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Kaiping Diaolou, Beyond Space

They were built in a variety of architectural styles. The early ones, as represented by Yinglong Lou, followed the design of brick Qing Dynasty houses, except that the walls were thicker and the doors and windows narrower and smaller. With the participation of returned overseas Chinese, Diaolou began to adopt some European designs. The top parts differed greatly, ranging from the typical traditional Chinese gabled roof to European castles of the Middle Ages and ancient Roman architectures. There was generally a stone tablet with an inscription of the name of the tower or some stirring poetic words.

A recent survey shows that there are currently some 1,833 Diaolou, most of whose owners had gone abroad or had passed away with their living descendants still overseas or had moved into Kaiping and other cities. As a cultural heritage these Diaolou constitute a huge architectural museum with historical, artistic, and tourism value and have been proposed for inclusion in UNESCO's World Cultural Heritage list.

¡¡Yunhuan Lou

Year of Construction: 1921

Type: Julou

Owner: Fang Wenxian

Green rice paddy, meandering river, thick bamboo wood, blossoming flowers, and clusters of Diaolou, this is a lyric picture that is ever in the dreams of all travelers. Zili, a village in Tangkou Town of Kaiping City, turns illusion into reality.

Fang Wenxian, an overseas Chinese of Malaysia, returned to his hometown and had a strongly fortified Diaolou built, hence Yunhuan Lou. The 5-story watchtower has distinctive Western style in the exterior sculpt and decoration, such as huge stelae, basso-relievo, cloister, and the like. Yet inside the watchtower, the appliances of Fang and his kin are still well preserved, reviving scenes of traditional life typical in China's rural south.

The fifth floor of Yunhuan Lou is the most solemn part, with memorial tablet of deceased ancestors enshrined here. On each side of the roof there is a crow's nest protruding from the body of the watchtower, guarding against the attacks of bandits in the past.

A businessman as he was, Fang also had political ambitions. However, in the years of the Republic, he could only hide his anger and disappointment with the incapable KMD government in the inscription of the horizontal board -- "Zhi Tan Feng Yue"(Talk about nothing but the wind and moon).
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