Explore Tianluokeng and Taxia Village on tour from Xiamen

Taxia Village is an exquisite Hakka village, located in a valley in the west of Shuyang Town, Nanjing County. Built in 1426 in Ming Dynasty by Zhang Family, it has been a famous hometown of overseas Chinese and was listed in the 15 Chinese Landscape Villages. Hailed as Zhouzhuang in South Fujian, there are more than 40 earthen buildings in kinds of shapes as well as some Diaojiaolou (buildings built on wood pillars) in southern style in Taxia Village built along the banks of a clear brook which flows through the entire village. These earthen buildings are built in round, rectangle, apron or trisquare shapes, and the oldest one among them is Fuxing Building built in 1631; the characteristic Diaojiaolou are built in earth-wood or brick-wood structures; the earthen buildings and Diaojiaolou as well as 11 stone arch bridges compose a marvelous spectacle in Taxia Village attracting many people everyday.

Tianluokeng is perhaps one of the most famous villages in Fujian. Tianluokeng achieved its fame because it is one of the many stunning villages in rural Fujian that boast magnificent earthen buildings known as Tulou. The village rests just outside of Shuyang Town and is home to a cluster of five tulou. These gigantic, fortress-like buildings are made of packed earth and resemble fortified villages. If you look closely at their upper levels, you can still see the small gun holes that were used to shoot at bandits. The cluster is made up of one square-shaped tulou in the centre with three round tulou and one oval-shaped tulou surrounding it. Its unusual appearance has earned it the name “four dishes and one soup”, as it resembles the layout for an average family dinner in China.

Located at the southeast coast of China, Xiamen is a tourist city of Fujian Province famous for its attractive seascape. As one of the major seaports since ancient times, it boasts a wide gulf with deep water but without freezing and silting. The name was consequently given, which means 'the gate of China'. As one of the forerunners of the special economic zones of China, the city mainly consisting of Xiamen Island, Gulangyu Island, the north bank area of the Jiulong River and Tong'an County, is connected with the mainland by the Gaoji Seawall, Xiamen Bridge, etc. The city has been called the Egret Island because of the hundreds of thousands of egrets inhabiting there. This is due to the beautiful natural scenery, the fresh air and the clean environment of the city.

Yuchanglou is a five-story tulou located at Nanjing County, Shuyang Town, Xiabanliao Village. It was built in 1308 Yuan dynasty by the Liu family clan. It is one of the oldest and tallest tulou in China. Yuchanglou has been nicknamed the "zigzag building", because the vertical wooden post structure is not straight and perpendicular, but zigzags left and right. It was built that way due to an error measuring the building materials. But in spite of this apparent infirmity, this tall tulou withstood 700 years of natural elements and social turmoil. Yuchanglou's outer ring is 36 m in diameter and boasts five stories, with 50 rooms on each floor, 270 in total. Each of the 25 kitchens on the ground floor at the back half of the circle has a private water well beside its stove. This is the only tulou in all Fujian with such convenient water supply. There was a one-story inner-ring house surrounding the ancestral hall as late as 2003. This part of the building stood intact for nearly 700 years until it was dismantled after 2003.