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| "4 dishes and 1 soup" tulou |
“Four Dishes with One
Soup”. Is this is a set menu
or an extraordinary free meal? It is actually the name of a cluster of tulous,
the Tianluokeng Tulou Cluster, found in Fujian Province, China.
The
above cluster consists of a square earth building at the centre, surrounded by
four round earth buildings (3 round and one oval), figuratively nicknamed in
Chinese “Si cai yi tang” ie 4 dishes and 1 soup.
During the 1980s, the American CIA, using their space satellites
covering China, viewed the above tulous from the air. They thought that the
tulous were “Missile Launching Silos”. Later they discovered that the
tulous were actually China's "unique castles" or tulous.
What
are tulous? Let me relate here the fascinating story of how the Hakka people,
through their hard work and creativity, built tulous.
2000 years ago, Jin soldiers invaded China. The
Hakka people fled the turbulent Central Plains in Henan Province. They moved south
and settled in villages in south-western Fujian where the mountains were high
and bandits roamed freely.
Exposed to the tough and challenging life, they built
wooden sheds and thatched huts to defend themselves. Soon, with a peaceful environment, fertile
land, tenacious ambition, unified spirit and hard work, the Hakka people
gradually flourished.
As
the Hakka population increased, they needed a home where the entire clan could
live together as well as protect them from the elements and enemies. With imagination
and any material available, they improved on the earthen buildings, making it higher,
larger and stronger. These beginnings gave rise to the "tulous" in south-western
Fujian.
Basically,
a tulou, (“tu” means earth, and “lou” means
building) is a large, enclosed fortified earth building,
rectangular or circular in shape, with very thick load-bearing rammed earth
walls, between 3 and 5 storeys (levels) high, topped by slate grey tiles, and housing up
to 80 families. Smaller interior buildings, like halls or temples, are often built within the peripheral walls. The whole structure resembles a small fortified city.
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| A round tulou with rammed earth walls |
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| A square tulou with slate grey tiles |
The fortified walls (up to 1.8 m thick) are made by
compacting earth, mixed with stone, bamboo, wood and other readily available
materials (sometimes glutinous rice). The
result is a well-lit, well-ventilated, windproof and earthquake-proof building
that is warm in winter and cool in summer.
Tulous usually have only one main gate,
guarded by 100–130 mm wooden doors reinforced with an outer shell of iron
plate. The top level of these earth buildings has gun holes for defensive
purposes.
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| The top level has gun holes for defensive purposes |
Today there are thousands of tulous across southern
China, built between 12th and 20th centuries. In 2008, 46
tulous were designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites and
are officially called "Fujian tulous."
Curious about these tantalising tulous, or “Ancient
Castles of the Orient”, my husband and I, together with a group of friends, made
a trip to Fujian Province in China in April 2016. Besides tulous, our 11-day
holiday included visits to ancient villages and other scenic sights of Fujian.
Our group of 24 (12 men and 12 ladies), under tour leader, Choo Kok Wai,
flew from Kuala Lumpur to Xiamen, the port and major city on China's south-east
coast. We were met by tour guide, Candy.
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| Map of Fujian Province, China |
From Xiamen, we took a 4-hour coach ride to Zhangzhou city, taking our lunch and dinner on the way.
Our first lunch in Fujian at Wei You Shifu Restaurant was delightful with many appetising dishes. After the heavy lunch, we were happy to have just noodles for dinner.
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| Oyster with egg |
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| Fried prawns |
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| Herbal chicken soup |
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| Duck in oily sauce |
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| Clam with tofu soup |
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| Yam with mushroom |
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| Braised meat |
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| Colourful mixed vegetables |
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| (Chinese mustard) Gai choy soup |
Our dinner was noodles:
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| Dinner: noodles in yummy soup |
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| Vegetables to go with our noodles |
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| Table 1: Happy faces |
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| Table 2: Cheers |
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| Table 3: A satisfactory dinner |
We arrived in Zhangzhou late at night and checked in to a tulou hotel, ShuiYunju Tulou, in Nanjing County. This gave us a chance to experience life in a tulou.
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| Glittering white stones on the grounds of Shuiyunju tulou Photo: John Ong |
Shui Yunju Tulou
After a good night’s sleep, I awoke next morning fresh and alert. From the 3rd floor outside my room, a pretty sight greeted me: wooden archaic circular buildings, decked with romantic red lanterns. What a quaint setting - it set the mood for an exciting adventure ahead.
