Kaiping Diaolou is a wonderful flower of Chinese vernacular architecture. It is a multi-storey tower building integrating defense, residence and Chinese and Western architectural art. Its characteristics are the integration of Chinese, ancient Greece, ancient Rome, medieval, Renaissance and Islamic architectural styles. It is mainly distributed in Kaiping and other rural areas. They are integrated with the village where they live, interdependent and inseparable. In 2001, Kaiping Diaolou was listed as a national key cultural relics protection unit. In June 2007, the "Kaiping Diaolou and Villages" application for the World Cultural Heritage project was approved at the 31st World Heritage Conference. There are four Kaiping Diaolou and Villages selected as World Cultural Heritage: Jinjiangli, Ma Xianglong, Zili Village and Sanmenli. The first overseas Chinese cultural world heritage project was born in China, which is also the first world cultural heritage project in Guangdong.
Kaiping Diaolou originated in the late Ming Dynasty. By the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, it had become a large-scale and diverse local architecture complex. At its peak, there were more than 3000, and 1833 existing.
After the Opium War in 1840, a large-scale armed struggle between natives and foreigners broke out in Kaiping, and a large number of Kaiping people left their homes to make a living abroad. As North America and Oceania gradually changed their free migration policies and began to discriminate against Chinese workers, it was difficult for Kaiping overseas Chinese to take root in the local area, so they were forced to return to their hometown to buy a family and build a large number of houses. The complex of "returning to their hometown with rich clothes" and "returning to their roots with fallen leaves" made most of them think of sending money home or going back to China in person to handle "three things": buying land, building houses and marrying wives, which formed the peak period of overseas Chinese housing construction in the 1920s and 1930s. The inflow of a large number of overseas Chinese funds has made banditry more prevalent in the already unstable countryside. In order to protect the lives and property of villagers, overseas Chinese built a large number of blockhouses while returning home to build houses. After 1943, the United States, Canada and other countries successively abolished discriminatory anti Chinese policies. Many overseas Chinese families settled overseas, and the construction of blockhouses tended to stagnate. It can be seen that the rise and fall of Kaiping Diaolou is directly and substantially related to the significant evolution of immigration policies in the United States, Canada and other countries, as well as the tortuous progress of social democracy and racial equality.
According to the building materials, Kaiping Diaolou can be divided into stone towers, rammed earth towers, brick towers and concrete towers: stone towers are mainly distributed in low mountain areas, which are built with stones, and the stones are bonded with mud. The internal floor is set with wooden beams and boards, and the roof is mostly of the traditional Chinese style of hard mountain top, with a simple shape. Rammed earth buildings are mainly distributed in hilly areas. They are developed on the basis of inheriting and carrying forward the ancient rammed earth plate building technology in China. They are mainly made of yellow mud, lime, sand or stones, brown sugar and glutinous rice juice, mixed, mixed and rammed in proportion. Brick buildings are mainly distributed in hilly and plain areas, and there are three kinds of bricks used. One is red bricks fired by local methods in the Ming Dynasty, the other is green bricks fired in the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, and the third is modern red bricks. Concrete buildings (including brick concrete buildings) are mainly distributed in plain and hilly areas. The concrete is mixed with cement, sand and pebbles. The concrete floor is usually erected on I-shaped steel beams or reinforced concrete beams. The floor is generally equipped with steel bars. The brick concrete building is of brick structure, reinforced concrete beam column slab and other components, and the brick wall bears the load.
The appearance of the blockhouse is generally composed of the building body, the cantilever platform and the roof. The building body is solid, with small square windows or long and narrow windows around it, which can provide ventilation, lighting and ventilation, and the shape is solid and stable; The cantilever platform has arcades and colonnades; There are various decorative arts on the top of the blockhouse, including Chinese traditional roof styles such as hanging mountain top, hard mountain top, and saving spire, as well as imitation Italian dome style, imitation European medieval church style, mosque dome style, imitation British fort style, imitation Roman gallery style, folding Chinese style, and modern Chinese style. Diaolou decoration techniques are varied. It mainly includes the top mountain flower, window cover, couplet, gate, lintel, shrine, screen, etc., which are expressed in the form of plaster sculpture, mural, porcelain mosaic, wood carving, colored glass, etc. Chinese traditional decorative themes often use auspicious patterns or words such as blessing, wealth, longevity, bats, money, flowers and birds; The Western style is mainly reflected in the European and American Baroque scroll, Roman column, geometric pattern of mountain flower on the top of the blockhouse. The biggest feature of Kaiping Diaolou is the combination of Chinese and Western styles and diversification. The designers or craftsmen choose different foreign architectural styles and architectural elements according to the owner's own wishes to blend together and become a whole. These architectural elements of different styles and schools coexist harmoniously in the Diaolou, showing the open and inclusive mentality of overseas Chinese and the people in the hometown of overseas Chinese. It is a historical witness to actively accept overseas culture.
According to the use function, Kaiping Diaolou can be divided into public buildings, residential buildings and other types: the public buildings are built behind the village, funded by the whole village or several households, and each household has one room, which is used to temporarily avoid bandits or floods. Its shape is closed, simple, less external decoration, and strong defense. The residential buildings are also mostly built behind the village and are solely owned by wealthy families. They combine the defense and living functions of the blockhouse very well. They are tall, open, complete in living facilities, diverse in shape, elegant in appearance, and beautiful in external decoration. On the basis of satisfying the defense function, they pursue the beauty of architectural form.
The common characteristics of Kaiping Diaolou are iron doors and steel windows, narrow doors and windows, thick walls, and bullet holes on the walls. The bullet holes are generally rectangular or "T" shaped. Some Diaolou have "Swallow's Nest" corner castles in the upper four corners. From the bullet holes of "Swallow's Nest", you can control the surrounding areas in an all-round way. On the top floor of the watchtower, there are lookouts equipped with guns, artillery, stones, copper bells, alarms, searchlights and other defense devices.
Diaolou can avoid theft and waterlogging, and has played a significant role in protecting the lives and property of overseas Chinese and villagers. One night in 1922, more than 100 bandits ransacked Kaiping County High School and kidnapped more than 20 principals and students. When the bandits passed Yingcun Village, a strong light suddenly shot at the bandits from Hongyi Building, which scared the bandits to flee everywhere. The villagers bravely rescued the headmaster and students, and also captured more than ten bandits. This caused a sensation at home and abroad. Overseas Chinese felt the importance of blockhouses and donated money to build blockhouses back home.
Zili Village Diaolou is the representative of Kaiping Diaolou. It is located in Zili Village in the west of Tangkou Town, Kaiping City. It was originally named Anheli in the Qing Dynasty. It is a place where people with the surname Fang live. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, it was renamed "Zili Village", which means "self-reliance and striving for strength". During the period of the Republic of China, overseas Chinese of the same clan returned home to purchase property, leaving many well preserved diaolou, such as Lansheng Julu, Zhanlu, Guansheng Julu, Longsheng Lou, Yunhuan Lou, Mingshi Lou, etc., integrating Chinese and Western styles, they are beautiful and famous.
Zili Village Diaolou
Jinjiangli Diaolou
Baihe Town Diaolou
Distribution of Diaolou in Jiangmen
Xiaogang Town Diaolou Group
(Editor in charge: Jia Weiwen, Zhang Wei)
