Longyan Things to Do

This building is special because it's only for one family living in. The current hostess told us the original owner,her father in law moved out from his own big family and built up the building for himself and his four wives. He did tobacco business. at that time there's an appendix workshop for tobacco making. now nothing in site.

This building was constructed based on the Eight Diagrams pattern,integrated with the surrounding landscape. A place propitious for giving birth to great men and enjoying the title of "Scholarly Family".

Rising abruptly above the ground 1.5 kilometers east of Liancheng county seat, the mountain extends 20 kilometers in circumference. It is one of the top ten scenic areas in Fujian Province. There are many cliff inscriptions, towers, pavilions, and an academy of classical learning. The mountain looks like a lotus flower when viewed from a distance, hence, it is also called Lotus Flower Mountain. The exotic rocks there present unique scenes.

The famous Meihua Mountain Nature Reserve lies at the juncture of three counties and city: Longyan, Shanghang and Liancheng. It is a nature reserve at national level, covering an area of more than 220 square kilometers. There live various kinds of creatures in this favourable ecosystem, with many rare animals and plants.

Round houses, also called earthen houses (Tu lou, in Chinese) of the Hakka ethnic people of Fujian. As most Hakka resided in mountains, communal houses made of compacted earth were built to provide protection against bandits and wild animals. Each Tulou can have a few hundred families living together, all related under the same ancestors.

Tulou are made of earth, stone, bamboo and wood, all readily available materials. The marvel of architecture is a well lit, well-ventilated, windproof, quakeproof building that can be warm in winter and cool in summer.

These huge buildings, which resemble fortresses and are usually as high as 5-storey-buildings, are called earth buildings because of their height and their strong, outer shell which is made up of earth

Now is the "king of earth buidlings". The building has a history of 300 years consisting of 4 storeys with 4 circles and altogether 400 rooms. Admission costs RMB30.