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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.