Three Days in Xiamen

Tianluokeng Tulou

The long anticipated Girls China Trip to Xiamen took place at the beginning of April. It started bright and early at 8am after arriving into Xiamen very late on the the night before or rather very early on the day of. We had booked a tour of the Fujian Tulou with Mr. Fish of Xiamen Tourism Group who arranged for a driver and an English speaking guide. Our tour included all the transportation costs, entrance tickets, and lunch. We additional arranged for the driver to pick us up from the airport, so that we would not have to wait in a taxi line. 

The Fujian Tulou lay about a three hour one way drive from Xiamen Island. There are more than 20,000 Tulou in Fujian, but only 46 are designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites and are officially called "Fujian Tulou." The word Tulou comes from the Chinese ‘Tu’ meaning earth and ‘Lou’ meaning building. These amazing structures were built by the Hakka people, a Han subgroup that wandered south about 2,000 years ago. 

Yuchanglou

According to our guide Nick, they were fleeing some nastiness in the North, and were unpleasantly surprised to find a bunch of bandits and wild animals at their new home in the south. You can see this reflected in the architecture of the Tulou. They are clearly made to be defensible. The more famous of the Tulou are as close to castles as I have ever seen in China. The wall are nearly 2 meters thick with gun holes. There are no windows on the first two floors just like in castles in the west and the main wooden doors were reinforced with iron.

Built, and likely re-built, between the 12th and 20th centuries, the buildings range in size from one to four stories, and can accommodate a up to 800 people. They are composed of concentric rings, one inside the other. They housed large families and sometimes multiple groups, but they were all related to each other, and each Tulou is named after the family which inhabits it.  The largest one we went to which is called the King of Tulou, has a pharmacy, a police station, a hospital, and more. It is less of a building and more of a town smashed together into one structure. 

 On Right:Zhang Wang Wei --  On Left:Yuchanglou

One very interesting aspect of the Tulou is the reflection of the society in the architecture. There was no concept of penthouse or superiority, only community. All rooms were built of the same materials, were the same size, and had the same style of design. Then each small family (remember they are all related so this is likely male grandparents, parents, and children) owned a vertical section of the Tulou. So everyone had ground floor entrance and a penthouse with a view. The housing allotment was based on the male line with each son counting as a branch. So each branch of the family tree shares one roof. If the family tree got to big, they built a new concentric circle and increased the available living space exponentially. The King of Tulou’s outer ring supposedly took three generations to build.

You could probably call the Hakka Communists by today’s thinks because in addition to the Tulou, they shared farmland, protection duties, wells, bathrooms, weaponry, and well, you get the idea. The only thing that the Communists would not agree with these people on is their views on ancestor worship. 

Zhang Wang Wei

Tours out here could last for days, but honestly you are mostly seeing the same type of building repeatedly; so one long day out, around and back is good. Though if you have the time and the interest you could overnight in one of the Tulou. Our tour started at the Tianluokeng Tulou cluster which is also called “four dishes with one soup and a pair of chopsticks.” This refers to the four circular Tulou, the single square Tulou, and the two long out buildings. Unfortunately, the steps down were under repair and we were not able to see this cluster, except from a distance. 

Tianluokeng Tulou

Our second stop was Yuchanglou, and is part of the Nanjing Tulou Cluster. Yuchanglou is one of the oldest and largest earthen buildings in China, having been built in 1308 during the Yuan dynasty. It was nicknamed the “leaning building” because the workers got angry at not being paid and leaned the vertical pillars left and right instead of straight. Still, the five-storey, 36m diameter, 250 room structure has withstood the last 700 years, and is going strong. The outside of these buildings is not all that impressive, but step inside and it is an explosion of color, smell, and sound. You have farmers selling crops, vendors selling tourist knickknacks and hand-rolled cigarettes, artists paining, and the locals going about their day to day lives. This is where we found Lin Jian Liang who paints the Tulou scenery on a rocks, tree stumps, canvas and more. He showed us that he had even won awards.

Yuchanglou

Yuchanglou is the only Tulou in this cluster that we visited though we did lunch in a nearby Tulou, Zhang Wang Wei which also doubles as a hotel, and if you had to stay out there, this is where I would stay. I am not sure if that is the name of the owner, or the Tulou though. The food was excellent; simple but fresh. We were also all eating vegetarian, and one had an upset stomach, but they were able to accommodate our requested alterations to the menu. They also had some local sticky rice wine for us to try. It is rather sweet on first taste, but then just when you think it is weak, it punches you in the back of the throat.

We walked off lunch by wandering through Taxia Village which dates back to the 1400s. Then proceed on to our last stop: Chengqilou or “the King of Tulou.” It is the largest of the Fujian Tulou and part of the Gaobei Tulou Cluster. Construction reportedly took three generations though the beginning and end dates are not very clear. Chengqilou has three concentric rings. The outermost measures 73 meters diameter (1915 meters round) and is four storeys. The two inner rings are both two-storeys tall, and in the very middle is the one storey ancestral hall. The whole thing is 400 rooms, 3 outer gates, 2 wells and a total area of 5377 square meters. The whole interior is a winding maze. We got our picture taken by some very enterprising locals, had some tea while the owner collected our printed, labeled, and laminated photo, and left. 

Chengqilou

Our guide dropped us back at the hotel which was necessary because we couldn’t remember where it was! The hotel was a fully renovated and restored lane mansion. It was honestly a cross between a hotel, a shop, and a museum. Unbelievably cool to get to go back there at the end of the day. And on top of that the staff were super helpful about helping us get there the first time. 

Ancestor Hall at Taxia Villiage

The second day was much more laid back. We caught the ferry from Xiamen to Gulangyu Island . Historically, this is the only International settlement on Chinese soil outside of Shanghai. The settlement came about after the First Opium War and the Treaty of Nanking. Today it is a tourist destination where you can stroll along the winding walkways enjoying the shops, eateries, small museums, and general scenery. Seeing as it was an abysmally dreary day, we spent sometime wandering, but had a really good time eating and eating up a few hours in a restaurant’s courtyard. 

Gulangyu Island Beach

Following Gulangyu Island, we headed over to Coffee street, the bar street of Xiamen — because that is not confusing at all. Our night ended across town though at Hell Bar. It is run by a Canadian, Mike, and his wife. They have the best pizza we had in Xiamen, a really great local beer on tap, and their own Hell Hound, named Brownie. Their hospitality beyond top notch. They called us a cab, and when Kelly left her phone in the cab; helped call the taxi driver to get him to deliver the phone back to us. Will tell anyone headed off to Xiamen to go see Mike at Hell Bar.

Eating my way through Xiamen

Our final day was spent relaxing at Reyuegu Hot Springs . The bus is a bit hard to find over in the south bus parking lot of the Ferry Terminal, but then it is a nice 45min drive out to the resort where for 288 RMB you can stay all day in the 100 pool hot spring resort! There is even one hot spring pool where you they have put some coffee grinds. So if you didn't get your morning cup, you can soak it up through osmosis. You can get food from the buffet or the outdoor restaurant; you can get a number of massage treatments; and in addition to the hot springs there is a kids fun park and saunas. At the end of this, if you have melted into a pile of goo and just don’t want to leave, there is a hotel attached for you to stay overnight. As it was raining the morning we went, we saw only a few people and the pools to ourselves for the most part. It was incredibly relaxing end to our restorative trip out of Shanghai!

Some images of our hotel: Xiamen Lanqin Gucuo Mansion