Visiting Meizhou: Traditional weilongwu architecture
When I hear the word Hakka (Han Chinese that speak Hakka Chinese) I always think of the famous tulous (土楼) I’ve always wanted to visit. But little did I know, that the Hakka people has other traditional architecture as well. January 2015 I finally had the chance to visit Meizhou, Guangdong Province, and found out that the weilongwu (围龙屋) is the traditional building for the locals. Where as in the Fujian province more tulous can be found. The name 围龙屋 literally means to encircle dragons house.
Above is a miniature of a three tier weilongwu. At the China Hakka Museum we were told that Hakka people pay a lot of attention to fengshui. The weilongwu is arranged as a half circle and can include from one to several tiers. The family and relatives live in the middle part of the weilongwu, leaving the half circle tiers to servers, helpers and storage space. In order to preserve symmetry, a half circle pond was dug in front of the compound.
The Owner of this weilongwu welcomed us with open arms and told us stories how his family had important cement from England and pipes from Germany. All around Meizhou you can see the influence of those Hakka people who moved abroad to study or work, and then contributed to the culture and business back in their home city. Those with ability to go overseas also had the most means to build weilongwu and also to preserve them until today.
This particular weilongwu we visited on our fist day is called Tong Yu Zhuang or Tong Yu Manor. It was build by an Indonesian overseas Chinese on the 24th year of the Republic of China (1935). The manor has 56 rooms, 13 halls and 9 atriums. Because many weilongwus were lavishly decorated with gold, they were hit quite badly in the Cultural Revolution. A beautiful mirror was saved just because a big portrait of Mao Zedong was hanging in front of it, no one dared to touch it.
In Meizhou I noticed one very interesting detail in the houses. Look at the picture above, can you guess what is the whole on the right side of the entrance? Yes, it’s for cats to go in and out freely!
Atriums are an important part of architecture both in Hakka culture and beyond. They let the sun light come in and gather the rain water from the roofs.
Weilongwu is usually build on a hill or slope, so that the back part of the complex is higher than the front. This is for both better fengshui and water flowing through the pipes from back to front as well. Behind the main buildings in the front and before the first half circle, there is an open space that represents the female womb and makes sure that the family will continue from generation to generation.
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