Circles of Life: How to Visit the Hakka Villages & Tulou of Fujian Province

We recently spent 2 nights in Hakka County exploring the fantastic villages and tulou clusters of Nanjing and Yongding. We encourage anyone who wants to see rural China to come to this unique corner of Fujian province. The Hakka villages must be on any Fujian province itinerary.

In this guide to visiting the Fujian Tulou, we will show you:

• Where are the Hakka Tulou
• Where to stay when visiting the Hakka villages
• One day itinerary touring the tulou villages of Yongding and Nanjing county
• Show you which Hakka villages to visit

Several high-speed trains run between Xiamen North railway station and the town of Nanjing. It takes about 40 minutes to reach Nanjing from Xiamen.

A Hakka walled village (also called tulou, mud castles, or roundhouses) is a large communal clan house made from rammed earth. Several families, often with the same surname, share a tulou and are still like one big happy family, even in this modern day and age. Each tulou can house between 150 and 800 people.

A tulou is often three to four stories high, with a metre-thick earthen wall forming the outside perimeter. Usually, only one entrance leads into the tulou—these Hakka walled villages were built as defence structures. They can be round, rectangular, square, or oval in shape.

Inside the tulou, each floor serves a different purpose. The windowless ground floor was for keeping livestock, the second floor for storing grains, and the higher stories were (and still are) used as living space. The courtyard contains a well for water and communal space.

Half fortress, half apartment building, these tulou were ultimately built to withstand sieges, and they have indeed stood the test of time. With a well-stocked tulou and access to drinking water, the Hakkas could lock their only door, be safe, and forget about the outside world.

Lucky for us, times have changed, and these days, the Hakka people have thrown open their (only) door to their tulou and welcome visitors to peek around and see this incredible architecture.

Hundreds of tulou clusters are scattered among the Fujian mountains, and the best place to base yourself when visiting them is the Nanjing Tulou cluster. This area has good accommodation, the highest concentration of Hakka tulou buildings (around 15 000) and is most convenient for independent exploration.

While it is possible to stay inside some of the tulou, keep in mind that most tulou don’t have modern plumbing. This means that you will have to use the public bathrooms located outside the tulou, along with the rest of the village.

We decided to stay in the Tianluokeng Tulou Cluster (田螺坑土楼) for two nights, and we just loved staying in this picturesque village. Staying in Tianluokeng allows you to see the village lit up at night from the viewpoint just behind our guesthouse.

Tianluokeng No.1 Guesthouse is located right inside the Hakka village, metres away from the famous tulou. The ensuite room was comfy, clean, and came with piping hot water in the shower.

The friendly family speaks some English, serves tasty Hakka food and helped us to organise transportation to and from the station in Nanjing. The same driver helped us plan and took us on our tour of different tulou clusters the next day.

Send a message after making a reservation to arrange pickup from the train station.

After arrival at our guesthouse, we had a traditional Hakka dinner and then sat down with our driver and plotted our one-day tour of the tulou for the next day. 

We left Tianluokeng around 9:30 and were back just after 16:30.

Go up to the observation deck for sunset and see the village light up. It is gorgeous.

We found Tianluokeng the most authentic of the Hakka villages, perhaps because we stayed there. Strolling around the village and peeking into the tulou we saw residents drying vegetables, curing sausages and doing whatever you’d do in a mud castle.

Known as King Tulou, the Chengqi tulou is an imposing round earthen building with over 400 rooms. It’s enormous, with the courtyard having a diameter of 73m.

Inside the tulou, three concentric rings of buildings surround the ancestral hall in the centre. This makes King Tulou feel almost maze-like. While this is indeed quite spectacular, it’s difficult to see the beautiful layout of the tulou, as visitors are not allowed to go to the upper floors of the tulou building.

Luckily our guide told us that there was a photographer in a room on the second floor that would take a nice picture of us for RMB 20. Within minutes we had our laminated A4 photo of us standing inside the concentric circles of the King Tulou.

Our driver helped us get the photo file sent to my WeChat because, you know, it’s the 21st century and who still keeps laminated photos and not on their phone?

The Chengqi tulou was bustling with activity on the day when we visited. The tulou residents were preparing for a funeral, and hundreds of Hakkas from the surrounding villages came to help out

The small round tulou building next to the King Tulou is the Qiaofu building. Qiao refers to overseas Chinese, while Fu means good fortune.

This tulou is also known as the Doctor Tulou, as 11 of its residents, including a woman, graduated as doctors. Photos of the doctors are proudly displayed at the altar at the back of the tulou. 

