Advice Needed: Xiamen to Yongding (visit tulou "earth buildings")
Feb 28, 2010, 9:19 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: China
Posts: 817
Advice Needed: Xiamen to Yongding (visit tulou "earth buildings")
Need some quick advice on transportation from Xiamen to Yongding to visit the Hakka earthen buildings. Its a party of 3 and I want to avoid the tours. Is my best option hailing a cab and paying him for the day. Does anyone have any driver contacts i could use for the day. Plan is to go early in the morning and return late afternoon. Mandarin is not an issue.
Mar 1, 2010, 10:43 pm
#2
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: http://www.datasinica.com
Posts: 198
Without looking at my notes, and bearing in mind that new highways may have been built, I think that even with a car you'll need about three hours to get to Yongding. The best route to Hukeng, the site of the best-known group of buildings, is not via Yongding but by direct bus or sometimes changing to minibus at Longyan. The quickest route by car would be the same.
You may possibly find it difficult to find a cab in Xiamen willing to venture out that far or knowing the route, but it's certainly worth a try, stopping a few drivers the day before. It's about 200km each way, and well worth the trip. Some of the buildings that are not officially open, such as the Huanxing Lou, are well worth wandering into as well (asking permission from one of the few remaining residents). This one has damage to one section that dates back to the Taiping Rebellion, and its original stone beams to fortify the doors still intact.
You may possibly find it difficult to find a cab in Xiamen willing to venture out that far or knowing the route, but it's certainly worth a try, stopping a few drivers the day before. It's about 200km each way, and well worth the trip. Some of the buildings that are not officially open, such as the Huanxing Lou, are well worth wandering into as well (asking permission from one of the few remaining residents). This one has damage to one section that dates back to the Taiping Rebellion, and its original stone beams to fortify the doors still intact.
Mar 1, 2010, 11:22 pm
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: China
Posts: 817
Without looking at my notes, and bearing in mind that new highways may have been built, I think that even with a car you'll need about three hours to get to Yongding. The best route to Hukeng, the site of the best-known group of buildings, is not via Yongding but by direct bus or sometimes changing to minibus at Longyan. The quickest route by car would be the same.
You may possibly find it difficult to find a cab in Xiamen willing to venture out that far or knowing the route, but it's certainly worth a try, stopping a few drivers the day before. It's about 200km each way, and well worth the trip. Some of the buildings that are not officially open, such as the Huanxing Lou, are well worth wandering into as well (asking permission from one of the few remaining residents). This one has damage to one section that dates back to the Taiping Rebellion, and its original stone beams to fortify the doors still intact.
You may possibly find it difficult to find a cab in Xiamen willing to venture out that far or knowing the route, but it's certainly worth a try, stopping a few drivers the day before. It's about 200km each way, and well worth the trip. Some of the buildings that are not officially open, such as the Huanxing Lou, are well worth wandering into as well (asking permission from one of the few remaining residents). This one has damage to one section that dates back to the Taiping Rebellion, and its original stone beams to fortify the doors still intact.
Mar 1, 2010, 11:59 pm
#5
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: http://www.datasinica.com
Posts: 198
Here's a bit more information, in case of need. Expect some changes as it's a few years since I was last there and spent a night in one of the buildings, which was eerie. There was a single light bulb, and the chamber pot provided was used rather than face three uneven flights down to a pit toilet in pitch darkness. The owner did provide a three-course meal for ¥20.
About 205km (128 miles) inland from Xiàmén, Yǒngdìng is a heartland of the Hakka people—Hàn who migrated south from near Kāifēng in five waves beginning more than a thousand years ago, and who were kept moving around southern China by civil war, famine, and discrimination by earlier Hàn arrivals. They often ended up with the worst farming land on the highest ground. Unlike other Hàn, their women did not bind their feet and worked alongside men in the fields, and so tended to marry only other Hakka. They also maintained what they claim is something close to early Chinese but is unintelligible to speakers of Mandarin, Cantonese, and Mǐn Nán Huà.
Now an officially recognized minority, known as the Kèjiā or “guest people,” their long exile and continued sense of being outsiders has produced both tangible and intangible benefits for visitors. The Hakka claim to be more hospitable to outsiders than other Chinese, but the need to protect themselves against others has produced the magnificent multistory fortresses called tǔlóu or “earth buildings,” some home to hundreds, all sharing a single family name.
