民俗文化村) and 高北土樓群 where we admired such classical Tulou as 承啟樓 (圓樓之王), 振成樓 (土樓王子), 奎聚樓 (宮殿式土樓), 福裕樓 (府第式土樓) and 如升樓 (袖珍土樓); representing the biggest, smallest and the most spectacular Tulou in this region. We stayed two nights in the picturesque tiny villages of Ta Sha (塔下) and Hung Keng (洪坑) where numerous Tulou abound, and took some superb photos in the atmospheric morning mists when tourists had not arrived en mass. Also, interestingly, the whole population of Ta Sha Village were surnamed Zhang (張) ! We absolutely enjoyed our stay in these quaint villages !
