What are the characteristics and reasons of Fujian Tulou?

The characteristics of Fujian earth buildings are round, semi-circular, square, quadrilateral, pentagonal, chair-shaped, dustpan-shaped, etc. , each with its own characteristics. Because the building is full of grain, livestock and wells. Because the square earth building is directional, the corner is dark, and the ventilation and lighting are different, the Hakkas designed a round earth building with good ventilation and lighting. Among the existing earth buildings, the round one is the most striking, and the locals call it round building or round village.

Fujian tulou is a collective building. From the research of history and architecture, the architectural style of tulou is a self-defense living style for national security. Under the situation of Japanese invasion outside and years of civil war inside, Hakkas who moved their families traveled thousands of miles to other places and chose this architectural method, which is not only conducive to family reunion, but also able to resist the war.

The descendants of the same ancestor form an independent society in a tulou, so it is probably the most appropriate summary of tulou.

Residential culture

Hakka people build earth buildings and live in groups, mainly because of their recognition of the traditional culture of the Central Plains, the centripetal, symmetrical and towering characteristics of earth buildings, and the consanguineous characteristics of living in groups. Within the scope of Yongding, no matter which tulou, the male residents in tulou have only one surname, and they are all consanguineous relatives.

Within a family, parents have the final say, and the head of the household has the final say on the first floor or in the whole village. This is a principle that Tulou Hakkas strictly followed in the long feudal era. The ancestral hall of Tulou is a landmark building where Hakkas live together, and it is at the core of the whole building.

That is, the whole building is the place where residents worship their ancestors and the center of religious activities. Limited living space is one of the important objective reasons for Hakkas to build earth buildings and live in groups.

After 1950s, residents in this area still built a large number of earth buildings, which paid more attention to practicality, simple structure and lacked gorgeous decoration.