The tǔlóu are spread around nearly 50 counties on the Guǎngdōng–Fújiàn–Jiāngxī border. The concentration easiest to reach, and the one most prepared for visitors, is that at Húkēng, where a bus will drop you right outside the ticket office. A fee of ¥40 ($5), valid for 2 or 3 days, includes access to four officially open major tǔlóu and another containing a museum, although no one seems to mind if you wander in anywhere else. Helpful English signs are quite common, and there’s a primitive hotel in the middle of the village (summer only), but you would be better off having the full experience by staying in an actual tǔlóu. Residents with rooms to let (typically for ¥20/$2.50 or so) will persistently approach you, as will motorbike and sānlúnchē owners wanting to take you to other villages.
The vast fortresses nestle together on either side of a river in a narrow green valley, and in autumn their khaki tones have splashes of colour as crops of plums and persimmons are spread out to dry on flat surfaces. The “earth” is in fact a tamped mixture of sand, lime, and dirt, giving the walls a textured surface. The best-known building is the marvellous circular Zhènchéng Lóu of 1912, consisting of an outer four-story ring with each floor divided into 44 rooms and two halls; an inner, two-story ring divided into eight sections; and two tobacco workshops outside, bringing the total number of rooms to 222. As with other tǔlóu, windows to the outside world begin two stories up. Balconies run around the interiors, providing access and light. The inner ring joins at a hall for worshipping ancestors, marriage ceremonies, greeting distinguished guests, and other events.
The battered Huánxīng Lóu is not an official sight, but it dates from around 1550 and is the oldest in this village. It has walls more than 1.8m (5 ft.) thick, and two sets of vast and heavy wooden doors, the first secured by a set of wooden beams, and the second by stone ones. The squealing of tussling pigs reveals that the inner ring retains its original use, but it has gaps caused by past flooding. An earthquake a century ago also lozenged one section of the outer ring, and another has lost its inner surface and interior floors. A hole through one section was blasted during the Tàipíng Rebellion. One resident claims that the occupants, numbering 500 only 20 years ago, could survive for a year under siege. There are still 200 residents, all called Lǐ. Persimmons, plums, and vegetables hang out to dry over the balconies of the upper stories, having been washed in the stream outside. The ground floors contain the kitchens, the rooms above are for storage, and the upper two floors are for living and sleeping. But there are few people around under 40—they’ve already left for accommodation in the new town, or become part of the drifting migrant economy of 150 million or so.
Tǔlóu also come in half-moon, pentangle, “five phoenix,” and other shapes. The square, fortress-like Kuíjù Lóu, dating from 1834, is, at 6,000 sq. m even bigger than the circular buildings. It has an interior of brick and wood more like that of a conventional mansion. The 7,000-sq.-m Fúyù Lóu of 1880, whose residents are all called Lín, has multiple axes, and a five-story earthen tower at the rear. Its beams and pillars are beautifully carved, and it also has some fine inlaid screens, as well as a teahouse and rooms to let.
The last official tǔlóu (although residents don’t mind if you wander into several others) is the charming Rúshēng Lóu, built sometime between 1875 and 1908. It’s a single 23m (63-ft.) diameter ring-shaped dollhouse in comparison to the others, which have three stories each of 16 rooms. Finally, the museum occupies a rectangular tǔlóu, where the music of traditional instruments echoes around the two floors of one courtyard, given over to displays of tobacco knives, tools used in building, and photographs of festivals and other tǔlóu which may have you planning trips to other villages. You may see dried persimmons being roasted and pressed into cakes—a local specialty called shìbǐng.
Villages with other lesser-known buildings are not far away, and easily researched on the Internet. Attempt to take a rural route on the way back and view a few more.
Peter N-H
China
About 205km (128 miles) inland from Xiàmén, Yǒngdìng is a heartland of the Hakka people—Hàn who migrated south from near Kāifēng in five waves beginning more than a thousand years ago, and who were kept moving around southern China by civil war, famine, and discrimination by earlier Hàn arrivals. They often ended up with the worst farming land on the highest ground. Unlike other Hàn, their women did not bind their feet and worked alongside men in the fields, and so tended to marry only other Hakka. They also maintained what they claim is something close to early Chinese but is unintelligible to speakers of Mandarin, Cantonese, and Mǐn Nán Huà.
Now an officially recognized minority, known as the Kèjiā or “guest people,” their long exile and continued sense of being outsiders has produced both tangible and intangible benefits for visitors. The Hakka claim to be more hospitable to outsiders than other Chinese, but the need to protect themselves against others has produced the magnificent multistory fortresses called tǔlóu or “earth buildings,” some home to hundreds, all sharing a single family name.