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A pretty sight greeted me
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Shui
Yunju Tulou is a modified tulou
hotel with basic facilities for tourists. It is a round building, 3 storeys
high, with kitchen areas on the ground floor, and living quarters on the 2nd and 3rd floor. Expecting to rough it
out, I was amazed to find that our room (on the 3rd floor) of hardwood flooring and wood ceiling, was equipped with air-condition,
television, hot water bath, tea-making facilities, free wifi and even a bed
with a heated element.
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A bed with heating element in ShuiYunju Tulou
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It was comfortable and
cool in the tulou. We could hear voices
from neighbouring rooms (although muffled) or from the courtyard when people were talking. There were
no lifts and we had to walk up flights of stairs to our room. When we walked
about on the wooden floor, we tried to tread lightly so as not to disturb the
occupants on the floor below us.
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| Our tulou hotel has only one exit |
In our tulou hotel, we had breakfast in a room on the ground floor - porridge with accompanying vegetables,
mantou (Chinese pau without filling), steam cakes, Chinese cruller, fried eggs, and coffee or tea.
Staying in the tulou hotel was quite an interesting experience. On Day 2, after touring some tulous, we had dinner in the courtyard, with some entertainment before dinner. Local
performers played music using erhu. They sang traditional folk songs, reminiscent of what my mother and
grandmother enjoyed in their time.
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| Our group at the courtyard, waiting for the show to begin Photo: John Ong |
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| Local performers |
The Master of Ceremony (MC) also gave a short talk of how the Hakka people worked hard to
get the
46
Fujian
tulous inscribed by UNESCO as World Heritage Sites in 2008.
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| MC explaining how the tulour were inscribed by UNESCO as World Heritage Sites |
That day happened to be the birthday of one of our members. She was presented
with a big cake, followed by a
scroll with good wishes for a long life, drawn by a local calligrapher. All of us took the
opportunity to wish the birthday girl all the very best on her special day.
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| A big cake presented to the birthday girl (on right) |
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| Birthday girl presented with a scroll of good sayings |
We had tasty Fujian local dishes for dinner.
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| Prawns cooked local style |
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| Bamboo shoots |
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| Brinjal / aubergine |
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| Tofu with pork |
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| Local meaty duck |
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| Wen yee/black fungus mixed vegetables |
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| Herbal soup |
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| Dumpling/jiao zhi |
It felt strange for our group of 24 to be in such a big building for dinner. I am sure, in ancient times, it would be very convenient for all the family members to gather at the big courtyard for a celebration.
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3 tables of members having dinner in the big Shui Yunju Tulou
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Our group all ready to go for our tour of tulous
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As our holiday was focused on the famed tulous, we concentrated on visiting 6 well-known tulous in
Nanjing County, on our first 2 days. We discovered that each tulou was special with its unique features.
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| Tulous in Nanjing County |
1. Tianluokeng Tulou Cluster
Written
in my introduction, Tianluokeng Tulou Cluster (literally “Snail Pit Village”) is the best known and well-preserved Hakka Tulou. Located
on the side of Hudong Mountain, it is at almost 800 metres above sea level. We
had to travel by a special bus to a viewing platform to see this cluster.
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My husband and I at the delectable "4 dishes and 1 soup" tulou
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The Tianluokeng complex consists
of the Buyun, Ruiyun, Hechang, Zhenchang and Wenchang buildings (4 dishes and 1
soup). Construction of this cluster began at the end of the Yuan dynasty and it
was finished in the 1960s. The 5 buildings among the mountains, combining
artificiality and natural beauty, was a great tourist attraction – there was a
large turnout of local tourists that day.
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The guys at Tianluokeng Tulou Note: Tianluokeng tulou is surrounded by mountains
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Built in 1796, the square
Buyun is the oldest. Buyun means good wishes to the family members and hope they would pass the imperial examinations to be officers and get promoted to higher positions.
It has 3 levels, and each level has 26 rooms, 4 sets of
stairs and a circular corridor in front of the rooms. HuangBaisanlang, who
built it, made sure the staircase followed the contour of the outside terrain. He
wanted people entering the gate to get the pleasant feeling of “rising
continuously”.
