China - Guangdong - Kaiping

Diaolous: UNESCO-listed houses of returned Chinese émigrés

(photos of February 2009)

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Kaiping City

Kaiping (map) lies in Guangdong Province, west of Hong Kong and southwest of Guangzhou, on the Tan Jiang, seen next at dawn from the modern Pan Tower/Peninsula/Everjoint Hotel. Illegal outdated homes float on one river branch.

Chikan Town

About 10km upstream from Kaiping, Chikan town (map) is famous for its returned émigrés, whose former houses and businesses line a channel of the Tan Jiang. The following scrollable panorama spans 360 degrees.

Of interest also in Chikan are older streets and markets that are often used in movies.

Diaolous at Zili Village

Near Kaiping and Chikan, émigrés built thousands of "diaolous", multi-level residences which were often fortified and designed in mixed Chinese and Western architectural styles. Most were abandoned in the 20th Century, with the 1949 revolution and also the later migration of country folk to the large cities. Diaolous are also described at Wikipedia.

UNESCO in 2007 inscribed on its World Heritage List some of these unique structures, in particular a cluster of diaolous at Zili village (map). The next two panoramas span 360 degrees, the third about 190 degrees.

More diaolous

The fanciest diaolous belonged to one extended family in Li Yuan (Li Gardens) (map), near Zili Village.

The following diaolou leans near Kaiping (map).

The oldest diaolou (believed built in 1436) stands in San Men Li (map). Old people and old customs certainly come to mind around here.

Many villages in this region have a rectangular and dense layout, as seen here from the top of a diaolou in Majianglong (map).