Round defensive dwellings
By UNESCO website |
December 5, 2010, Sunday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
FUJIAN tulou are clusters of earthen houses constructed between the 15th and 20th centuries and set among rice, tea and tobacco fields in southwest Fujian Province.
A tulou is usually a large, enclosed and fortified earth building, rectangular or circular in configuration, with very thick earth walls between three and five stories high and housing up to 80 families. Smaller interior buildings are often enclosed by these huge peripheral walls, the whole structure resembling a small fortified city. They are built along an inward-looking, circular or square floor plan as housing for up to 800 people each.
They were built for defense purposes around a central open courtyard with only one entrance and windows to the outside only above the first floor.
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 arranged among 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 described 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. Fujian tulou was listed an world intangible culture heritage in 1998.
A tulou is usually a large, enclosed and fortified earth building, rectangular or circular in configuration, with very thick earth walls between three and five stories high and housing up to 80 families. Smaller interior buildings are often enclosed by these huge peripheral walls, the whole structure resembling a small fortified city. They are built along an inward-looking, circular or square floor plan as housing for up to 800 people each.
They were built for defense purposes around a central open courtyard with only one entrance and windows to the outside only above the first floor.
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 arranged among 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 described 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. Fujian tulou was listed an world intangible culture heritage in 1998.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
