DIAOLOU    .     Kaiping, China  .  7" x 9" x 5.5" tall


 

 

 

 


The Diaolou of China were previously romanticized as Clock Towers, but in reality they were fortified multi-story watchtowers in rural villages.  And they were generally made of reinforced concrete.  They were built from the time of the Ming Dynasty to the early 20th century, reaching a peak during the Warlord Era of the 1920s.  During this period there were more than 3000 Diaolou's.  Today there are approximately 1800 still standing - mostly abandoned.  They are located mainly in the KAIPING area of China and are a World Heritage Site.

Because of poverty and social instabilities, Kaiping was a region where emigration abroad occurred.  The Chinese living abroad and the Chinese returning with wealth acquired in other countries funded most of the Diaolou.  This explains why the tall buildings have modern features and often include Western architectural styles.  Above all, the main towers represented a flamboyant display of wealth. 

The area of Kaiping became a melting pot of ideas and trends brought back by the overseas Chinese.  As a result the villagers incorporated architectural features from the West.  Because of banditry, the building of defensive towers had been a local tradition in the Kaiping area since Ming times.  The Diaolou represent the flourishing of this tradition, in which the conspicuous wealth of the returning Chinese contributed to the spread of banditry which in return contributed to the building of taller and taller towers.  Although the Diaolou were built mainly as protection against bandits, the majority of them also served as living quarters and were built by a single family or by several families together.  

The mix of architectural styles that adorn the buildings is a surprise.  Some buildings have domes and arches, and others employ Western-style columns.  Many look like apartment buildings that were built in cities in the West.  The families and clans competed with one another for prestige and power, and they competed to build the tallest and grandest looking buildings.  You can see Spanish or Muslim domes, towers that look pagodas, and buildings with Western architectural elements for decoration. 

There are essentially three basic kinds of towers:  watch towers, fortified residential apartment dwellings, and buildings constructed to be emergency refuges.  To defend the area, guards needed tall fortresses to use as their base and to survey the countryside.  These were the watchtowers.  Clans and villages constructed fortified residential apartment buildings that they lived in or prepared as a refuge in case of danger or to help people escape floods. 

After 1949 when a new administrative system was initiated in China, the Diaolou lost their defensive purpose and were abandoned or converted.  It is thought that about 1,800 Diaolou remain in the area.  Some of them are only three stories high, and the tallest is called "Ruishui Diaolou" (pictured above).  It is 9 stories high, built in 1921, and is a mix of Byzantine and Neoclassical elements.   While most of the Diaolou are abandoned and in ruins, local Chinese have moved into some, and the Chinese Government has begun to preserve others as a National Heritage.  Tourists are allowed to visit many of them and go upstairs.  Owners of some of the private Diaolou sometimes allow tourists to visit.

 
 
CLOSE THIS PAGE