Three Lives of a Kaiping Diaolou
Kaiping’s towers served as communal refuges, fortified homes and watchpoints; their different roles make the village landscape legible.
Jiangmen.
Jiangmen is a prefecture-level city in Guangdong whose cultural landscape reaches from Kaiping’s fortified villages to Xinhui’s citrus-growing and river-wetland worlds. These stories follow specific places and objects: a tower built for a household, a letter carrying remittance, a peel opened and aged, and a banyan rooted in water.
Stories
Qiaopi: A Letter Carried with a Remittance
Qiaopi joined family correspondence to the proof and channels of money sent home, making a large migration history legible through one document.
Read the story
From Citrus Peel to Xinhui Chenpi
Follow tea-branch mandarin peel from harvest through opening, drying and aging to understand the craft and place behind Xinhui Chenpi.
Read the storyPlaces
Jiangmen
Kaiping
Towers, villages and agricultural landscapes record responses to security, migration and home.
Jiangmen
Zili Village
Zili’s towers rise among ponds, fields and homes, with Ming Shilou anchoring stories of building and return.
Jiangmen
Liyuan
Water, bridges, garden spaces and mixed architectural forms shape Liyuan.
Jiangmen
Chikan Old Town
Chikan’s arcades trace a river town shaped by trade, street planning and restoration.
Jiangmen
Xinhui
Xinhui stories connect a local citrus craft with family life and a river wetland remembered in literature.
Jiangmen
Bird Paradise
A banyan wetland at Tianma Village connects conservation, water landscapes and Ba Jin’s literary association.
City corners
A short introduction
Sanmenli
Yinglonglou preserves a local account of communal refuge before Kaiping’s famous tower-building period.
A short introduction
Majianglong
Towers appear within a village shaped by bamboo, trees, homes and cultivated ground.
A short introduction
Jinjiangli
Jinjiangli gathers village homes and several towers around Ruishilou.
Photo credits and rights
-
A group of several tall diaolou beside a lotus pond and fields.DragonSamYU · CC BY-SA 4.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Proportionally resized and encoded as WebP; no crop or watermark removal.
-
Handwritten qiaopi documents at Chaozhou Museum.三猎 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Proportionally resized and encoded as WebP; no crop or watermark removal.
-
Dried Xinhui mandarin peel.Dboxes · CC BY-SA 3.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Proportionally resized and encoded as WebP; no crop or watermark removal.
-
Mingshi Lou, a multi-storey tower in Zili Village.Mike W. from Vancouver, Canada · CC BY-SA 2.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Proportionally resized and encoded as WebP; no crop or watermark removal.
-
The brick exterior and windows of Yinglong Lou.Yumeto · CC BY-SA 4.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Proportionally resized and encoded as WebP; no crop or watermark removal.
-
An elevated view across Majianglong village, trees and fields.Kounosu · CC BY-SA 3.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Proportionally resized and encoded as WebP; no crop or watermark removal.
-
The many-storey Ruishi Lou rises above a village lane and nearby houses.Stefan Fussan · CC BY-SA 3.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Proportionally resized and encoded as WebP; no crop or watermark removal.
-
A stained-glass dome over a circular room inside Liyuan.xiquinhosilva · CC BY 2.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Proportionally resized and encoded as WebP; no crop or watermark removal.
-
A canal reflects arcaded buildings and a tall tower with a vertical red sign in Chikan.广东省文化和旅游厅提供；摄影者未标注 · Rights information Photo source ↗ Proportionally resized and encoded as WebP; no crop or watermark removal.
-
A broad island of banyan canopy sits in a river.Memes · CC BY-SA 3.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Proportionally resized and encoded as WebP; no crop or watermark removal.
