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Author(s):UNESCOPRESS
Source:UNESCO Press Release Nº2008-53
05-07-2008

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.

Strange but true: The cold war between communist China and capitalist USA in the 1950s and 1960s lay the path towards the Hakka Tulou fame.

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.