Tianluokeng Tulou Cluster
Interesting facts
- The central square house, Buyun Lou, whose name means roughly Reaching the Clouds, is generally dated to 1796.
- Buyun Lou is said to have been burned by bandits in 1936 and rebuilt in 1953 to its original plan.
- The oval Wenchang Lou, the last house added to the group, has 32 rooms on each of its three floors.
- Zhenchang Lou, built in 1930, has 26 rooms on every floor, the same number as the square house it surrounds.
- Seen from the lower viewpoint, the houses rise in staggered tiers up the slope, a very different picture from the four dishes seen from above.
- The cluster was protected by Fujian province in 1996 and listed as a national key cultural relic site in 2001, years before its World Heritage inscription.
- Its World Heritage listing was decided at the 32nd session of the World Heritage Committee, held in Quebec City, Canada.
- Fujian tulou are typically entered through a single gate closed by wooden doors 10 to 13 centimetres thick, sheathed in iron plate.
Why it is worth it
Tianluokeng is a hamlet in the mountains of Nanjing County in southern Fujian whose five earthen houses have become the most famous image of the Fujian tulou. The name means "snail pit", after the bowl of hillside in which they stand. Each tulou is a fortress-like communal dwelling: a massive earthen outer wall and, inside, tiers of wooden rooms facing an open courtyard, built so that a whole clan could live together behind it. All five here are home to families of the Huang clan.
The magic is in the arrangement. At the centre stands the square Buyun Lou, the oldest of the group, three storeys high with 26 rooms on each floor. Around it are set three round houses, Hechang Lou, Zhenchang Lou of 1930 and Ruiyun Lou of 1936, and one oval, Wenchang Lou, completed in 1966. Seen from the viewing point on the slope above, the four curved roofs ring the square one like dishes around a bowl, which is why the cluster is known by the nickname "four dishes and a soup". The rings of dark tiled roof and earthen walls set in the hollow of the hills make one of the great architectural views of rural China.
Inside, the scale changes completely. Stepping through the gate of a round tulou, you find a circular wooden world of stacked galleries around a shared courtyard, still lived in. The cluster was named one of China's first historic and cultural villages in 2003, and on 7 July 2008 it was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as one of the 46 buildings of the Fujian Tulou site.
Getting there
Tianluokeng lies in Shuyang town, Nanjing County, about 54 km from Longyan. The nearest major airport is Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport (XMN), about 109 km away; most visitors come by road from Xiamen, a long drive on winding mountain roads, by car, tour bus or taxi.
On these lists
From the encyclopaedia
Tianluokeng tulou cluster is one of the better known groups of Fujian tulou. It is located in the village of Tianluokeng in the town of Shuyang, Nanjing County, southern Fujian province.
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