The tǔlóu are spread around nearly 50 counties on the Guǎngdōng–Fújiàn–Jiāngxī border. The concentration easiest to reach, and the one most prepared for visitors, is that at Húkēng, where a bus will drop you right outside the ticket office. A fee of ¥40 ($5), valid for 2 or 3 days, includes access to four officially open major tǔlóu and another containing a museum, although no one seems to mind if you wander in anywhere else. Helpful English signs are quite common, and there’s a primitive hotel in the middle of the village (summer only), but you would be better off having the full experience by staying in an actual tǔlóu. Residents with rooms to let (typically for ¥20/$2.50 or so) will persistently approach you, as will motorbike and sānlúnchē owners wanting to take you to other villages.
The vast fortresses nestle together on either side of a river in a narrow green valley, and in autumn their khaki tones have splashes of colour as crops of plums and persimmons are spread out to dry on flat surfaces. The “earth” is in fact a tamped mixture of sand, lime, and dirt, giving the walls a textured surface. The best-known building is the marvellous circular Zhènchéng Lóu of 1912, consisting of an outer four-story ring with each floor divided into 44 rooms and two halls; an inner, two-story ring divided into eight sections; and two tobacco workshops outside, bringing the total number of rooms to 222. As with other tǔlóu, windows to the outside world begin two stories up. Balconies run around the interiors, providing access and light. The inner ring joins at a hall for worshipping ancestors, marriage ceremonies, greeting distinguished guests, and other events.
The battered Huánxīng Lóu is not an official sight, but it dates from around 1550 and is the oldest in this village. It has walls more than 1.8m (5 ft.) thick, and two sets of vast and heavy wooden doors, the first secured by a set of wooden beams, and the second by stone ones. The squealing of tussling pigs reveals that the inner ring retains its original use, but it has gaps caused by past flooding. An earthquake a century ago also lozenged one section of the outer ring, and another has lost its inner surface and interior floors. A hole through one section was blasted during the Tàipíng Rebellion. One resident claims that the occupants, numbering 500 only 20 years ago, could survive for a year under siege. There are still 200 residents, all called Lǐ. Persimmons, plums, and vegetables hang out to dry over the balconies of the upper stories, having been washed in the stream outside. The ground floors contain the kitchens, the rooms above are for storage, and the upper two floors are for living and sleeping. But there are few people around under 40—they’ve already left for accommodation in the new town, or become part of the drifting migrant economy of 150 million or so.
Tǔlóu also come in half-moon, pentangle, “five phoenix,” and other shapes. The square, fortress-like Kuíjù Lóu, dating from 1834, is, at 6,000 sq. m even bigger than the circular buildings. It has an interior of brick and wood more like that of a conventional mansion. The 7,000-sq.-m Fúyù Lóu of 1880, whose residents are all called Lín, has multiple axes, and a five-story earthen tower at the rear. Its beams and pillars are beautifully carved, and it also has some fine inlaid screens, as well as a teahouse and rooms to let.
The last official tǔlóu (although residents don’t mind if you wander into several others) is the charming Rúshēng Lóu, built sometime between 1875 and 1908. It’s a single 23m (63-ft.) diameter ring-shaped dollhouse in comparison to the others, which have three stories each of 16 rooms. Finally, the museum occupies a rectangular tǔlóu, where the music of traditional instruments echoes around the two floors of one courtyard, given over to displays of tobacco knives, tools used in building, and photographs of festivals and other tǔlóu which may have you planning trips to other villages. You may see dried persimmons being roasted and pressed into cakes—a local specialty called shìbǐng.
Villages with other lesser-known buildings are not far away, and easily researched on the Internet. Attempt to take a rural route on the way back and view a few more.
Peter N-H
China
Mar 2, 2010, 12:23 am
#6
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: China
Posts: 817
Thanks again. I think we'll drive to Yongding early in the morning and try to make it to Yuchanglou, Zhengchenglou, and Huanxinglou. If possible we may try to fit in Taxia village (which i've been told is worth a visit also).
Jun 10, 2010, 2:50 pm
#7
Join Date: Mar 2005
Programs: Mucci, BA-GGL, LH-Sen
Posts: 2,241
Sniles, I'm hoping to make the same trip end of next week on Saturday. Do you have any suggestions? I don't speak Mandarin so would you say it's best if I took an organised tour and if so can you recommend any?
