Kejiatulou Building Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
The Hua'an Tulou and the Nanjing Tulou share a common origin yet follow their own paths: their siting and construction, under the principles of family prosperity and security, are laid out according to traditional Chinese feng shui concepts. The site is determined by the configuration of mountains and water, while orientation and the enclosing form are decided by the elders of the clan; the inward-facing layout in which the whole clan resides within a single building essentially inscribes the clan's order into the very form of the house. Under such spatial arrangement, the architectural design and floor plan of the Tulou pay great attention to scientific rigor, rationality, practicality, and systematic order. The entire building stacks functions—dwelling, ancestral worship, deliberation, storage, and production—within a single enclosed space, and it is precisely this functional systematicity that shows the greatest wisdom of the Tulou. The ancient rammed-earth wall technique used in construction is the crystallized result of millennia of accumulated refinement of the Central Plains' rammed-earth construction technology; it is the physical embodiment of the highest achievement of rammed-earth civilization and may truly be called a singular wonder of architecture. After this technique spread to the mountainous areas of southern Fujian, it adapted to the local climate and building-material conditions, completing the transformation from Central Plains practice to southern Tulou—a result still discernible one by one on the surviving Tulou of Hua'an today. The Eryi Building in Dadi Village, Xiandu Town is especially outstanding; it was the earliest Fujian Tulou to be inscribed as a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level, and it holds a place on the world's list of vernacular dwellings. The "er yi" in its name means both "suitable to inhabit" and "suitable to visit"; its form and construction methods are exemplary in the context of the Fujian Tulou.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Nanjing County in Fujian is home to more than 15,000 Tulou of various kinds, of which over 1,300 are large square or round forms, rightly called the "Kingdom of Tulou." It gathers the tallest, largest, smallest, most unusual, oldest, and most spectacular earthen buildings, among which the Tianluokeng Tulou cluster, the Hekeng Tulou cluster, the Huaiyuan Building, and the Hegui Building stand as exemplary models of Tulou architecture. Thousands upon thousands of earthen buildings, like "flying saucers dropped from the sky" or "mushrooms growing from the earth," dot the beautiful land of Nanjing and form a superb scenic line, acclaimed as "a unique, myth-like model of mountain-village architecture found nowhere else in the world." The siting and construction of the Hua'an Tulou follow the principles of family prosperity and security, laid out according to traditional Chinese feng shui concepts. Their architectural design and floor plan pay great attention to scientific rigor, rationality, practicality, and systematic order, embodying a modern sense of domestic living. Tulou walls are built with the ancient tools of rammed-earth wall construction, chiefly formwork boards, ramming pestles, shovels, and large and small patting boards as auxiliary tools. Rammed-earth wall construction follows strict rules at every stage—from soil selection, proportional mixing, soil pile treatment, and mastery of moisture content, through the ramming procedure to wall repair. Carpenters design and process the beam frames. Especially in round buildings, rooms are divided roughly evenly along the circumference (taking a dustpan-like shape), and carpenters adapt the beam frames to this form, which requires considerable skill. The ancient rammed-earth wall technique is the crystallized result of millennia of accumulated refinement of the Central Plains' rammed-earth construction technology; it is the physical embodiment of the highest achievement of rammed-earth civilization and may truly be called a singular wonder of architecture.
Setting the foundation by geomantic rules
Site and orientation follow geomantic principles applied to family prosperity and security, after which halls and rooms are laid out to match clan hierarchy.
Setting out the ramming tools
Boards set the wall thickness, pestles compact it, spades trim the edges and large and small paddles finish the surface; missing one leaves the wall uneven.
Combining earth, timber and stone
Rammed earth bears the load, timber carries the roof and stone footings guard the base, drawing on the mountain's own materials for a frugal yet strong house.
Planning the multi-use enclosure
Living, ritual, deliberation, storage and production are stacked within one enclosure, an arrangement strikingly modern in its economy of space.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Tulou construction craft ingeniously makes use of the terrain of the mountainous area and local building materials such as raw earth, timber, and mountain stone; it is extremely economical, exceptionally solid, strongly defensive, and richly beautiful.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Kejiatulou Building Craftsmanship · Kejiatulou Building Craftsmanship · Kejia Residential Building Craftsmanship.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Among them, the Eryi Building in Dadi Village, Xiandu Town, is the most outstanding representative; it was the earliest Fujian Tulou listed as a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level, and is a treasure of vernacular dwellings of world stature. While inheriting and innovating upon traditional raw-earth construction craft, the Fujian Tulou also carry forward the essence of traditional Chinese culture and stand as testimony to the cultural tradition of clan-based co-residence. Yet, with social development, modern building models and the substitution of modern materials have brought the ancient Tulou construction craft to the verge of being lost. This ancient skill, which holds significant historical meaning and modern research value, urgently awaits inheritance and protection.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Xu Songsheng 01-0148
- Zhong Yanpeng 05-2741
- Zhang Xianyao
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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