Chinese villager’s nostalgia for communal living sparks revamp project for unique roundhouses of southeast China
Forty-six doughnut-shaped roundhouses in Fujian have been awarded Unesco World Heritage status, but roughly 3,000 others are in a state of decay. One returnee is now trying to revive his childhood home and community
Lin Lusheng has fond memories of growing up in a tulou, one of the traditional circular buildings peculiar to southeastern China that house dozens of families in homes centred around an inner courtyard.
“As my parents went up the mountains to cultivate the land, I was free to go to the neighbours’ home to play with other children, or to eat at their place. They treated me like their own child,” Lin, 36, says.
Inside Fujian’s Unesco-listed Hakka roundhouses
Tulou are usually associated with Hakka clans who originated in northern China and began migrating south around 1,000 years ago. While the name Hakka means “guest people”, they were not always welcome in the places they settled, and their round, or square, inward-looking buildings, with a single doorway to the outside, served as protection against hostile forces.
Tulou, meaning “earthen house”, are built with thick mud walls and feature overhanging eaves.
Hundreds of people from the same clan could live in a single tulou, which were often regarded as “a little kingdom for the family”. Behind their walls, a communal lifestyle thrived that promoted strong ties among the inhabitants.
The architectural style was also adopted by non-Hakka groups, and nowadays Han Chinese including Lin and the other residents of Neilong village live in similar buildings.