Two square tulou buildings stand next to King Tulou. We checked out the Shize tulou, right next to the round King Tulou.

Don’t miss this enchanting village! You will see more UNESCO-listed tulou and the stunning Yunshuiyao village, with its gigantic banyan trees and riverside setting. The combination of the tulou (53 in total) and quaint Yunshuiyao is rural China at its most magical.

Unless you’re doing a dissertation on the architecture of the Hakka people, limit yourself to seeing the two best tulou: Huaiyuan and Hegui tulou.

When you reach Yunshuiyao, it should be lunchtime, so ask your driver to take you to his favourite place. Restaurants are likely to have a picture menu.

After lunch, we suggest you see the Huaiyuan Tulou and then walk along the river through Yunshuiyao village to the Hegui Tulou. Arrange with your driver to meet you at Hegui Tulou after about two hours.

This large, round earthen building, constructed in 1905 during the Qing Dynasty, is well preserved and has 136 rooms inside.

At the courtyard’s centre, you’ll find an ancestral hall surrounded by two concentric rings of buildings. The outer ring was used as a school, the only such tulou. Even under siege (or lockdown), these Hakka children had to sit their little asses down and study their ABCs.

You can pay RMB 5 to one of the residents who will let you go up to the fourth floor. This is the best photo spot, as you will have a great view of the tulou’s design.

Originally called Changjiao, the village is now affectionately known as Yunshuiyao, which means A Song of the Clouds and Waters. This ancient village was the shooting location of the Chinese blockbuster called Yunshuiyao, which won the Best Film Award at the 2007 Golden Rooster Awards.

Following the film’s fame, the village was promptly renamed. 

A cobbled footpath connects Huaiyuan Tulou to Hegui Tulou, with beautiful Yunshuiyao in the middle. The path takes you past traditional houses, waterwheels and stepping stones crossing the river. 

Along the way, you’ll pass thirteen enormous banyan trees on the riverbank. Like ancient green umbrellas, these trees are hundreds of years old and truly magnificent.

The rectangular Hegui tulou is unique in many ways. Standing five stories high at a height of 21 metres, it is the tallest of all the UNESCO tulou. Built on swampland, it’s a wonder that this giant is still standing after almost 300 years.

Nicknamed Noah’s Ark, we thought it was because of its shape and size. But no, it’s called Noah’s Ark because the marsh it sits in swells during the rainy season, and water seeps into the tulou courtyard.

Considering the marsh and the size of the tulou, it’s a miracle that the Hegui building is still standing today.

The outer wall is almost 1.5 meters thick at its base but gradually tapers out to just 60 cm on the 5th floor to prevent it from being top-heavy.

Inside the courtyard, you’ll see two wells containing different water, even though they are just metres apart. One well has sweet, clear water, and the other murky. They are called the Ying Yang wells for apparent reason.

Less than 10 km from Tianluokeng, beautiful Taixa village sits on the banks of a small river. Almost everyone in this village shares the surname Zhang.

The Zhangs are hardworking people. In the past, many of them have worked overseas, bringing back a lot of money to Taixa village. Many of them have also opened hotels and guesthouses.

By the time we reached Taixa, we were pretty much tulou-ed out. We were ready to push on to our guesthouse, but the driver insisted we make a quick stop here. I’m glad he convinced us.

The Zhang Family’s Ancestral Hall ( or Deyuan Hall 德远堂) behind the village is a nice distraction from all the tulous. This small temple is beautiful, and the reflections in the moon pond, totem poles, and ornate dragons on the roofs make lovely photos.

Yuchang Tulou
(裕昌楼)

The last stop on our DIY tulou tour is the Yuchang building, about halfway between Taixa village and Tianluokeng.

The Yuachang, dating from 1308, is another gigantic, round tulou. The courtyard is empty except for a single small building at the centre, which is nice, as you can capture the sense of scale in your photos.

Instead of the entire tulou sharing a communal well in the courtyard, each household has access to its own well in its ground-floor kitchens.

Yuchang tulou tilts inward at a 15-degree angle, giving it the nickname of…you guessed it… China’s Leaning Tower of Pisa.

• Entrance fee: Included with Tianluokeng (RMB 90)
• Suggested Time: 30 minutes or less

Also read:
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Visiting the Hakka Walled Villages and Tulou:
Any Questions?

Visiting the Tulou villages independently is a wonderful (but busy) day out. It is much more relaxing than travelling to and from Xiamen on a day tour. We hope you can go and see them.

If you have any questions, drop us a message below, and we’ll try our best to help.