Diaolou group in Zili Village

The Diaolou group in Zili village is the most concentrated one in Kaiping. The village was built in 1837 A.D. and consists of three natural villages named anheli (commonly known as litouzui), he'anli (commonly known as Xincun) and yong'anli (commonly known as Huangniling). Most of the Diaolou in the village were built in the 20th century by the local overseas Chinese to protect the lives and property of their relatives in their hometown. They have different styles and exquisite shapes. Zili village has a beautiful environment, with ponds, lotus ponds, paddy fields and grasslands scattered among them, which are in contrast with many watchtowers and residences like foreign castles. Zili village has 9 floors (Diaolou) and 6 pavilions. At present, only mingshilou and yunhuanlou are open for visitors. The doors of other Diaolou are closed, and a big lock blocks all prying eyes. From March to April, rape flowers are in full bloom in Zili village, and from April to may, peach flowers are in full bloom, which is the most beautiful time in Zili village.

Diaolou group in Zili Village

Located in Tangkou Town, Kaiping City, Guangdong Province, Zili village Diaolou group is one of the world cultural heritage sites. Zili village is composed of three natural villages named Fang: anheli (commonly known as Li touzui), he'anli (commonly known as Xincun) and yong'anli (commonly known as Huangniling). At first, the village was built by Li touzui, which was opened in the 17th year of Daoguang reign of the Qing Dynasty (AD 1837), and got its name because of its topography like Li touzui; several households in yong'anli moved from Huang Village, Shengping village committee; he'anli built the village in the 31st year of Guangxu reign of the Qing Dynasty (1905).

Zili village has 15 Diaolou with different styles, exquisite shapes and rich connotations, which is an outstanding representative of Kaiping Diaolou in its prosperous period. Most of the watchtowers in Zili village were built in 1920s and 1930s. They were built by local overseas Chinese to protect the lives and property of their relatives in their hometown.

Zili village watchtower skillfully integrates Chinese traditional rural architectural culture with western architectural culture, rarely reflects the extensive exchange of modern Chinese and Western culture in Chinese villages, and has become a monument of Chinese overseas Chinese culture and a unique world architectural art landscape. Complete furniture, living facilities, production appliances and daily necessities are preserved in the building, which is rich and interesting, and is a witness of the culture and life of overseas Chinese at that time.

Historical evolution

In the period of land reform after the founding of new China, there were three natural villages with Fang's surname: anheli (commonly known as plowhead), he'anli (commonly known as Xincun) and yong'anli (commonly known as Huangniling), which were collectively called "Zili village", meaning to support themselves.

The village belongs to Qiangya village committee of Tangkou Town, with 63 households, 175 villagers and 248 overseas Chinese. They are mainly distributed in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Malaysia, the Philippines, Fiji, Hong Kong, Macao and other countries and regions. They are mostly engaged in catering, clothing, laundry, groceries and other industries. Remittances from overseas Chinese are one of the main sources of livelihood of the villagers in this village. After the Opium War, the people lived in hardship. In addition, the capitalist countries needed a large number of labor to develop production, and they came to China to recruit labor. Many people in Wuyi left their hometown to make a living abroad.

People in Zili village also began to live abroad during this period. After that, one will take another, and there will be many travelers. When they made money, they came back to buy land and property one after another, and then they went back abroad again and again. In the 1920s, due to the rampant banditry and frequent floods, the overseas Chinese built 15 watchtowers one after another. Diaolou and Julu are usually named after the founder or his will.

These watchtowers are all iron gates and iron windows, full of gun holes, equipped with guns, gongs and searchlights, and stored a large amount of grain. Once thieves and bandits invade, the villagers will hide in the buildings to fight against them, which makes the thieves and bandits look at the towers and sigh and return in vain.

Structural features

The watchtowers in Zili village are tall, mostly four or five storeys, of which two or three are standard storeys. They are made of iron with open doors and windows. In order to prevent thieves, the front and rear doors of the house are opened with gun holes, and the ball house is also built with swallow's nest.

