Fujian Tulou, the sacred UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site and the Disney Mulan's Home!!

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Description

Tulou is one kind of unique communal homes of the Hakka people that mainly live in the rolling mountainous regions of Fujian and Guangdong in China. It is also literally known as Earthen Building. Earth is the main material to build the body of these houses, hence the name.

Every Tulou is usually in giant size and 3~5 storeys high, surrounded by a rectangular, circular or other shaped mud wall with a shared courtyard in its center. Each of them can house from 150 people up to 800 people. Their size is so big and shape is so strange that in 1986, during the Cold War period, when the American officials first saw Tulou while they were poring over satellite images, they once believed that these strange and huge constructions were missile silos!

Tulou was certainly not designed for such horrible use. On the contrary, Tulou was built for defense rather than initiate war. It is said that the ancient natives there used to be attacked by animals and bandits. In the purpose of gathering their strengths together to protect themselves, they created such unique castles. No any window was designed outside the mud wall of the first and second storeys, and there normally created only one gate allowing them to go out and in. Besides, there was at least one well inside the building included to guarantee their daily life. Therefore, no blind spots could be found in any conflict, and Tulou would safeguard the inhabitants very well.

Nowadays, there is no further need to fend off wild animals and bandits. However, the Hakka locals have no plan to leave their Tulou. They still live there, just like their ancestors did before. The only difference is the constant influx of tourists from all over the world. Thanks to the American officials, their ridiculous but beautiful mistake made world-wide people know these mysterious buildings. And Tulou’s amazing shape and size, dramatic defense function, the great spirit of solidarity and the perfect harmony of Tulou and its surrounding have attracted more and more tourists come to visit, especially after 2008, the year that UNESCO listed Fujian Tulou as a member of World Cultural Heritage Sites!

Check more about Fujian Tulou here: https://www.chinadiscovery.com/fujian/fujian-tulou/nanjing-tulou.html