Longnan Hakka Walled Villages

Southern Jiangxi holds around three hundred and seventy surviving weilongwu, Hakka fortified compounds, more than anywhere else in China. Unlike the round tulou of Fujian, these are mostly square: high rammed-earth or brick walls enclosing courtyards and rooms for an entire clan, with corner towers, gun ports, a single reinforced gate, and wells and grain stores inside so that the community could shut itself in for weeks. They were built between the Ming and the early twentieth century, in country where clan feuds and banditry were constant. Guanxi Weilongwu is the largest, with over two hundred rooms across an enclosure of some ten thousand square metres.

What you actually see

• Guanxi Weilongwu - the largest compound, with over two hundred rooms.
• The defensive features - corner towers, gun ports and a single gate.
• The internal courtyards - halls, ancestral shrines and living quarters within.
• The density - hundreds of surviving compounds across the county.

When to go

March to May and September to November; summers in southern Jiangxi are hot and humid. The compounds are lived in or partly abandoned, and opening arrangements vary. A car or local driver helps considerably.

Honest expectations

Sites are scattered across a rural county with poor public transport. Some compounds are derelict and others still occupied, with access depending on residents. Interpretation is in Chinese only.

Nearby

Ganzhou lies north; the Guangdong border is south.