Fujian Tulou (China) is a property of 46 houses built between the 12th and 20th centuries over 120 km in south-west Fujian province, inland from the Taiwan Strait. Set amongst rice, tea and tobacco fields the tulou are earthen houses. Several storeys high, they are built along an inward-looking, circular or square floor plan as housing for up to 800 people each. They were built for defence purposes around a central open courtyard with few windows to the outside and only one entrance.

Housing a whole clan, the houses functioned as village units and were known as “a little kingdom for the family” or “bustling small city.” They feature tall fortified mud walls capped by tiled roofs with wide over-hanging eaves. The most elaborate structures date back to the 17th and 18th centuries.

The buildings were divided vertically between families with each disposing of two or three rooms on each floor. In contrast with their plain exterior, the inside of the tulou were built for comfort and were often highly decorated. They are inscribed as exceptional examples of a building tradition and function exemplifying a particular type of communal living and defensive organization, and, in terms of their harmonious relationship with their environment, an outstanding example of human settlement.

These additions to UNESCO’s World List were made by the 21-member World Heritage Committee meeting in Quebec City until 10 July under the Chair of Christina Cameron.

One of the main reasons is probably the long distance between the Tulou and Xiamen; which is the nearest big city with a domestic/international airport. Another possible reason is probably the lack of decent hotels in the area worthy of spending the night.

Any visitor, domestic or otherwise, who has done his or her research will know that the YongDing Hakka Tulou area cannot be covered in one day. To really cover the entire area with some detail, you’ll need a fortnight or even more. To at least cover the main tulou clusters in some detail, you’ll need at least 3 days or more. But what to do when there are no good hotels to stay for the night?

If you need a 5-star or above accommodation, forget about staying overnight. At this moment, there are no modern, good-star hotel anywhere within the area. News is that one is being planned but till then, your best choices are somewhat limited…

You have a choice of staying in older 3-stars hotels in the nearest town such as YongDing, a home-stay hostel just besides a Tulou or actually staying in one of the Tulou itself for some real-life Tulou experience! We had originally wanted to stay in one of the Tulou itself but were unfortunate to be offered a Tulou room in a old Tulou that was not renovated/furnished.

The room in that Tulou had just a old, creaky bed and the room stank because it was obviously a very old Tulou. (Accumulated odor from 300 years of history!) There were lots of mosquitoes, no electricity and there were no toilet facilities. Despite the super cheap price of RMB20 (US$2.50) a night, we gladly gave it a pass!

Later, we understand that there were other Tulou rooms elsewhere which were in obviously better condition with electricity, beds and shared toilet facilities and these were popular with backpackers and students especially during peak tourist season. (Pix left: A better-condition Tulou hostel. Room rates of about RMB60-100) Web: www.hongtulou.com Phone: 86-13950893751

Instead of a real Tulou, we chose a home-stay hostel that was located just besides a Tulou. These were mostly ex-Tulou residents who had built modern homes near to their old-Tulou homes and turned some of these homes into a homestay hostel.

We put up with such a hostel by the name of YueYuan Hostel and it cost us RMB60(US$7.50) for a small air conditioned room complete with hotel water shower/toilet, laundry facilities and breakfast. It was certainly worth the extra money than to stay in a smelly Tulou room!

The hostel owners, Mr and Mrs Li, were indeed friendly Hakkas and readily provided us with Tulou history, culture and information being ex-Tulou dwellers themselves. We also used their transport services for the next two days to move around the different Tulou clusters. More importantly, with their help, we were able to target the better, the historical, the meaningful Tulou clusters to concentrate our visits on. Transportation per day were RMB100 per person and meals were about RMB15-20 per person) Email: yueyuanhotel@163.com Phone: 86-13328481393

Do note that eateries and restaurants are few and far in between. Pack your own meals or visit any restaurants that you see. Miss one and you may not find another for the next half an hour.

Similarly, there are no buses or taxis in the area that you can conveniently hail. You will need to borrow a bicycle or rent a taxi/private car with a driver for the day to move about the Tulou clusters. You can make all these arrangements with your hostel owner for a fee.

The State Bureau of Cultural Relics has applied to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to place earth buildings, (”tulou” in Chinese) in east China’s Fujian Province, on the World Cultural Heritage List.

According to Saturday’s “China Daily“, the UN experts will make an appraisal in the spring of next year and will make their decision in August 2008.

Scattered over a remote mountainous area, most of the 20,000 earth buildings are well-preserved. These huge buildings, which resemble fortresses and area usually as high as five-storey buildings, are called earth buildings because of their height and their strong, outer shell which is made up of earth.

