Diaolou — castles in the South of China you didn’t know about. Part 1

Today, my wife and I went to the city of Kaiping to explore the Diaolou stone towers, a part of the UNESCO World Heritage. These towers were constructed in the 17th century during the tumultuous end of the Ming Dynasty when chaos and marauding were rampant. To defend themselves against bandits, residents began building narrow but tall towers from which they could easily shoot at wrongdoers. As the villains could attack at any time, people also started living in these towers. One floor equaled one generation of a family.

Whether the buildings from the 17th century no longer exist or I couldn’t find them is not particularly important. The most interesting developments began in the late 19th to early 20th centuries.

This period marked significant upheavals in China’s history: the ruling Qing Dynasty was already weak by the late 19th century, peasant uprisings were common, and then the English and other developed nations brought civilization to China, capturing port cities and border towns, flooding the country with opium, turning China into a semi-colony.

At the same time, the Chinese began leaving for better opportunities in other countries, such as the United States, Malaysia, and sometimes Japan. Most emigrants came from the Guangdong and Fujian provinces, where major trading ports made it easier to leave. Among them were many residents of Kaiping.

Abroad, they engaged in business while simultaneously embracing Western culture (Malaysia and countries in Southeast Asia were then under British or French influence) and receiving Western education. Some of them managed to earn good money. Around 1910–1920, having accumulated wealth, many successful businessmen returned to their homeland. In the Chinese language, these overseas returnees are called “Huaqiao” (华侨) — a bridge to China.

However, upon returning to Kaiping, they found themselves in the aftermath of a revolution. The imperial authority that had sustained China for thousands of years suddenly vanished. Sun Yat-sen in the south established a separate government and prepared for a second revolution. The situation was unstable, poverty was widespread, and various criminal elements emerged once again. Wealthy Huaqiao started building houses in their villages. Since they needed to protect themselves from bandits (and sometimes even from the army), they returned to constructing Diaolou fortress houses.

This time, Diaolou looked different. Now, they were built by educated Chinese who had seen Greek columns, and classical architecture and admired European paintings. Yet, they were still Chinese, nurtured by Chinese legends, and fond of their own culture. With this combination of Chinese folklore, European worldview, and Huaqiao’s wealth, they began creating their masterpieces.

If you find this interesting subscribe to my page. In the next story, I will take you inside these castle towers and show details about the life of rich Chinese people 100 years ago.