Journey to the Hidden Gems of China—Fujian Tulou

Author: Shi Yilong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-01-01
Features: Explore these unique towns, villages, and scenic areas to understand their formation, development, and existence. Trace the life essence of your ancestors from centuries ago, and immerse yourself in their distinctive cultural atmosphere, ancient heritage of lifestyles, and profound humanistic heritage. You will gain eternal spiritual enjoyment. In the 1980s, U.S. spy satellites flying over China daily discovered numerous buildings of unknown nature hidden in the dense forests and valleys of southwestern Fujian. These buildings were cylindrical, with both square and round shapes, resembling intercontinental missile launch tubes, causing tension in the U.S. military, which believed it could be a large, unimaginable, and weapon base! Later, it was revealed that these were just rural homes built by the Chinese villagers. These towering, enclosed earth-and-rice-straw buildings, resembling large small gyms or mushrooms growing from the earth and spaceships descending from the sky, emit a mysterious hue, sparking people's imagination. This book, through chapters such as "Earthen Castles," "Rice-Straw Brick Megaplexes," "Jingwei Earth Enclosures," "Other Buildings in Earth Enclosure Villages," and "Community Festivals," objectively and authentically introduces the distribution, construction, and usage of earth enclosures in Minnan, southwestern coastal Fujian, and river valley areas, as well as the daily folk customs of the people in these earth enclosure villages. It also provides a realistic correction to the concepts constructed by some individuals, such as "earth enclosures" and "Hakka earth enclosures," and the incorrect knowledge and biases derived from them.