page_title: Zhangpu County
section_title: Tulou
hierarchical_section_title: Zhangpu County / Historical sites / Tulou
caption_attribution_description: English: Liu'ao Abstract Art Gallery
context_page_description: Zhangpu County is a county of Zhangzhou prefecture-level city in far southern Fujian province, People's Republic of China. The county seat is located in the town of Sui'an.
  Zhangpu is bordered by the Longhai City in the north, the counties of Pinghe and Yunxiao in the west, and the Taiwan Strait in the south and east.
context_section_description: Although most of the famous Fujian Tulou are located in Fujian's interior (Nanjing County, Yongding County, and surrounding areas), there are a few tulou structures in Zhangpu County as well. According to a 2001 survey of Fujian's tulou, out of the province's 3733 tulou known to the researchers, 125  were located within Zhangpu County. Among them were 60 round tulou (out of the total of 1193 such structures in the province), 48 rectangular ones, and 17 of other types.
  A characteristic feature of the tulou of Zhangpu County (and of the coastal Fujian in general) was the use of granite blocks for the lower part of the wall, as opposed to boulders/cobblestones which were used for a similar purpose in Fujian's interior.
  Although the local folk tradition may claim greater antiquity for some tulou elsewhere, several of the oldest tulou whose age is documented are located in Zhangpu county. According to Huang Hanmin, the oldest currently known construction date for any of China's tulou is 1558 - which is the date (Year 37 of the Jiajing era) that appears above the main gate of Yidelou (一德楼), a rectangular tulou in Makeng Village (马坑村), Sui'an Town, Zhangpu County. It is a three-storey rectangular compound with walls 1.3 m thick; the  compound is surrounded by an elliptic wall 1.6 m tall. It was damaged by bombs dropped from a Japanese aircraft in 1934.
  Several more tulou of comparable age (all of them of the rectangular type) are found within Zhangpu County as well. Merely two years "younger" than Yidelou is another three-storey rectangular tulou, Yiyanlou (贻燕楼), located in Guotian Village (过田村) of Xiamei  Town (霞美镇), Yiyan Lou (贻燕楼) and dated 1560 (Jiajing 39) by a similar door inscription. In Yuntou (运头) Village of the same town,  Qingyunlou (庆云楼) is dated 1569 (Longqing 3). Yanhailou (晏海楼) in Tanzitou Village (潭仔头村, or 昙仔头村), Jiu Town (旧镇) dates from 1585, and the construction of Wanbilou (完璧楼), which is located inside the Zhaojiabao (see above) started in 1600.
  Out of the 56 "exemplary tulou" listed in Huang Hanmin's monograph, 6 are in Zhangpu County. One of them, Jinjiang Lou (24.063501°N 117.773239°E),
  located in Jinjiang village of Shentu Town, was built in 1791-1803, and consists of 3 concentric rings. It is one of the few tulou located in the immediate proximity (a few kilometers) of Fujian's sea coast.
caption: One of the many unusual natural rock formations at the site known as the Liu'ao Abstract Art Gallery
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