Hechang, Zhenchang (built
in 1930) and Ruiyun (built in 1936) are all round tulous with 3 levels with 26 rooms per level while Wenchang (built in 1966) is elliptic, with 3 levels and has 32 rooms per level.
The most unique feature of this cluster is that it is surrounded by mountains except in the south where there are
large areas of terraced padi fields. The owners concentrated on blending the
buildings with the environment. The 5 tulous rise and fall with the mountainous
terrain, harmonising in height and form. Seen from above, they not only look
like “missile launching silos” but full-bloom plum blossoms decorating the
earth.
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The ladies at Tianluokeng Tulou. Note the large terraced padi fields Photo: Lau Chee Hong
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We stood at the viewing
platform and looked down on the iconic tulous. What a spectacular sight! It really looked like delectable 4 dishes and 1 soup. Candy
told me to look out for a pair of "chopsticks”. After viewing it from many angles, I could not see it. Later, she revealed
that it was the 2 elongated grey roof tiles of another tulou next to the main
cluster.
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| Our group at Tianluokeng Tulou:- Note "chopsticks" on the right of the cluster |
2. Huaiyuan Tulou
This
is a round tulou. It is a beautiful, refined and
well-designed tulou. It has the best-preserved and ornate architectural
features.“Huai Yuan” means to miss
distant relatives far away, or to have noble, important and admirable ideals.
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Our group at Huaiyuan Tulou Photo: John Ong
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It was built in the Qing Dynasty (1909), by Jian Xin-Xi. The building has 4 levels, and its diameter length stretches to 42 metres. It has 34 rooms on each level, making a total of 136 rooms.
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4 levels of Huaiyuan Tulou
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The base is made of large
cobble-stones and tabia (earth, lime and pebbles). The building base is
drum-shaped - large in the middle area and gradually dwindling towards both the
upper and bottom sides. “This design gives the tulou extra strength to resist
the elements,” informed Candy.
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| The building base of Huaiyuan Tulou |
There was a hive of
activity within the tulou when we visited it.
There were stalls selling all kinds of souvenir items.
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| Stalls lined the lower level with many items for sale |
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A trader selling souvenirs
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| Miniature tulous and other souvenirs for sale |
Few people live in the
tolou now – only traders and probably retirees and their grandchildren. Most of
the young generation have moved to the cities with modern habitation and jobs.
The tulou has 2 annular
constructions; the inner ring is a building for education of poetry and
etiquette, a private school for teenagers of the family called Sishi Shi (the
family study). The carved beams and painted rafters are very beautiful.
There were plaques and
couplets on the doors, walls and pillars, written by predecessors. These tell
us that happiness and fortune could only be attained from hard work. These are good sayings that I could follow.
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| Plaques and couplets in the inner ring |
3. Hegui Tulou
This
is a square
tulou and is the highest among all the Hakka Tulous. As its name suggests, this
tulou advises people to carry forward traditional values of the Chinese nation
to pursue peace. Walking around inside, I felt the peaceful and harmonious
ambiance.
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| Hegui Tulou Photo: John Ong |
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Entrance to Hegui Tulou
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Members marveling at the height of the Tulou
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Constructed in the Qing
Dynasty (1732), it has 5 levels, is 21.5 m in height. There are 28 rooms on
each level, giving a total of 140 rooms. I looked up at the walls – it was really
tall, Imagine, if they were to use me as a measurement, to stack me up, one by one,
they would need 14 of me, at my height. Wow, bandits would find it difficult to climb in during the ancient times.
The Jian family (owner) did
not know that this was a piece of marshland. After completion of the first
level, the whole building started to sink into the waterlogged ground. The
intelligent owner then constructed over 100 cubic metres of piles to support
the house. Once it was confirmed that the foundation was solid enough, they
continued to rebuild all the 5 levels.
We touched the wall – it
was solid. One of our members jumped on the marshland; it moved a bit, but was
stable. And, for over 200 years, Hegui Tulou has remained solid.
There were 2 wells
inside, about 18 metres away, with peculiar characteristics. The water in the
well on the right was clear like a mirror. It was supposed to taste sweet. It had several red
carps swimming in it.
The well on the left was yellow, muddy and dirty and
could not be consumed. "Interestingly, the water has 4 different muddy colours in 4
seasons, muddy yellow in winter, turbid and green in summer, muddy white in
autumn, and ‘rust-like’ red in winter. No one can explain this phenomenon,” said
Candy, with a smile.
