National Parks of ChinaOverview
| Designation | UNESCO World Heritage (cultural, 2008) |
| Province | Fujian |
| Location | South-west Fujian |
| Latitude, longitude | 25.1, 117.0 Google Maps |
| Nearby sites | Gulangyu and Mount Wanshi, Mount Guanzhi, Lingtong Mountain, Taoyuan Cave and Linyin Stone Forest |
| Highlights | Traditional dwellings |
| Nearby cities | Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hong Kong |
| Themes | Architecture, Historic buildings, Stamps |
About
The Fujian tulou, some 3,000 in all, include the tulou of the Minnan people and some of the Hakka. They are large communal buildings for living and defence, their walls rammed from raw earth in formwork, found chiefly in the mountains of south-west Fujian where Fujian, Jiangxi and Guangdong meet, among the Hakka and Minnan: Zhangzhou, mainly Minnan, and Longyan, half Minnan and half Hakka.
In July 2008 46 tulou were inscribed on the World Heritage List: the Chuxi, Tianluokeng, Hekeng, Hongkeng and Gaobei clusters, the Dadi cluster in Hua’an County, and the Yanxiang, Zhenfu, Huaiyuan and Hegui towers.
In 1986 China Post issued a “Fujian Dwellings” stamp showing a tulou.
The Tianluokeng cluster, Nanjing
The Tianluokeng cluster is in Shuyang township, Nanjing County, Zhangzhou: one square tower, three round towers and one oval tower.
The square tower in the middle, Buyun Lou, was built in 1796, more than two hundred years ago: three storeys, 26 rooms to a floor and four staircases. Around it stand the round Hechang, Zhenchang, Ruiyun and Wenchang towers.
Yuchang Lou
Yuchang Lou, a round tulou 700 years old, stands in Xiaban village, Shuyang township, Nanjing County. Built in 1308, it has five storeys of 54 rooms each, 270 rooms in all, one of the earliest high-rise apartment buildings in the world. It once had a single-storey inner ring around the ancestral hall, demolished around 2003; its foundations can still be seen.
Each kitchen on the ground floor of the rear half has its own well beside the stove.