The structure of the wall, there are reinforced concrete, there are also concrete brick, doors and windows are made of thick iron plate. The building materials are imported from foreign countries, except that the green bricks are produced in lougang. The upper structure of Diaolou has four cantilevers, four cantilevers and rear cantilevers. In terms of architectural style, there are many foreign architectural features, such as colonnade style, platform style, Castle style, and mixed style.

In order to prevent bandits from looting, blockhouses are usually equipped with gun holes. First, they are equipped with pebbles, alkaline water, water guns and other length of service, and then overseas Chinese buy back guns from foreign countries. The purpose of the water gun is to spray the bandits' eyes when they get close to the building because the water gun is filled with alkaline water, so that they lose their fighting power and retreat in the face of difficulties. In order to enhance self-defense, many women learn to shoot. Some of these towers were built on the basis of the drawings brought back by the builders from abroad, while some of them had no drawings, just because of the owner's ingenuity. Sanxing hammer is used to drive fir piles into the foundation of the building. After piling, in order to avoid the influence of the weather and facilitate the construction, a tall and large sunflower awning is usually built to cover the whole construction site. There are more than twenty or thirty building builders, most of them are local people. The master's daily wage is about six millionths (three double millionths) and the miscellaneous worker's is four millionths (two double millionths).

present situation

There are 15 Diaolou and Lu in Zili village. According to the time of construction, they are: Longsheng Building (1917), Yangxian villa (1919), qiuanjulu (1920), yunhuan building (1921), ju'an building (1922), Yaoguang villa (1923), Zhulin building (1924), Zhen'an building (1924), Mingshi building (1925), Anlu (1926), Yinong building (1929), ye'an building Sheng Ju Lu (1930), Guan Sheng Ju Lu (1934), Lan Sheng Ju Lu (1935), Zhan Lu (1948).

Yangxian villa was first built by a local private school teacher, then went to Nanyang to make a living. He has a wife with small feet. At that time, bandits were rampant in the countryside and there were constant floods. In order to protect the safety of his family, he built this building. The founder of Ye Shenglu once did business in Hong Kong. During the Anti Japanese War, he returned to Hong Kong to collect money. When he passed Xinhui, he was captured by the bandit leader Chen Yunong. Later, he was scared to death and buried under a local banyan tree. The owner of Mingshi tower made a living in the United States. After he became rich, he spent a lot of money to build this watchtower. It is the most beautiful watchtower in Zili village with magnificent appearance and luxurious interior furnishings.

The watchtowers in Zili village played an important role in preventing bandits and anti Japanese invaders. Ruyunhuanlou was a refuge for villagers during the Anti Japanese war. Once, the Japanese raided the village, and the villagers took refuge in the building. Because the building was strong, the Japanese army was unable to enter, only knocked down a door bolt, and returned empty handed.

The Diaolou and Julu buildings in Zili village are exquisitely built, well preserved, harmonious and well arranged. There are thousands of hectares of fertile land around, with the fragrance of rice. Walking on the path in the field, through the green trees and bamboos, you can enter the village and feel like a paradise.

honor

In June 2001, it was announced as a national key cultural relics protection unit by the State Council.

In July 2005, it was rated as "the most beautiful place and the most beautiful folk house in Guangdong"; in November 2005, it was rated as "the national famous historical and cultural village";

In April 2006, he won the gold award of "50 Places in China most worthy of foreigners to visit";

It was listed in the world heritage list by the 31st World Heritage Conference on June 28, 2007.

Ticket Price

The ticket price of Diaolou group in Zili village is 78 yuan, and the joint ticket is 180 yuan. Half price for people under 1.5 meters and 60 years old, and free for people over 70 years old.

Address: Zili village, Tangkou Town, Kaiping City, Guangdong Province

Longitude: 112.57985274603

Latitude: 22.371150317871

Tour time: half a day

Traffic information: take a minibus through Zili village at Kaiping long distance bus station

Ticket information: included in the 80 yuan ticket of Zili village scenic spot

Opening hours: 8:30-17:15

Chinese PinYin : Zi Li Cun Diao Lou Qun