Hakka tulou

Hakka tulou (listed UNESCO World Herigate tentative list as Fujain tulou is centuries old earth building of Hakka community in southwestern district of Fujian province, bording Guangdong. A typical tulou has a 6-8 feet thick wall constructed of rammed earth mixed with pebbles, glutoneous rice and bamboo. A tulou is essentially a fortress doubled as a community housing compound. Some larger tulou such as the king of tulou-Chengqilou has five rings of concentric circular buildings, with the outer ring 4 storey tall, inner rings 2 storey tall, surrounding a community hall at the center. Community meetings, wedding celebration or funeral rites are held in this center community hall<P>

The tulous are groupped in remote areas of southwestern Fujian. It took 4 hour car ride from Xiamen city to these sites.<P>

I'm glad you posted your shots. I do wish you had made them a little smaller for quicker loading, however.

Interesting stuff.

Amazing. Thanks for post, Martin.

Martin, WONDERFUL!

I suppose you used one of these green Fuji films?

Thanks Martin, very fantastic shots. Not only Minox... Ciao.

Actually, these shots are lousy! but the motifs are "interesting"

I suppose you used one of these green Fuji films? Actually, these shots are lousy! but the motifs are "interesting"

Martin, if you know, what is the historical time of this construction? It reminds heavily of the Colosseum in Roma.

Torben, in some areas your options for taking photos are restricted either by geography and/or community/country restrictions. These aren't 'lousy' for the purpose they were intended which is 'country documentary' and gives us a peek-in to a place almost none of us will ever visit.

Thank you, Martin, for taking the time and trouble to give us these very interesting photos and commentary. I am envious of your visit to this location.

Conni

L DaSousa, The Zhencheng building (pic 3) was built in 1912

Chenqi building (pic 1,2 ) was built in 1709, during the reign of Empero Kangxi

The oldest tulou I visited is called Yuchanglou, built in 1308 nearly 700 years ago, that was during Mongol reign of Emperor Temur (It was Edward II in England)

The Yuchanglou was probably one of the oldest five storey cicular "apartment" in the world still standing today. A square shape five storey tulou called Qinxinlou was built in 769 Tang dynasty, more than 1200 years ago; yet it is still intact !

Equipment wise, I feel that my Elmarit R19mm is still not wide enough, I can only capture a half of the circular sky, a 12mm ultrawide may be able to capture the full sky opening of tulou

Kodak 200 turned out a bit grainy( scanned with CanoScan FS4000us), I am now shopping for a full frame Dslr body (any good suggestion ?)

Yuchanglou, a 700 years old five storey apartment tulou with 270 rooms built of mud

exquisite. Thank you.

After visiting Fujian tulou, a Japanese architecture scholar said these tulou look like gigantic UFO flying saucers.

Never seen so much green/cyan! and I just calibrated my monitor