Tulou, the Little Kingdoms of the Fujian

The coastal Fujian province is facing Taiwan. In the mountainous part of this region, there are some spectacular and singular styled villages with huge and round community houses built between the 11th to the 20th century. We are in the Hakka people’s country, migrated from Central China who established here this strange kind of community life and created these unique and défensive styled houses called « Tulou ». More than 46 houses divided to 10 villages on a long territory of 120 km are today protected by the UNESCO as for the criterion : « The tulou as a whole and the nominated Fujian tulou in particular, in terms of their form are a unique reflection of communal living and defensive needs, and in terms of their harmonious relationship with their environment, an outstanding example of human settlement. ». Far from the big industrial cities, the highway is transformed on a simple small road criss-crossing the countryside. While entering the province of the Fujian among the Hakka people, it is a another China, the centuries-old China with its ancient traditions holding on face to a tidal wave of a Chinese style globalisation. The history of this région is related to it’s migration history. The first Tulou houses were built from the 11th century but only from the 17th century the houses became much bigger almost like the « little Kingdoms for the family » or the « small cities », each house containing more than 800 members ! Tuul Morandi