Daoyun Lou

Daoyun Lou

Daoyun Lou

    Other tulou also face the same situation

    In the northern mountainous area of Raoping, Chaozhou, more than 500 tulou are scattered. These tulou, also considered the crystallization of Hakka wisdom, missed the opportunity to apply for World Heritage status together with Fujian Tulou.

    Recently, the reporter learned from the Chaozhou Cultural Relics and Tourism Bureau that the tulou within Raoping County, including 1 national key cultural relic protection unit and 7 provincial cultural relic protection units, are all in urgent need of repair. Among them, the "national treasure"—Daoyun Lou, the largest octagonal tulou in the country—has almost become a dangerous building.

    The overall restoration of Daoyun Lou alone is budgeted at 15 million yuan. Can "blood transfusion" alone sustain the life of these embodiments of ancestral wisdom?

    Located in Sanrao Town, northern Raoping, Daoyun Lou was designated a national-level cultural relic protection unit in 2006. However, the current condition of this largest octagonal tulou in the country is worrying.

    15 million yuan repair plan awaiting approval

    In the 15th year of the Wanli reign (1587 AD), under the leadership of Jiangye Gong, the Hakka Huang clan left their hometown in Fujian and migrated westward to what is now Sanrao Town in northern Raoping. After generations of effort—legend has it that they used up the soil of an entire small hill—they finally built what is now the largest tulou, Daoyun Lou. Its inscribed circle diameter is 101.2 meters, shaped like the Bagua, more than 10 meters larger in diameter than the largest octagonal tulou of the same shape in Fujian, making it the largest octagonal tulou in China. Unlike ordinary tulou, Daoyun Lou imitates Zhuge Liang's Bagua formation, entering through the Shengmen (Gate of Life) and exiting through the Xiumen (Gate of Rest). A separate Xiumen was specially opened on one side of the main gate for clan members to leave the village.

    Most of the exterior walls of Daoyun Lou are now severely damaged. Because rammed earth walls are difficult to repair, over the years later generations have mostly used earth bricks, grey bricks, and red bricks for repairs. Now the south and southeast exterior walls are severely leaning outward; other exterior walls have shifted and peeled, suffering serious damage.

    In February 2014, the overall repair and partial restoration plan for the northeast corner of Daoyun Lou was submitted to the National Cultural Heritage Administration, with a total budget of 15 million yuan. It is currently awaiting approval.

    "Daoyun Lou has become a dangerous building," said Luo Xing, head of the Cultural Relics Management Section of the Chaozhou Cultural Relics and Tourism Bureau. The 15 million yuan repair budget was estimated by a professional institution, but the final restoration plan can only be determined after seeing how much funding is approved.

    Annual income less than 80,000 yuan

    "Fifteen years ago, about 600 people lived here; now there are just over 100," a staff member of the Daoyun Lou Management Center told the reporter. In recent years, the pace of relocation has been alarming; among the 100-plus residents, 3 households are tenants.

    "Currently, houses on both the north and south sides are about to collapse. I heard someone will come to organize emergency repairs next month," the manager said recently. Daily management of Daoyun Lou relies on ticket revenue. "Individual visitors pay 20 yuan each, tour groups 10 yuan each, but annual income is less than 80,000 yuan." After deducting the salaries of 5 management staff and office expenses, there is almost nothing left for repairs.

    The manager attributed the difficulty of "self-sustaining" through tourism revenue to: too few nearby attractions, plus inconvenient transportation, making it hard to attract tourists, and it is impossible to convert it into a guesthouse for travelers like in Fujian.

    Waiting for the government to repair has been limited to patching up over the years. "Repair here, damage there; if no one lives here, it will decay even faster," a manager said.

    Current status of other tulou is also not optimistic

    According to incomplete statistics, there are more than 500 tulou in Raoping. Among them, Daoyun Lou is a national-level cultural relic protection unit, and there are 7 provincial-level cultural relic protection units and 7 county-level cultural relic protection units.

    "Due to the material characteristics of tulou buildings and their location in economically backward remote mountainous areas, most of the remaining tulou buildings are in poor condition," according to a survey on the protection of Raoping tulou by the Chaozhou Cultural Relics and Tourism Bureau. Chaozhou's economy lags behind other places, making it difficult for local finances to invest in tulou maintenance, so it has always relied mainly on provincial and national funding support.

    The use of funds follows the principle of "emergency rescue first"—this included obtaining 80,000 yuan from the Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau four years ago for emergency repairs to two collapsed rooms on the periphery of the provincial-level protected Xincai Lou.

    But this year, Xincai Lou—a Ming Dynasty tulou listed as a fourth-batch Guangdong Provincial Cultural Relic Protection Unit, located in Chitang Village, Raoyang Town, Raoping County—collapsed another 5 rooms within a month due to frequent heavy rain.

    A person in charge of the local cultural relics authority admitted that almost all of these Raoping tulou listed as cultural relic protection units are in urgent need of repair.

    Missed the chance to apply for World Heritage together with Fujian Tulou

    In 2008, "Fujian Tulou" succeeded in its World Heritage application, becoming China's 36th World Cultural Heritage site. Before the Fujian Tulou application, it was reported that Daoyun Lou and other Guangdong Raoping tulou—also embodying Hakka architectural wisdom—were preparing to participate in the World Heritage review together, but ultimately nothing came of it.

    "I don't know how we missed it," said Luo Xing, head of the Cultural Relics Management Section of the Chaozhou Cultural Relics and Tourism Bureau, regretfully. If they had succeeded in the World Heritage application together with Fujian Tulou, perhaps Raoping tulou would not be in their current state.

    Industry insiders: Cannot rely solely on government funding; need society

    Difficult self-sustaining, weak local financial investment, and reliance on funding that requires large upfront design costs and long waits... The 15 tulou in Raoping listed as cultural relic protection units at various levels, like the hundreds of other tulou, face a dim future.

    "We cannot just wait for government cultural relic protection funds; social capital is needed," suggested a veteran in the Chaozhou cultural relics authority. Ultimately, the path of "whoever invests, benefits" must be taken. But he also admitted that problems such as scattered tourist attractions in Raoping and the complex and fragmented ownership of tulou are hindering social capital from entering.

    Of course, there are not entirely no successful examples. The reporter learned during interviews that in Rongxi Village, Xinfeng Town, Raoping County, the tulou Wuquan Lou, built during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, experienced Typhoon Bilis in 2006. Villagers spontaneously organized donations from overseas relatives and raised hundreds of thousands of yuan to complete maintenance of the tulou themselves. To restore it as before, villagers also went elsewhere to custom-order special bricks and tiles and select wood, restoring the "red pillars, green rafters, and gold paint."

    Lessons from elsewhere: How does Shixing protect its weilou?

    The thousand-year-old city of Shixing in Shaoguan is known for the saying, "Every village has a weilou; without a weilou, there is no village." After investigation, the county has 250 weilou with repair value.

    Starting this year, Shixing County will allocate 1 million yuan annually, using a "reward instead of subsidy" approach to provide one-time subsidies to owners who carry out weilou repairs, with a maximum subsidy of 100,000 yuan per weilou. The repair tasks are assigned to relevant departments and townships and incorporated into a long-term performance assessment mechanism, encouraging and guiding social capital to participate in the protection and development of weilou, jointly advancing repair work.

    Shixing County requires each township to repair one weilou per year for the first 5 years, with the goal of initially completing all weilou repairs within 20 years.