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Kaiping Diaolou
Kaiping city is situated in the south west of Zhujiang River Estuary. It is famous for its overseas Chinese community and its fine architecture, art and culture, and widely known as the city of Diaolou.the total population of the city reaches 680,000, not including 750,000 overseas Chinese, Hong Kong and Macao residents, as well as Taiwan compatriots spreading out in 67 countries and regions of the world who emigrated from the city.
Kaiping Diaolou is the multi-storied and tower-shaped endemic architectural works combining the Chinese and western architectural styles which was used for defense and housing. It is mainly located in Kaiping, Wuyi where there is large overseas Chinese community in Guangdong Province. Diaolou first appeared in the 16th century, and reached its peak of development at the turn of the 20th century. There are 1,833 existing Kaiping Diaolou, which is listed as the nationally Protected Cultural relic.
Kaiping Diaolou is of a large scale, various types and unique design. It can be divided into three types of towers, namely, Julou (Residential Tower), Zhonglou (Tower for Communal Defense) and Genglou (Lighthouse) by standard of function. There can be the classification of stone tower, tabia tower, brick tower and reinforced concrete tower by standard of architectural structure and materials. The design of the upper tower takes the forms of the traditional Chinese flush gable roof, overhanging gable roof, as well as foreign architectural form s and styles in different eras. The most striking characteristics of Diaolou is that the local people chose from different foreign architectural forms at their own will, and then integrated them into one particular from. It incorporates both ancient Greek and roman styles and elements of Gothic, Islamic, baroque and rococo genres. Its brilliant and variant architectural forms absorb the architectural achievement in the history of western architecture in different eras and across different countries and regions, and therefore enrich the world architecture tremendously.Kaiping Diaolou is the product of the local peoples’ assimilation of foreign cultures. It is the singular witness of the process of the overseas Chinese and the local villagers’ acceptance of advanced western culture. It is the precious historical and cultural relics left by the different ethnics groups of the world through their mutual cultural influence, close cultural contacts and the joint enhancement of the progress of human civilization. It plays the irreplaceable role for us to understand the history of development of human civilization and to further promote world cultural exchanges.
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