Regarded by architects as the cream of Chinese traditional residential architecture, “tulou” first appeared about 1,200 years ago, and were mostly completed in the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties.

They were built and inhabited by the Hakka people — a group belonging to the Han family — who can trace their ancestors back more than 1,500 years to central and north China.

Credit: http://english.peopledaily.com.cn

The ideal arrangement is to spend two nights or more in the YongDing region, giving you the time and opportunity to see and understand the Hakka Tulous in greater detail. This will give you the time to see at least 4 tulou clusters or villages, check out the Hakka communal lifestyle, speak to the local Tulou residents, sample local Hakka cuisine and simply enjoy the clean air of the area.

The nearest international airport is located at Xiamen 厦门, which is also one of the largest and modern city in Fujian 福建 province. Xiamen airport is the gateway for both international and domestic flights to Fujian province, China. From Xiamen, it is a 4 to 5 hour drive to YongDing, a county town which serves as the local gateway to the various Hakka Tulou clusters.

You can take a express bus from the Long Distance Bus Station at Hubin Nan Lu(South Hubin Road) in Xiamen itself or you can catch the long distance bus at the airport tour information-counter itself. Make sure the desitination is YongDing or 永定。 Either way, expect a modern air-conditioned bus coach with assigned seats and a fare of RMB60(US$8). The journey from Xiamen to YongDing is about 4-5 hours depending on local road conditions. There is one toilet break along the way.

Alternatively, you can contact a hostel or motel you intend to stay with in YongDing and arrange a private car or van pick-up for you at the airport or at your hotel in Xiamen. Expect to pay up to RMB300(US$37) per person for such an arrangement. This will bring you door to door to your hostel or motel directly.

If you are on the public bus, alight at the local YongDing bus station, and be expected to be surrounded by touts for hotels, Tulous, private cars immediately. Trust none except those that will bring you to the nearest Tulou or hostel for RMB100 (US$12) per car (Note: Not per person) and not anything more.

There are many Tulou clusters or hostel to choose from with the nearest at least a half hour drive from YongDing. It is recommended that you find accommodation first because it can get dark very fast and there are not very many accommodation choices to choose from! Alternatively, you can spend one night in YongDing itself but it is not recommended as there is nothing much to see within YongDing town itself.

During the cold war era, USA spy planes spotted a series of rounded objects that looked significantly like ICBM Missile Silos when viewed on grainy black-and-white photographs. They were the right size for a ICBM launching pad and each ’silo’ were surrounded by houses, water streams, farmlands and transportation tracks, concurring with Mao Tse Tung’s theory of hiding his fighting forces in the villages with the common people.

No wonder the military analysts of that period were excited as each ‘Missile Silo’ were self-sufficient with water, food and electricity. And there were hundreds of these ‘Silos’ all over YongDing, Fujian province. My, my….I am sure the top military brass of the period must have been losing sleep over this ‘missile silo’ discovery!

Land spies were dispatched over the years and eventually discreet inquiries were made when diplomatic ties between China and USA were re-established in the 1970s. Not surprisingly, even Beijing did not know of these ‘missile silos’ and eventually their location and purpose were established over various local officials in YongDing that the whole ‘missile scare’ were actually over a number of earthen houses!

Soon, scholars and academics from both countries heard about this incident and it piqued their academic interest to learn more about the Hakka culture, their communal way of life and their interesting Tulous(土楼).

The Hakkas are a nomadic group in China itself unlike the other dialect groups which tend to stay put in one place. One of the key areas they finally decided to settle in is the Western part of the Fujian province and they settled down in grand style with their earthern Tulous building. The tulous come in all shape and sizes with square and round being the most common. The outside of the tulou is built using earth, so that it can withstand wind and fire while the inner walls are usually wood and in later years, bricks to give more variation for construction.

Each tulou is headed by a headman, which undergoes an election every two years and all the residents in each tulou are of the same surname and are hence blood related. Most rounded tulou are built in accordance to FengShui and Bagua beliefs and these beliefs strongly influence the Tulou design, the residents way of life and the local religious beliefs.

Because of the strong communal relationship, most tulou has a comprehensive records of the genealogy of the residents, running hundreds of years back. It is not uncommon for Hakka residents living outside of China, such as in Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand to come back to trace their ancestral roots despite not speaking a word of Hakka!

Today, the Hakka Tulou has gained significance as a cultural relic both as a live showcase of how the Hakka has been leading the same unique communal life-style for hundreds of years as well as a significant tourist attraction for that particular part of China.

In fact, the cultural uniqueness of the Hakka Tulou is so significant that UNESCO is considering to include it as part of it’s world’s cultural relic landmark in Year 2008.