Chengqilou, Gaobei Tulou Cluster – Fujian Tulou

Plan your Fujian Tulou Tour? Chengqilou is the largest earthen building in Fujian, and nicknamed “the King of Tulou”. It is one of the tulou buildings in Gaobei Tulou Cluster which are located on the hillside in Gaobei Village of Gaotou Township in Yongding County.

Gaobei Tulou Cluster are one of the major tulou clusters in Fujian. The other tulou clusters are Hongkeng Tulou Cluster Chuxi Tulou Cluster, and Nanjing Tulou Cluster. The other tulou buildings of Gaobei Tulou Cluster are the square Wuyunlou, the circular Qiaofulou and Shizelou.

The most famous earthen builing in Gaobei Tulou Cluster is Chengqilou which stands 40km east of Yongding County, 4km east of Hongkeng Tulou Clurer and 15km west of Nanjing Tulou Cluster. The construction of Chengqilou started in the later Ming Dynasty (1368 – 1644) and finished in the early Qing Dynasty ( 1644 -1911), which took the Jiang family three generations’s effort to build such a large tulou.

Chengqilou is 73m in diameter with an outer perimeter of 1915m. It has three concentric ring buildings inside the large earthen house. The first ring (outer ring) of Chengqilou is a 4-storey tulou building 16.4 meter high with 72 rooms.

The second and third tulou ring buildings inside Chengqilou are both a two-storey earthen building with 40 rooms each. The third ring house is a one-storey building with 32 rooms. The Chengqilou’s center is the ancestral hall.

Chengqilou is composed of 400 rooms, 3 entrances, 2 wells, with a total area of 5376.17 square meters. Now there are about 40 households living inside the fortified building in the southwest of Fujian in China.

The exterior of Chengqilou.The main gate faces south. The first and second floor have no windows.

A close look at the main entrance to Chengqilou

 

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