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| The well on the right with fishes in it Photo: Lau Chee Hong |
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Big group of people crowding round the well with red carps
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| The well on the left with muddy water |
4. Yu Chang
Tulou
Built in 1308, Yuan
Dynasty, Yu Chang Tulou is the oldest tulou in Nanjing County. It is known as the “Tilting
tulou” or “Leaning tulou” because of its tilted pillars. Interestingly, the
“Leaning Tower of Pisa” in Italy, was built in 1173.
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| Candy, our tour guide, outside the oldest Yu Chang Tulou |
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Entrance to Yu Chang Tulou
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It is a round tulou, has
5 levels, 18.2 m high, with 54 rooms on each floor, totaling 270 rooms. Each
of the 25 kitchens on the ground floor has a private water well beside its
stove. This is the only tulou in Fujian with such convenient water supply.With such a big family, the private water well is a great help. My
mind drifted back to the ancient times. Imagine 270 families living
together, with no privacy. I raise my hats to the Hakka people!
Liu, Luo, Zhang, Tang and
Fan - 5 families built it together. After the tulou was completed, the pillars
in the corridor above one of the floors began to slope to 2 sides, reaching to
its angle limit – 15 degrees. In spite of that, it was able to withstand 700
years of changing external conditions (wind, rain and even earthquakes).
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| Yu Chang Tulou with sloping wooden pillars |
Yu Chang Tulou was built with the model of the “5
Elements”. It has 5 families living there, 5 floors, 5 stairs, and 5
observation platforms. These follow the 5 elements showing good wishes to the
residents.
A temple (ancestral hall) was built right in the centre of the tulou. We took a walk around the temple - people were busy everywhere: praying, cooking, drying foodstuff and selling cookies, Chinese tea or souvenirs.
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| A temple in the courtyard with people praying inside |
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| An old woman cooking using firewood |
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| A trader selling cookies |
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| Some members tasting tea offered by tea trader Photo: Lau Chee Hong |
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| Bamboo shoots being dried on trays |
There
were many tourists visiting Yu Chang Tulou that day, including a group of
students with their teachers.
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A group of orderly students with their teachers
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5. Yude
Tulou
Yude Tulou or Apron-building faces southeast, with green hills at the back and a brook in
the front. It has a history of
more 200 years.
Constructed in 1879, it was burnt down in 1926 by
warlords. In 1972, one of the overseas Chinese descendants of the Zhang
Qingchong family donated money to repair the tulou.
It is unusually artistic
- one half of the building has a half-moon shape enclosing wall, resulting in
one half high and the other half low. From afar, it looked like a graceful
girl's apron.
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| Yude Tulou - one part high |
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| Yude Tulou - one part low |
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| Yude Tulou - from the exterior - like a girl's apron |
Viewing tulous seems to be a popular outing for school children. A group of international students from all parts of China and all parts of the world, with their teachers, were also at the Yude Tulou. We chatted with the students and teachers as they waited to view a puppet show.
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| With some International students |
6. Shun Yu Luo
Known as
the King of Tulous, Shun Yu Lou was built in 1927 and is China's largest single-ring
tulou with a classical design and open corridors. It is 74.1 m in diameter with 4 levels and 368 rooms.
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| Entrance to Shun Yu Lou |
I looked at the size of the King of Tulous. If a famous singer like Celine Dion were to perform there, her voice would reverberate around the tulous or if there was a football match, the cheers of the audience would resonate around the tulous!
I wonder if there were such big events in the ancient times - all the families could watch it from their rooms and the applause would be tremendously loud, echoing round the tulous. That's cool!
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| King of Tulous Photo: Lau Chee Hong |
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| Fish-eye wefie shot of the King of Tulous Photo: John Ong |
The tuluo is really huge but it was
quite deserted when we visited it. Some members took the opportunity to
climb up to the top levels to have a look. We noticed that there were some new
buildings being built within the tulou.
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Largest single-ring tulou - with stoneware for grinding rice on top level
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Some new buildings within Shun Yu Lou
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Around the courtyard we saw some
women hard at work: washing, steaming and packaging bamboo shoots for export. This cottage industry provides jobs for the womenfolk.
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| Steaming bamboo shoots |
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Note: Some of the information are sourced from the Internet.
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