Ruishi building

Ruishi building

Ruishi building, known as the first floor of Kaiping, is nine stories high. Now it is located in jinjiangli village, Langgang Town, Kaiping City. It is a typical example of the perfect combination of Chinese and Western architectural styles, and also the tallest and most beautiful watchtower in Kaiping.

Architectural features

In front of Ruishi building, at first glance, the three strong characters of "Ruishi building" immediately came into view. In front of the gate, two areca trees about 20-30 meters high were planted.

The building is nine stories high and covers an area of 92 square meters. Ruishilou is strong and defensible. It is also high and equipped with searchlights. It has become the patron saint of the village. After the completion of ruishilou, no bandits dare to invade Jinjiang village, which has played a great role in Jinjiang villagers' living and working in peace and contentment.

From the first floor to the fifth floor, each floor has different thread feet and column decorations, which increases the effect of building facade. The shape and composition of the window skirt, lintel and pattern on each floor are also different, which makes them flexible. The imitation Roman arches on the top of the fifth floor and the unique supporting pillars at the four corners are different from the common curling grass supporting feet in other watchtowers. They are gradual and natural, and have a very aesthetic ancestral hall effect. On the sixth floor, there are colonnades composed of Ionic style columns and arches. The seventh floor is the platform, and the corner pavilion with dome is built at the four corners. Baroque style mountain flowers can be seen on the north and south sides. In the eight story platform, there is a western style tower Pavilion. The dome of a nine story Pavilion.

There are three pavilions on the top of the building, highlighting the unique style of Western architecture. Among them, the Roman dome supported by load-bearing walls and the Byzantine dome supported by pillars are the most prominent, giving people a different aesthetic feeling.

Relevant information

Ruishilou is located in Jinjiang village, Langgang Town, Kaiping City. It was built in 1923 and completed in 1925. It has a history of 72 years. Huang Bixiu, the founder of Ruishi building, is called Ruishi. Together with his sons, Huang changlan (eldest son) and Huang Zilan (second son), he managed medicine shops and banks in Hong Kong and achieved great success. At the beginning of the 20th century, social security was not good, thieves were rampant, and the group suffered a lot. At that time, Huang Bixiu, 59 years old, because his parents and wife lived in his hometown, for the safety of his family, so he did not hesitate to invest more than 30000 Hong Kong dollars. In 1921, he planned to build a blockhouse for his family. In 1923, he completed the blockhouse for three years. After the building was completed, he named it "Ruishi building" after his own name. "Because he was old with tiechan master, a famous calligrapher in Guangdong Province and the head of Liurong temple in Guangzhou at that time, tiechan master inscribed" ruishilou "and gave it to him. The calligraphy of iron Zen master Cangjin hunxiong improves the building's popularity and cultural taste. In order to prevent bandits, the building is equipped with guns, bronze bells and searchlights. In the process of building Ruishi building, Huang Bixiu and his son had many conflicts because of their different ideas. At that time, the watchtowers around jinjiangli were 4 to 6 stories high. Huang Bixiu's father Huang Yigui found that when his Diaolou was built to the sixth floor, there was no sign of capping. The simple old man didn't want to make too much publicity, so he asked Huang Bixiu to seal the top. Huang Bixiu did not listen to his father's advice, and the watchtower continued to work upward. He told his father that the design of the watchtower was 9 floors. He wanted to build the highest and most spectacular watchtower in the whole village, township and county, so that people could see the watchtower of the Huang family from a distance. Finally, a 9-storey watchtower stands in Kaiping rural area more than 80 years ago, which is still amazing today.

Address: jinjiangli village, Xiangang Town, Kaiping City (east side of jinjianglou)

Longitude: 112.536351

Latitude: 22.265235075652

Chinese PinYin : Rui Shi Lou