Fujian Hakka Tulou Yunshuiyao Day Trip from Xiamen 南靖福建土楼云水谣旅游区

While we were in Xiamen, we took the opportunity to take a day trip that took us to Fujian Tulou Yunshuiyao 福建土楼云水谣旅游区 in 南靖 Nanjing County west of Zhangzhou (which is west of Xiamen).

(🎗️This Nanjing County is not the same as Nanjing City in Jiangsu province.)

We bought our day trip tickets in Xiamen - ticket booths and ticket agents were everywhere around the city (we got ours at Zhongshan Street). Our day trip cost around RMB130 per pax (the brochure list price was RMB228 🤭). Return bus rides, entrance ticket to Tulou Yunshuiyao and lunch were included in the RMB130 price. Professional guides were provided on the bus and at the tulou.

The bus picked up participants at a few designated points around the city in the morning. The road time was around 2hrs 30mins to three hours one way. We were back at our hotel by the evening (about 8pm).

There was a rest stop at a large coffee factory cum retail shop but there was neither obligation nor pressure to buy anything.

Lunch was at the rest stop after the toilet break and browsing / shopping at the coffee retail shop. The food was simple, clean tasting, filling and I quite enjoyed the mild, well balanced flavours. There were chicken, fish, bamboo shoot, tofu, vegetables and rice. Delicious in my opinion.

The first tulou we saw was a five storey rectangular building 和貴楼.

Tulous were built by Hakka people who migrated south beginning 400AD due to wars in China's Central Plains. The height of migration was during the Mongolian Yuan dynasty (1271-1368). Many settled in the southern provinces of Guangdong and Fujian. That's the furthest south you can go unless you take to the seas and leave China (which many did during the Manchurian Qing dynasty 1644 - 1912).

But, the Hakka people were not welcome wholeheartedly by the locals in Fujian and Guangdong due to competition for arable land. Banditry was also a threat to the migrants. So, the Hakka retreated to the hills and built family homes like mini fortresses which are what tulous are - communal homes with defensive features like high, thick walls, single entrance, lookouts, etc.

The tulou sits on granite rock foundation and the thick walls were made with clay, sticky glutinous rice, lime, and egg white. The wooden beams and structures were made with Chinese fir and other wood.

Passing through the main entrance, it leads to a courtyard with a temple in the middle.

The family well. Each tulou houses a family and extended families, often four or five generations together.

In the past, the ground level housed the kitchens, dining halls, and community activity areas for weddings, funerals, celebrations, etc.

Today, the ground level was rented out to retail shops selling tea, small bites, trinkets, souvenirs and other tourist targeted items.

In the past, the upper floors were for storage and bedrooms.

The guides requested for another RMB10 or RMB20 to access the upper floors. No one lived there now and some units may be used by staff of the retail shops.

From the rectangular tu lou we can see one of those iconic round shaped tu lou a short distance away.

We walked over.

Inside, the huge courtyard was bare and there were no retail shops on the ground level.

Cloudy skies above.

When we were in Xiamen / Zhangzhou, a typhoon passed south of us in the sea, but fortunately only brought cloudy skies, strong winds and drizzles.

We paid the small additional fee to access the upper floors. The rooms were all unused, and were but empty shells.

But, the view from up here was beautiful. Imagine its heyday when 800 - 1000 people lived here.

In the 1960s, US spy satellites spotted thousands of round structures hidden in the densely forested hills of Fujian which looked like large nuclear missile silos.

Needless to say, the Pentagon was alarmed. In 1980s, CIA sent an agent Howard H Beck to investigate. He travelled to Fujian and found out that the suspect missile silos were merely old dwellings i.e. tulou.

The third tulou we were going to see was across a small river.

The riverside walk was picturesque and lined with several centuries old fig trees.

There were a couple of bridges across the river but most people chose the more adventurous stone steps 😂

Although I felt this waterwheel was a little out of place, this was the most popular photo spot at Yunshuiyao 福建土楼云水谣旅游区.

The waterwheel was a prop in the 2006 movie 云水谣.

The third and final tulou of today's tour was 怀远楼.

Let's walk in together.

Like the first tulou (the rectangular one), stepping in the front gate led to a temple in the centre courtyard.

Same setup - small retail and food shops at ground level. This time, no one took up the offer to view the upper floors for a few RMB more 🤭

One last look at the sky from the inside as we stepped out.

There are more than 30,000 tulou in Fujian province (and Guangdong province together). Forty six tulou were designated UNESCO World Heritage sites. Not all tulou are gazetted for conservation as there are just too many. Those ungazetted tulou may become subject to hybrid type of renovations / reconstruction like this Frankenstein building.