The driver suggested that we visited the Zili Village first, as that village was officially recognized, restored and developed as the preeminent location for Diaolou tourism.

He told me quite a bit about himself. He is a native of Chikan. Mr. Guan is his name, as that is a major surname in the Chikan area. This driving gig is a side business for him. He has a store that sells frozen meats, but since business there was a bit slow, he took on this side gig of driving tourists around.

Some Tips for Ticketing

All of the sightseeing spots that I visited in Kaiping charged admission fees, including Zili Village, Li Yuan Garden, Majianglong Village and the Chikan Ancient Town. At the Zili Village, the ticket office offers a package deal of RMB 180 for the visitation of three sites, including Zili Village, Liyuan Garden and Majianglong Village. As it turned out, I had no time to see the interiors of the buildings at Majianglong Village, so if I could choose again, I would just purchase the tickets at each site.

The Zili Village of Kaiping

On the way to the Zili village, there were views of many Diaolou’s, and the scenes were exceedingly pleasing. The structures inside the Zili village serve as museums with introduction and illustration of the owner’s stories and lifestyle.

The Zili Village showcases the largest, most concentrated clusters of Diaolou’s in Kaiping. There are 15 Diaolou’s in Zili Village, the largest of Diaolou cluster in any given village in Kaiping. Therefore, if you have limited time, certainly visit the Zili Village. Allow for at least 1.5 to 2 hours in Zili Village if you would like to climb these towers and take a thorough look at the museum exhibitions.

There is also a wonderful museum discussing all aspects of these Diaolou’s, including the architectural features, building structures and materials, and history.

As a vernacular architectural form, the Diaolou’s have existed since the Ming dynasty. The Chinese eclectic style is broad and accommodating in its practical expression. For example, the Diaolou’s feature a wide array of western architectural styles, including the renaissance, byzantine, gothic and more.

The general features that define the Diaolou’s are their multistory tower-like structures incorporating western architectural elements, such as rooftop pavilions, elaborate window adornment, arcades, arches, balconies, and roman columns etc.

In Kaiping, the popularlity of the Diaolou’s reached its height in the 19^th and 20^th centuries. Most of the buildings in the Zili Village were built in the 1920s to 1930s. As discussed in the last entry, the overseas Chinese returnees built these structures to protect and provide for their families in China.

Broadly speaking, they can be categorized into genglou, julou and zhonglou. The genglou’s were built simply as watch towers. The julou and zhonglou’s are for residential purposes. The julou’s refer to a building that was funded and owned by one owner, whereas the zhonglou’s were built with funds pooled by the village of a few families. There are also Diaolou’s for educational and commercial purposes, especially for hosting banks and pawn shops.

The Remarkable Diaolou’s of Zili Village

The Fong clan are the residents in Zili Village. They originated from Henan and had a celebrated lineage as the descendants of a king’s son-in-law (usually a top scholar in the imperial exams). But beyond a shared surname, the similarity of the Diaolou owners’ lives stop there. The Fong clansmen have gone to vastly different countries abroad, including Canada, the United States, Malaysia and other parts of Southeast Asia. Fong Pah Liang, in particular, has returned with exceptional education as the first Chinese student at MIT in the United States. He was one of the children that were sent by the Qing court to the United States on the Chinese Education Mission. After returning to China, he made exceptional contribution in the telecommunications sector, a critical project for China’s modernization efforts.

The Mingshi Lou

Mingshi Lou is the key Diaolou to visit. It has five stories and a rooftop offering fantastic 360 views of the village and featuring many Diaolou’s amidst the lush rural pastures. The rice paddies suggest a continued reliance on farming by the village, although the village is now a part of a UNESCO heritage with a thriving tourist presence.

Mingshi Lou was built by Fang Runwen in 1925. His father was a quarryman and therefore the name of the building meant “in memory of stones.” Mingshi Lou is a representative structure of combining both defensive and residential purposes in one. The “swallow’s nest” at the corners of the roof terrace features defensive gun holes, as against the threat to property and life posed by the bandits that ran rampant at that time. The building was also designed against the threats of flooding.

Besides the main Diaolou tower, Mingshi Lou also consists of a flat-roofed, shorter annex building that served as the tool shed and kitchen for the family. Finally, it also features a garden.

There are five stories of exhibits showing the lifestyle of the Fang’s. The rooms display a lifestyle that was classic and traditional in some respects, and novel in terms of its historical context in some other. On display were antique phonograph players, the rattan baskets that were essential containers in a Chinese kitchen of those times, perfume bottles and warm water tumblers, and classic Chinese bedframes with soft beddings.

The highlight of a tour of Mingshi Lou was the climb up to the roof terrace. In its middle stands a hexagonal pavilion with Chinese glazed tile roof. It is at this vantage point that you can have unobstructed views of the whole village, seeing the juxtaposition of tall Diaolou towers with traditional Chinese village homes, in their midst lied ponds, the crisscrossing mud paths within the rice paddies, and arbors blooming in cascading bouquets of flowers.

These are some other Diaolou’s at Zili Village. Most of them are in fact not open to public visit. Suffice to say, they show a wide variety of western elements in their architecture.

Yinong Villa

Fang Wendian, who spent time abroad in Canada, built this residential Diaolou in 1928. The name “Yinong” expresses the wish for a carefree, rustic retired life.

Yunhuan Lou

Fang Wenxian, who spent time abroad in Malaysia, built this residential Diaolou in 1928. The name “Yunhuan,” with the literal meaning of “the illusion of the clouds,” seemed to suggest that the owner had certain disillusionment in life.

Longsheng Lou

The brothers of Fang Wenlong, Fang Wensheng build this Diaolou in 1917, and it was the very first Diaolou in Zili Village. Above the archway of the main entrance is a relief (lime sculpture) of a flying eagle. The name of Longsheng Lou came from the combination of the brothers’ given names, Long and Sheng.

Yangxian Villa

Fang Wenji, who spent time in Southeast Asia, built the Yangxian Villa. It is a julou, serving residential purposes for one owner. At two corners on the 5^th floor there are “swallow’s nest” as defensive structures. The name “yangxian” also suggest the yearning for a carefree life.

The Museum  

The Diaolou Museum at Zili Village covers all bases in its educational objective. For tourists, the most important piece of information is an overall introduction of “the best of Kaiping’s Diaolou’s,” where the exhibits show you fun facts about their towering history.

On display is a map showing where the “best of Kaiping’s Diaolou’s” are located. There was “the Diaolou with the most number of rooms,” the “most heroic Diaolou,” or “the most forward thinking Diaolou” having an elevator shaft built in. It was fascinating and if I had another chance to visit Kaiping again, I would certain look up this big map to see which specific Diaolou I would like to visit.

Another very educational section of the exhibition was the materials that were used in building them. The Diaolou’s were built with rocks, mixed rammed earth, bricks and concrete.

Needless to say, the construction of western style materials also required the technology of making these western features and incorporating them into the structures. Therefore the Diaolou’s also stand for the technology transfer that these overseas Chinese returnees have enabled, besides the funds, investment and the ideas that were introduced to the architecture industry of China.

Finally, the lime sculpture, which is a preeminent feature in the rural architecture of the Lingnan region (southern China), finds application in the mostly-western elements of the Diaolou’s.

Unfortunately, all of the descriptions in the museum exhibits are in Chinese only.

Sources

Descriptions on site at the Zili Village of Kaiping.