Chinese Fujian raw earth building

Fujian raw earth building

On the 32nd World Heritage Conference, the Chinese “Fujian earth buildings”was listed into World Heritage Directory.

Scattered in the mountains of the western and southern part of Fujian province, Fujian earth buildings are noted all over the world for their unique architectural style and long history. Thousands of these buildings were built in the Qing Dynasty, with thick walls, ingenious structures and various functions such as protection against high winds, earthquakes and hot and cold weather. They also served as a guard against enemies. All these buildings were furnished for living, storage and cooking and can accommodate a clan of hundreds of family members to live a happy life together. In the recent years,the earth buildings represented in Yongding ,Nanjing area have been protected and repaired , and declared for world cultural heritage.

Fujian earth buildings which have been successfully listed as world heritage are comprised by 46 earth buildings in Yongding,Nanjing, Hua’an : such as Chuxi earth buildings complex , Hongkeng earth buildings complex, Gaobei earth building complex, Yanxiang building, Zhengfu building in Yongding county; Tian Luo Keng earth buildings, Hekeng earth buildings complex, Hegui earth buildings complex . Huaiyuan earth buildings complex in Nanjing county; Dadi earth buildings complex in Hua’an county. The most exquisite one in Nanjing county is .Tian Luo Keng earth buildings complex. On the waist of the Nanshan area, you can see a square floor are surrounded by four circular floors, the earth buildings are responding with terraced fields. The walls of the exquisite Huaiyuan earth building have not yet fallen, the formula and architecture of the rammed earth are very high that the inner carved bridge and painted woods are so beautiful.

The unique layout and huge scale , queer structure of “Fujian earth buildings” makes earth buildings culture rooted in the oriental blood ethic relations, a cultural testimony of traditional staying together as a nation, exemplifying an unique huge raw rammed earth architecture art with “ general and marvelous values.”. Besides outstanding architectural skills, the builders were curious about the sites of the earth buildings. The surroundings of the earth buildings are almost very serene and quiet, when you open the windows, verdant woods are in your sights, the flower fragrance is coming into your nose.

Kaiping Diaolou is situated in Kaiping city,Guangdong province, a Chinese village featured special architectural form, multi-storeyed village houses which display a defensive, living and flamboyant fusion of Chinese and Western structural and decorative forms.

It is recorded that Kaipign Diaolou was first built in the later period of Ming dynasty(16th century),since the late 19th and early 20th centuries it had became a unique architectural symbol of exemplifying the history of the oversea Chinese,the society pattern and cultural traditions.

There are 1833 Diaolou which scattered in 3060 villages.There are four groups of Diaolou and twenty of the most symbolic ones are inscribed on the List. These buildings take three forms: communal towers built by several families and used as temporary refuge, residential towers built by individual rich families and used as fortified residences, and watch towers. Built of stone, pise, brick or concrete, these buildings represent a complex and confident fusion between Chinese and Western architectural styles. Retaining a harmonious relationship with the surrounding landscape, the Diaolou testify to the final flowering of local building traditions that started in the Ming period in response to local banditry. The Diaolou and their surrounding villages demonstrate Outstanding Universal Value for their complex and confident fusion between Chinese and western architectural styles, for their final flowering of local tower building traditions, for their completeness and unaltered state resulting from their short life span as fortified dwellings and their comparative abandonment and for harmonious relationship with their agricultural landscape.