The Kaiping Diaolou

The diaolou are fortified houses and lookout towers standing several storeys above the flat paddy country of Kaiping, built by families whose money came from relatives working abroad. They are strange objects: solid blockhouses with narrow lower windows and iron shutters, topped by open loggias, domes, turrets and balustrades copied from pattern books and postcards sent home. Some stand alone in the fields, others cluster at the edge of villages among duck ponds and bamboo. Zili village has the densest group and several towers you can climb, their upper rooms still holding beds, clocks and imported furniture left behind. Four village groups are inscribed together.

What you actually see

• Zili village - the densest cluster, with towers open to climb above the paddy fields.
• Ruishi Lou - the tallest of the towers, at Jinjiangli, with a domed pavilion on top.
• The interiors - upper rooms with imported furniture, clocks and photographs left in place.
• Majianglong - towers standing in a bamboo grove rather than open fields.

When to go

October to April, when Guangdong is drier and cooler; summer is hot, humid and wet. The clusters are several kilometres apart with no useful bus between them, so hire a car or a driver for the day. Late afternoon light on the towers across the paddies is the best of it. Two clusters in a day is realistic.

Honest expectations

Getting around is the problem: separate tickets at each cluster, no joint transport, and drivers who charge by the hour. Many towers are locked and seen only from outside, and those you can enter have steep, dark internal stairs. Interiors are damp and decaying. The countryside between clusters is ordinary, with a lot of new building.

Nearby

Chikan's old arcaded shopping streets sit on the road between the clusters.