Jiqing building

Among the existing round buildings in Yongding, the one with the longest history, the most stairs and the most special structure. Jiqing building is composed of two circular rings. In the outer ring, stairs are installed for each household from the first floor to the fourth floor on the ground floor. The passageways of each floor are separated by wooden boards. Seventy two stairs divide the whole building into seventy-two independent units. The rooms, stairs and partition walls are all made of Chinese fir without an iron nail. It took nearly six centuries of wind, frost, rain and snow to appear askew. However, as a load-bearing system, the 2-meter thick raw soil wall still stands upright.

Jiqing building

Jiqing building is located in the north of Chuxi village, Xiayang Town, Yongding County, Fujian Province. It is a national key cultural relic protection unit. It is the oldest existing round earth building (built in 1419) and the most special structure (72 stairs) in Yongding. The wooden structure of the whole building has gone through nearly 600 years of wind, frost, snow and rain together with the raw soil wall with a thickness of nearly 2 meters.

Introduction to Tulou

Jiqinglou is located in Xiayang Town, Yongding County, Fujian Province. It is close to the mountains and faces the water. It echoes with four round earth buildings and 31 square earth buildings, forming a beautiful Chuxi earth building group.

geographical position

Jiqing building is located in the north of Chuxi village, Xiayang Town, Yongding County. It is more than 500 meters above sea level and about 30 meters higher than the stream. Round earth building, two rings, built in the Yongle period of Ming Dynasty (1403-1424), facing north from south, covers an area of 2826 square meters. From north to south, the central axis of the building is menping, loumen, foyer, patio, inner ring, inner and outer ring passageway, patio, ancestral hall and backyard. The door of the building is a stone door frame, with couplets engraved in the shade: "the collection of Yidu is from humble love, and the celebration of Xu is only from kindness." HengBan: "natural treasures." The thick iron sealing plate of the door leaf and the fireproof sink are set above, which can effectively prevent fire attack.

Architectural features

Jiqing building is one of the old and special buildings in Yongding. General round building, small set up two public stairs, big set up four stairs, the ground floor is interlinked and layers of corridor access, mutual communication, very convenient. Only this building, according to the ground floor, each household from the first floor to the fourth floor respectively install stairs, each floor of the passage is separated by wood, 72 stairs divide the whole building into 72 independent units. The rooms, stairs and partition walls are all made of Chinese fir, all connected by the Falcon head, without an iron nail.

Tourism characteristics

Jiqing building, built in Yongle period of Ming Dynasty, covers an area of more than 2800 square meters. It is composed of two circular buildings with four floors on the outer ring and more than 200 rooms in total. In its heyday, it lived in more than 50 households and more than 300 people. The Tulou is not only one of the oldest existing round Tulou, but also famous for its special structure. The whole building is divided into 72 non-interference units by 72 staircases. The wooden structure is connected by tenon, without an iron nail. It is a rare example of ancient architecture.

At present, more than 50 exhibition rooms have been initially built on the first floor of Jiqing building to display sculpture, opera, musical instrument workshop, cake shop, old medicine shop, engraving printing, textile, Academy, wine shop, fortune teller, money shop, folk costumes, farming tools, etc. In addition, ancient inscriptions, imperial plaques, Ming and Qing official costumes and supplies are also on display.

Architectural structure

The outer ring is a civil structure with a diameter of 66 meters and a height of 4 stories. There are 53 rooms on the ground floor and 56 rooms on each floor above the second floor. The bottom wall is 1.6 meters thick, and there is no stone wall foundation. Later generations used pebbles to build a 1 meter high stone wall on the surface of the wall to prevent the wall from being splashed by the eaves water. When the building was built, there was only one staircase which was more spacious than other earth buildings. It was located on the east side of the hall and led to the fourth floor. The first floor is the kitchen, the first floor and the second floor have no windows, the second floor is the granary, and the third floor is the bedroom.

In 1744, when the building was repaired, in order to solve the inconvenience caused by hundreds of people only relying on one staircase and facilitate management, the original structure of the building was slightly changed: the ground floor remained unchanged, but the inner corridor was still used, and the upper two floors were changed to the unit type, with six rooms in each unit, one staircase in each unit. The staircase was narrow and three floors in each unit A god Pavilion is set on the side of the ladder. The corridors between units are separated by fir boards. Each unit on the ground floor has a stone channel which is higher than the patio and connected with the house under the name of the inner ring owner. Above the second floor of the outer ring, a 50cm wide hidden ladder is set up near the outer wall of the staircase of each unit. It is usually covered with wooden boards, and can not be found by outsiders. It can only be used in case of emergency.

The nine watchtowers on the outer wall of the fourth floor of the outer ring are of wood structure, which can be overhauled out, and can be used for both lookout and earth blunderbuss; the watchtower above the gate can directly observe the movement of the village entrance, and can also block the front passage to guard the building against danger. This is because Chuxi village is located deep in the mountains. At that time, there were often bandits and wild animals, so the builders paid special attention to strengthening the defense function.

There is also a secret passage at the bottom of the back side of the building. A gap of 1m high, 1.6m long and 0.7m wide is reserved on the outer wall of a room, which is sealed with rammed earth wall. Because it uses the same soil as the earth wall, outsiders can't find the flaw. It is concave from the inside to the outside, and usually covered with wood, so outsiders can't find the secret when they enter the room. When the residents in the building need to evacuate and escape, they can quickly open the secret passage and go straight to the hillside behind the building to hide in the woods.

The inner ring and the outer ring are separated by the patio, and the passageway between the hall and the inner ring is paved with bluestone slabs. The inner ring is a single-layer, brick and wood structure, with a 3-meter-wide stone passageway on the front and back and on both sides, which is higher than the patio and connected with the inner corridor of the outer ring. There are 26 rooms with dining room and sundry room; rooms are separated by fir board, and the front and back of the rooms are 1 meter above the ground, with green brick wall and fir sealing board above the brick wall; front and back doors are respectively opened in each room or two, with the front door facing ancestral hall, and the back door connecting with the bottom of outer ring. Both the inner and outer rings are two side sloping tile roofs, and the mixed timber frame with bucket and beam is used.

The ancestral hall is located in the center of the building. It is a square, single-layer civil structure. It is surrounded by a back facing hall, corridors on both sides in front of the hall and corridors on the front. The middle is the patio, and the front door is facing the door of the building. The hall is spacious, with a small entrance on each side. Xieshan, through the bucket, lifting beam mixed timber frame

The corridor, patio on the ground floor inside the building and the door terrace outside the building are paved with cobblestone.

Address: Chuxi village, Xiayang Town, Yongding County, Fujian Province

Longitude: 116.909656

Latitude: 24.547494

Tour time: 2 hours

Transportation information: Xiamen Xiayang Town: Xiamen Hubin south road long distance passenger station, from 6:00 am to 12:30 noon, there is a bus directly to Xiayang, via Xiamen Zhangzhou Nanjing Xiayang, the whole journey is 6 hours.

Ticket information: tickets for Chuxi Tulou group are 70 yuan per person, including Jiqing building, Shengqing building, Shanqing building, Gengqing building, Gongqing building and Museum.

Opening hours: 7:00-19:00

Chinese PinYin : Ji Qing Lou