Jun 10, 2010, 9:02 pm
#8
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: China
Posts: 817
But for non-mandarin speakers, i wouldn't suggest heading out into the countryside by cab/car. I would stick with an organized tour or if budget allows, arrange a guide/translator with car & driver.
Jun 10, 2010, 9:30 pm
#9
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: http://www.datasinica.com
Posts: 198
Thousands of people travel all over China every year without two words of Mandarin to rub together. All it takes is a little gumption, a guide book, a bit of mime, and a calculator (which everyone has) or pen and paper. A phrase book, iPhone translation app (e.g. Plecodict), or similar is helpful, but not necessary. All you need are the characters for your destination.
You may feel that you don't want to tackle this, and that's entirely up to you. But there's nothing inherently undoable about it, even if your Mandarin only amounts to 'Ni hao.'
You may feel that you don't want to tackle this, and that's entirely up to you. But there's nothing inherently undoable about it, even if your Mandarin only amounts to 'Ni hao.'
Jun 11, 2010, 2:07 am
#10
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Shanghai and Bavaria
Programs: Spire RA, 1865 Voyager, Bonvoy Titanium, FB LP, LH SEN.
Posts: 3,104
Agree with Peter, you can get around without Manadrin and do the tour certainly cheaper.
Apart from that, I've sent people (fromer collegue/intern) on a tour with Apple tours in Xiamen, and they were quite happy. http://www.appletravel.cn/holidays/t...kages.php?id=4
Apart from that, I've sent people (fromer collegue/intern) on a tour with Apple tours in Xiamen, and they were quite happy. http://www.appletravel.cn/holidays/t...kages.php?id=4
Jun 21, 2010, 12:50 am
#12
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: San Francisco
Programs: UA 1P, AA, DL, BA, LH
Posts: 293
I also agree with Peter, Mandarin isn't necessary. A dictionary might be helpful, though I've always gotten by with a few charades exercises when language has failed me.
iahphx - sorry to hear you had to cxl, I'd be interested in your experience if you do go.
also interested how cyba's trip goes.
iahphx - sorry to hear you had to cxl, I'd be interested in your experience if you do go.
also interested how cyba's trip goes.
Jun 21, 2010, 1:32 am
#13
Join Date: Mar 2005
Programs: Mucci, BA-GGL, LH-Sen
Posts: 2,241
I took the trip this past Saturday. I really enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone. My solution was rather expensive as it involved hiring a private car and an English speaking guide but that's the price for having limited time.
It took us about 2.5 hrs each way from Xiamen. Traffic was quite light. But this being a weekend all the places we visited were swarming with tourists.
I went with Apple travel in the end following Chinatrvl's recommendation (thanks for that). I had responses from a few other agencies including "Discover Fujian" and "Sino-trip" (whose website seems to be down now) and all seemed to be more or less the same price.
It took us about 2.5 hrs each way from Xiamen. Traffic was quite light. But this being a weekend all the places we visited were swarming with tourists.
I went with Apple travel in the end following Chinatrvl's recommendation (thanks for that). I had responses from a few other agencies including "Discover Fujian" and "Sino-trip" (whose website seems to be down now) and all seemed to be more or less the same price.
Jun 21, 2010, 10:01 am
#14
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: San Francisco
Programs: UA 1P, AA, DL, BA, LH
Posts: 293
I took the trip this past Saturday. I really enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone. My solution was rather expensive as it involved hiring a private car and an English speaking guide but that's the price for having limited time.
It took us about 2.5 hrs each way from Xiamen. Traffic was quite light. But this being a weekend all the places we visited were swarming with tourists.
I went with Apple travel in the end following Chinatrvl's recommendation (thanks for that). I had responses from a few other agencies including "Discover Fujian" and "Sino-trip" (whose website seems to be down now) and all seemed to be more or less the same price.
It took us about 2.5 hrs each way from Xiamen. Traffic was quite light. But this being a weekend all the places we visited were swarming with tourists.
I went with Apple travel in the end following Chinatrvl's recommendation (thanks for that). I had responses from a few other agencies including "Discover Fujian" and "Sino-trip" (whose website seems to be down now) and all seemed to be more or less the same price.
Jun 21, 2010, 12:10 pm
#15
Join Date: Mar 2005
Programs: Mucci, BA-GGL, LH-Sen
Posts: 2,241
Cost was RMB1800. The quotes I got ranged from that to $300 so this seems to be a narrow range. I also gave them a small tip and paid for their lunch which they didn't expect but definitely appreciated.