"" Kaiping Diaolou and Villages feature the Diaolou, multi-storeyed defensive village houses in Kaiping, which display a complex and flamboyant fusion of Chinese and Western structural and decorative forms. They reflect the significant role of émigré Kaiping people in the development of several countries in South Asia, Australasia and North America, during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. There are four groups of Diaolou and twenty of the most symbolic ones are inscribed on the List. These buildings take three forms: communal towers built by several families and used as temporary refuge, residential towers built by individual rich families and used as fortified residences, and watch towers. Built of stone, pise , brick or concrete, these buildings represent a complex and confident fusion between Chinese and Western architectural styles. Retaining a harmonious relationship with the surrounding landscape, the Diaolou testify to the final flowering of local building traditions that started in the Ming period in response to local banditry. ""
read more from : http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1112 : , there are photo galleries too.
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The house built by 关崇惠 (PutongHua=Guan ChongHui, Cantonese= KWAN SungWai) is designed with the features of the "Diaolou", unfortunately it is not in the UNESCO protected list .
The name "Diaolou" comes from the chinese name of these buildings 碉楼 (the english name simply has the same sound of the Chinese name).
"碉" or Diao by itself can mean "stone house" & "楼" or Lou would mean building or tower, but in reality it is no ordinary building as it also includes features of a fort or bunker. The chinese word for fort or bunker is 碉堡, perhaps that's where 'diaolou' derived its name.
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Photo of SungWai's house: Gun-holes in the ground on
upper floors to either shoot a gun or pour boiling oil onto attacking bandits. These holes are mostly located above entrances & windows |
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SungWai's house :
There are gun-holes in the wall on the upper-floors |
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| Abandoned "diaolou" less than 10 mins walk from SungWai's house (photo 2013) |