James Baquet

    I’VE written before of the Hakka house museum in Longgang District and of Dapeng Fortress. But did you realize that, aside from these two, Longgang has about 100 other walled Hakka villages?

    These fortified towns were built mainly in the mid-to-late Qing Dynasty, near the end of the Hakka migration. Unlike the more famous round “tulou” of Fujian, the villages in Longgang are all built to square plans, in the Meixian (Mei County) style, since many of Shenzhen’s Hakka migrated from the Meizhou area.

    Typically, the villages have a moon-shape pool in front and a hill at the rear for good feng shui. There is often a threshing floor in the front and the walls have watchtowers at the four corners. Most also have frescoes and carved, painted beams, illustrating a rich variety of flowers, birds, and other wildlife.

    Many of the villages are only partially occupied or occupied by migrant workers. Still, the ancestral shrines in the village centers are usually well kept and the dwellings stand strong.

    Dawan Dwelling is the best-known besides the museum in Longgang. Built in 1791, it is southwest of Pingshan Bus Terminal in Pingshan. Take bus 365 from Xiangmihu Metro Station on Line 1.

    Several well-known dwellings can be found in Kengzi Subdistrict, including Longtian (built 1837), Xinqiao (built about 1753), Panlong (over 200 years old), and Changlong (built 1794). Take bus 366 to Kengzi Shichang from Bao’an Nan Lu just north of the Diwang Building (Dajuyuan Metro Station on Line 1) and ask around.