Yongding Tulou cluster: Valuble cultre heritage in Fujian

（ecns.cn） 15:10, April 19, 2013

Photo shows the Yongding Tulou cluster in Longyan, Fujian Province. The "tulou," or earthen building, is a type of Chinese rural dwellings of the Hakka is in the mountainous areas in southeastern Fujian. They were mostly built between the 12th and the 20th centuries. (CNS/Wang Dongming)

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A tulou is usually a large, enclosed and fortified earth building, most commonly rectangular or circular in configuration, with very thick load-bearing rammed 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 which can contain halls, storehouses, wells and living areas, the whole structure resembling a small fortified city.

A total of 46 Fujian Tulou sites have been inscribed in 2008 by UNESCO as World Heritage Site, as "exceptional examples of a building tradition and function exemplifying a particular type of communal living and defensive organization in a harmonious relationship with their environment."

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