Hekeng Tulou Cluster

Hekeng Tulou Cluster locates in Hekeng Natural Village, Qujiang Village, Shuyang Town, Nanjing County. It is composed of 13 earth buildings of different shapes and built in different eras. Earth buildings of this cluster are distributed in valleys and surrounded by mountains. They were built between the reign of Emperor Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty (1549) and 1972. Among them, there are six circular buildings, six square buildings and one pentagonal building. The whole cluster is shaped like a big dipper. Chaoshui Lou was the first Tulou in Heken and was rebuilt after a fire in 1923. When Nanxun Lou was first built, the main gate of the building sat east and faced to west. But later, the main gate was changed from the west side to the south side. Yongsheng Lou has low front and high rear. There is a plague with Chinese characters “De Shi Xiang Lyu”, which mean moral model for the neighborhood, hung in the ancestral hall of Yongsheng Lou. This plague was made in the year of Guimo during the reign of Emperor Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty. There are 25 two-storey dwellings outside Yongsheng Lou for protecting this main building. Most of the earth buildings in this cluster have wells. From the completion of the first Tulou in the Hekeng Tulou Cluster to now, buildings in this cluster have been repaired in different eras. But the walls, structures and the indoor and outdoor space have been basically maintained the original historical appearance. This Tulou cluster has shown the long history and heritage of traditional earth-ramming technology. It also has a high value in architectural art as well as historical value. In 2013, it was included into the seventh group of major cultural heritage sites protected at the national level.