Yongding Tulou

Yongding Tulou Waking up in the morning, the sun is shining. As planned, we set off for Meizhou, and visited Yongding Tulou on the way. What we saw along the way: 1. Old Tulou group. 2. New use of old Tulou. 3. New buildings imitating Tulou. There are three points of interest. From an architectural perspective, Tulou is a rammed earth wall building, mostly for defensive needs. The walls are more than one meter thick, the first and second floors cannot have windows, and accordingly cannot be inhabited. The first floor is the living room, kitchen and bathroom, the second floor is for storage, and the third and fourth floors are for living. When one household builds it, it must be grouped and followed, so it is often in groups. The volume of Tulou is between Kaiping Diaolou and Western castles, but the techniques are completely different, which is indeed a great invention of mankind. In terms of enclosed area, square has a large area, and the internal division is easy, so ordinary families can enjoy it. The circumference of the circle is short, but the internal space division needs to be on a large radius to be reasonable, so it is mostly used by large families. Longyan has more than 300 round earth houses and more than 2000 square ones. The Zhencheng Tulou we visited this time, in the first year of the Republic of China (1912), the wealthy businessman Lin Renshan passed away, and his son Lin Hongchao, a designer, inherited his father's business, personally designed and supervised the construction. The round double circle is 10 meters high and divided into four layers, with a diameter of about 60 meters. The outer circle is divided into eight residential courtyards, and the inner circle courtyard is used for guests. The separation of the family courtyard uses the traditional solid brick mountain wall technique. The south side of the outer circle opens the main door, and the inner circle has an outer hall (official hall) and an inner hall (ancestral hall), and the north of the outer circle opens the incense hall, forming the main axis of social interaction. There are corridors running through the inner and outer circles, Yin and Yang two wells, and they are connected to the ear rooms on the left and right, forming a line of life and production. Convenient and practical. From a sociological perspective, the ancient county yamen were all small governments, and family governance played an important role. Zhencheng Building is inhabited by four Lin brothers, who pass on farming and reading, have a strong family style, and each hall hangs plaques and couplets, which can be savored carefully. The couplets engraved on both sides of the gate: "Doing national affairs, reading sage books". The couplet in front of the official hall: "Zhen is a family voice, it's good to be filial and fraternal; some achievements, starting from diligence and thrift". There are two on the inner wall of the official hall: one is Lin Hongchao's own book "Speech and behavior, good roots of blessings"; the other is "People have always been respectful and long-lived, and the articles have always been correct and surprising". The couplet of the Guanyin shrine in the back hall: "Zhen brushes the spirit and participates in the mysterious truth; Cheng achieves the fruit of Bodhi. Observe at will." The couplet of the back hall: "Zhen works, there is no leisure time, young time, strong time, old time, always need to work hard; Chengming is not easy, family affairs, national affairs, world affairs, everything needs to be cared about." From the perspective of cultural relics, Zhencheng Building is one of the four earth buildings in Yongding that have obtained national key cultural relic protection. It is not the oldest or the largest, but it is the best preserved; and the official hall and ancestral hall are all Western-style, with unique styles. Lin Hongchao once served as a member of the National Assembly of the Republic of China and a member of the Central Committee of the Republic of China, with a wide range of social interactions. The plaque "Li Dang Guan Xing" engraved on the door lintel was written by Li Yuanhong, the president of the Republic of China. The couplet in the official hall "People have always been respectful and long-lived, and the articles have always been correct and surprising", is from the hand of Hui Shiqi, a famous scholar of the Qing Dynasty.