China's earth buildings put dwellers under same roof with migratory ancestors

To outsiders and tourists, the earth buildings in Yongding County of east China's Fujian Province are just some mysterious mushroom-like, uniquely-shaped huge structures that once used to defend against bandits and marauders.

But local people like Lin Shangshang, 64, consider the earth complexes, or "Tu Lou" as known among Chinese, as the biggest legacy passed down from generation to generation by their migratory ancestors as long as a millennium ago.

"The earth buildings are the most valuable heritage left by my forefathers," said Lin, owner of the Zhencheng Building, which now houses some 70 people or 14 households.

"We have fresh air and a very good and cool environment here," Lin said, "working in the fields or growing vegetables are very easy too."

About 1,200 years ago, the earth buildings were built with soil and wood by Hakka people, or "guest clans", to guard against invasion from local bandits and marauders after they exiled themselves from central China to southern provinces of Fujian and Guangdong to flee wars and chaos and escape severe execution in the north.

The house were also used by Hakkas to protect their children from the influence of local communities in order to maintain their cultural uniqueness apart from the indigenous minority people, such as the Yao and Cantonese speakers who had settled there earlier. Ancestral halls can be found in almost every earth building for their descendants' worshipping.

There are currently some 30,000 earth buildings, mostly completed in the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, in the south and east China provinces. And over 23,000 of them are in the mountainous Yongding County of Fujian.

"Our earth buildings are the testimony of Hakkas history and civilization," said Zhang Zhaoting, an official in charge of the application to have the best of the complexes placed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. "They are so unique and outstanding, just like a myth."

The provincial government has planned to invest more than 100 million yuan (12 million US dollars) in the coming years to renovate and repair the earth buildings in the province. Local county government also improved their infrastructure to expand tourism as about 100,000 visitors were attracted to the earth complexes every year.

Either round or square, the three- or four-storey earth buildings can measure up to 100 yards in diameter and house up to 700 people under the same roof, with only one entranceway and no windows at ground level.

Each floor served a different function -- the first floor is kitchen, the second floor is for storage, and usually there is no window opened outwards on these two floors. The third and fourth floors are bedrooms where there are small window opened outwards. When the main door is closed, the earth building is like a bunker or a defensive castle.

However, to Lin Shangshang, owner of Zhencheng Building, the most famous earth complexes built in 1912, protecting their ancestor's legacy was much more difficult than guarding the complexes against enemies.

"It took me three years to find a proper beam to replace the broken one years ago," Lin said, "our construction materials are hard to get on the market."

Though all his three children are now working in cities, Lin has no worry about who will take up his rein to pass on the tradition of protecting their ancestor's legacy.

"In our building, we have 14 households," Li said, "none of the household now living inside are willing to move out."

"We are good here and we are sure to live in and protect the building, for ever," he said, "it is our lifetime mission."

Source: Xinhua