In Yongding one can still find the Earthen Dwellings of the Hakka people. The unadorned tu lou are either round or square, and huge (10-17 meters' high); and were designed as a fortress and apartment building in one. The structures typically had only one entranceway and no windows at ground level. Each floor served a different function - the first hosts a well and livestock, the second is for food storage and the third and higher floors contain living spaces for several hundred people.

Hakka people still live in the houses, you can see the everyday scenes of the residents: elderly and children alike, full of life: chicken, ducks and dogs, and people cooking, washing clothes and working in the houses. The houses are nestled in beautiful villages and landscape (rivers, rich trees and blossom and very pleasant weather).

Hakkas' unique houses - Tu lou ( earthen buildings of Hakkas )
The Hakka who settled in Fujian province developed unique architectural buildings called tu lou, literally meaning "earthen structures". Because they were latecomers to the area, Hakka set up homes in often undesirable mountainous regions and were subject to attack from bandits and marauders.
The tu lou are either round or square, and were designed as a fortress and apartment building in one. The structures typically had only one entranceway and no windows at ground level. Each floor served a different function - the first hosts a well and livestock, the second is for food storage and the third and higher floors contain living spaces.

What is special for the earthen round buildings:
• Natural beauty of the colour of the earth wall and interior wood structure
• Unique and original architecture: unadorned, huge (10-17 meter\'s high); and in different shape (square, round and oval and quinquangular) with different rings of round houses within.
• Hakka people still live in the houses, you can see the everyday scence of the residents: elderly and children alike, full of life: chicken, ducks and dogs, and people cooking, washing clothes and working in the houses
• The houses are nestled in beautiful villages and landscape (rivers, rich trees and blossom and very pleasant weather)
Xiamen & Gulangyu Island