The Yongding Earth Buildings-My trip to the Earth Buildings or ‘Tulous’ in Fujian Province, China.
Updated: Mar 12, 2020
It took about one and a half hours on shuttle bus from Longyan City to get to the Hongkeng Earth Building Group in Yongding, costing only 21RMB($3 US). From the bus window I saw plenty of old streets for New Year's goods stretching off away from the main road. It was Spring Festival, so everybody was out to buy goods.
The plan was to stay the night. I booked a hotel outside the scenic area online (these are always cheaper). If you are in the scenic area, you can choose to spend a night in a room in the Tulou and experience a night as a Hakka. Arriving, I dropped my luggage at the hotel and went directly to the entrance of the scenic area. Admission cost 90 RMB.
Outside the Hongkeng Tulou scenic area The guest rooms inside the Earth Buildings
Despite housing quite a number of Tulous, the scenic area is, on the whole, is relatively small. A thin river runs through it. You can get a good view of the whole Tulou group by climbing the little mountain over behind the scenic area (ask at the hotel desk for the route to the mountain).
Little Earth Buildings in Hongkeng
The size and shape of the earthen buildings are all different. There are also some dilapidated old earthen buildings. These dilapidated ones are now used by villagers as storehouses, but there are still a small number of villagers that live in them. The Zhencheng Building is the largest earth building in Hongkeng Village, covering an area of about 5,000 square meters.
Special administrators in each earth building are the people in charge. If you want special access to different parts of the Tulou, they are the ones to talk to. We spent some money to go upstairs to see the fourth floor. It costs about 10 yuan per person. Prices can be cheaper if you bring a larger group of people along – just have to negotiate with the administrator.
Zhencheng Lou. The largest Tulou in the Hongkeng Tulou group
In line with the name, the outer walls of the earth structures are made of rammed earth, but the internal structure of the entire building is basically all wood. It has four floors. The earth floor is radiated in 8 equal parts. There are six rooms on each floor of each part, and there are arches made of blue bricks at the junction of each part as a firewall. There is also a smaller building in the center of the earth building.
Occasionally, painters gather to sketch portraits on the periphery inside the Tulous. Residents also often gather here to chat and watch visitors as they come and go.
A little kitchen shack at Zhencheng Lou
Each floor of the Tulou has a different use. The first floor is the residents’ kitchen. Inside you can see the old-fashioned Chinese cooking stoves.
A red lantern hangs in front of the door of each house. Photography enthusiasts can make arrangements with the administrators to enter the earth building at night and capture the stunning and unique atmosphere created by the lanterns filling the inner Tulou with red light, like you can see in the movie "Big Fish Begonia".
Two local specialty products draw people’s attention when visiting this part of Fujian. In some small shops and stalls near the scenic street tobacco sellers craft hand-rolled cigarettes. The smell of fresh tobacco fills the air. Their tobacco is locally grown. Besides this, there’s also tons of persimmon.
Fujian hand-rolled tobacco. A specialty of the Fujian region (ask around to find the best seller).
The scenic area takes about a day to see start-to-finish. The next day I was back on the bus to Longyan. The bus station is at the exit of the scenic area, making travel very convenient.
