Kaiping Diaolou cluster

The Kaiping Diaolou cluster is a group of multi-layered tower architectures that once functioned as defenses and folk dwellings in ancient times. These staggering structures are clear representatives of Chinese vernacular architecture, featuring the fusion of Chinese and western styles perfectly as one. The towers appeared in the later Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and later developed rapidly between the later 19th century and the early 20th century. The cluster is large in scale and features great variety and delicate designs, mainly distributed in Kaiping County of the Guangdong Province. As representative historical relics in today’s modern times, the Kaiping Diaolou cluster was listed as part of the 5th Batch of Key Cultural Relics under state protection by the State Council on 25th of June, 2001. In addition, as the first world heritage item in China related to the overseas Chinese culture, Kaiping Diaolou and Villages was honored as a World Heritage Site in 2007, the 35th of such sites in China.

The multi-layer architectures of Kaiping Diaolou are much taller than common civilian residences. Standing on the top of the Diaolou, visitors will have a commanding view of the surroundings, which is why they were very good for defending against enemies. The walls of Kaiping Diaolou are considerably thicker than common ones, which helped to protect the villagers from being attacked by enemies. The windows are much smaller than the common civilian residential ones, and feature metal bars as defenses. Interestingly enough, there is a semi-enclosed horn-work in each corner at the top of the Diaolou, from which villagers could shoot enemies flexibly. At the same time, many gun ports are set on each layer of the Diaolou.

The categories of Kaiping Diaolou

Kaiping Diaolou has wide varieties and is divided into 4 categories according to the construction materials: stone-structured buildings, rammed earth-structured buildings, brick-structured buildings, and concrete-structured buildings.

1. Stone-structured buildings
Mainly distributed in the hilly area of Kaiping, the walls of the stone-structured buildings were created using natural stones. Today, 10 stone buildings are available in Kaiping, accounting for 0.5% of the total existing architectures.
2. Rammed earth-structured building
Mainly distributed in the hilly areas such as Chishui Town and Longsheng Town of Kaiping, the rammed earth-structured buildings still stand after decades of weathering. There are 100 rammed earth buildings in Kaiping now, accounting for 5.5% of the total architectures.

3. Brick-structured building
Mainly distributed in the flat plains area of Kaiping, most brick-structured buildings were built with blue bricks, although some were built with red bricks. Now, 249 brick-structured buildings are well-preserved in Kaiping, accounting for 13.6% of the total number.

4. Concrete-structured building
This is the most common type by far. Mainly distributed in the plains area of Kaiping, the concrete-structured buildings successfully integrated Chinese and western architectural styles. This means they are not only firm and steady, but also very beautiful. There are 1,474 concrete-structured buildings well preserved in Kaiping these days, accounting for 80.4% of the total number.

Address: Kaiping, Jiangmen City, Guangdong Province
Opening hours: 8:30 am to 5:30 pm every day
Bus routes: take a direct bus from Guangzhou to Kaiping