Despite the Hakka Tulou fame as a historical and cultural zone, there had not been swarms of tourists overwhelming the area as yet.

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 Hakka is a minority dialect group in China. Unlike the other dialect groups which are based in provinces, towns or villages, such as the Cantonese in Guangdong, Fujianese in Fujian, the Hakka tend to be nomadic and can be found all over China.

Hakka are known to be hardy and hardworking people and are fiercely independent with a strong belief in communal living.

One of the major areas where they can be found to have settled down is the Western part of the Fujian province, centered around the YongDing region. Most of the Hakka in this region live in Tulou 土楼 (Earthern Houses) and there are nearly 20,000 Tulou in YongDing region alone. These tulous are mostly in small clusters dispersed into various areas. Many tulou clusters are now near roads and while others remain up in the hills a few hours away from the nearest road.

Tulou in this region come in all shapes and sizes with the most distinct and better preserved ones in Square or Round Shapes. It is not uncommon to find villages with just Round Tulous, making them a very distinct sight.

Each round tulou size can vary with the bigger ones having the ability to have as many as 200 households or as many as 600 people living in the same Tulou. Oftentimes, all the inhabitants in one Tulou will have the same surname as each Tulou resident is likely to have come from the same family tree.

The oldest Tulou can be traced back to nearly 1,000 years ago with the majority being built in the last 200-500 years during the Ming and Ching dynasties. Many of the ‘middle-age’ Tulou were built 400-500 years ago and most are not in a inhabitable state unless rebuilt and/or preserved recently. Some of the ‘younger’ Tulou of 150 years or lesser are still in relatively good condition and are well occupied with residents albeit with leeway for some modern amenities such as piped water, electricity and TV cables.

However, most of the young Hakka people has moved to the big cities while the better off Hakkas have built modern houses just besides the Tulou. Hence, even in the biggest and most well-preserved Tulou, you will find less than half the livable units in a Tulou occupied.