福 建 土 楼 樓
FUJIAN TUL U
The Fujian Tulou
t
1 Fujian Tulou is a property of 46 buildings constructed between the 15th and 20th centuries over 120 km in south eewest of Fujian province, inland from the Taiwan Strait. Set amongst rice, tea and tobacco fields the Tulou are earthen houses. Several storeys high, they are built along an inward looking, circular or square floor plan as housing for up to 800 people each. They were built for defence purposes around a central open courtyard with only one entrance and windows to the outside only above the first floor. Housing a whole clan, the houses functioned as village units and were known as “a little kingdom for the family” or “bustling small city.” They feature tall fortified mud walls capped by tiled roofs with wideoverhanging eaves. The most elaborate structures date back to the 17th and 18th centuries. The buildings were divided vertically between families with each disposing of two or three rooms on each floor. In contrast with their plain exterior, the inside of the tulou were built for comfort and were often highly decorated. They are inscribed as exceptional examples of a building tradition and function exemplifying a particular type of communal living and defensive organization, and, in terms of their harmonious relationship with their environment, an outstanding example of human settlement.
Square tulou and round tulou side by side
3
Enter the tulou and you step into the heart of an entirely different world a busy community of several hundred people, living in circular rows of individual apartments over four or five floors facing inwards onto a central courtyard with a small shrine
5
The Fujian Tulou are the most T and best preserved examples of the tulou of the mountainous regions of south-eastern China. The large, technically sophisticated and dramatic earthen defensive buildings, built between the 13th and 20th centuries, in their highly sensitive setting in fertile mountain valleys, are an extraordinary reflection of a communal response to settlement which has persisted over time. The tulou, and their extensive associated documentary archives, reflect the emergence, innovation, and development of an outstanding art of earthen building over seven centuries. The elaborate compartmentalised interiors, some with highly decorated surfaces, met both their communities’ physical and spiritual needs and reflect in an extraordinary way the development of a sophisticated society in a remote and potentially hostile environment. The relationship of the massive buildings to their landscape embodies both Feng Shui principles and ideas of landscape beauty and harmony.
Outstanding Universal Value
7
The authenticity of the tulou is related to sustaining the tulou themselves and their building traditions as well as the structures and processes associated with their farmed and forested landscape setting. The integrity of the tulou is related to their intactness as buildings but also to the intactness of the surrounding farmed and forested landscape – into which they were so carefully sited in accordance with Feng Shui principles. The legal protection of the nominated areas and their buffer zones are adequate. The overall management system for the property is adequate, involving both government administrative bodies and local communities, although plans for the sustainability of the landscape that respect local farming and forestry traditions need to be better developed.
Enter the tulou and you step into the heart of an entirely different world a busy community of several hundred people, living in circular rows of individual apartments over four or five floors facing inwards onto a central courtyard with a small shrine
Criterion (iii): The tulou bear an exceptioal testimony to a long-standing cultural tradition of defensive buildings for communal living that reflect sophisticated building traditions and ideas of harmony and collaboration, well documented over time. Criterion (iv): The tulou are exceptional in terms of size, building traditions and function, and reflect society’s response to various stages in economic and social history within the wider region. Criterion (v): The tulou as a whole and the nominated Fujian tulou in particular, in terms of their form are a unique reflection of communal living and defensive needs, and in terms of their harmonious relationship with their environment, an outstanding example of human settlement.
9
Tea production in Fujian Province
Historical Description
Archaeological research has revealed that there have been communal houses built of rammed earth in China, Central Asia, and East Asia since the Neolithic period (6,000 years ago). Over a long period social, economic, and cultural developments in south-eastern China were closely associated with the mass immigration of northern people. During the Western Jin Dynasty (307-12 CE), because of continual warfare and serious drought, people from central China began to migrate south ward, many of them reaching Fujian, bringing with them the advanced cultures of central China, and Fujian began to thrive. In the late Tang dynasty (7th-8th century), people in central China once again moved southward on a large scale to escape the wars, many going to Quanzhou and Fuzhou along the coast of Fujian and Jianzhou in the north.
Those who settled in south-eastern Fujian (Zhangzhou and Quangzhou) became the Fulao people, who spoke the Minnan (south Fujian) dialect during the course of merging with local people. Some of their descendants went even further, to overseas countries. During the later years of the Northern Song Dynasty and the Southern Song dynasty in particular (1127-1279), the conquest of northern China by Jin ethnic people forced many people in central China once again to move southward, bringing with them the language and culture of central China to form the Hakka group, now mainly distributed in Jiangxi, Fujian, Guangdong, and Hainan Provinces and Taiwan, together with millions of overseas Chinese worldwide.
11
The fujian tulou seem first to have appeared in the Song and Yuan Dynasties (11th-13th centuries) and developed from the 14th and 16th centuries (Early and Middle Ming Dynasty), reaching their peak between the 17th century and the first half of the 20th century (the Late Ming and Qing Dynasties and the Republic of China period).
t
The first tulou buildings were comparatively small, rectangular or square, plainly decorated, and without stone foundations. From the end of the 14th century to the early 17th century (Ming Dynasty), in response to improved agricultural development in Fujian, and frequent bandit raids (attracted by the prosperity of the area) much larger tulou were constructed. As a result of an increase in the processing of tobacco and tea between the mid 17th and the first half of the 20th centuries, tulou were further developed that reflected in their size and decoration the wealth created from industry.
13
One of the smallest tulou in Fujian is Rusheng Lou with only 6 rooms, still inhabited by several families.
Many of the tulou are extremely well documented and the names of founders of the clans and the builders of the tulou are known from as early as the 13th century and in many areas the same family persisted until the 20th century. The tulou, although providing communal housing and reinforcing the structure of clans, were until the 20th century, mostly built and owned by one powerful individual. In the early buildings these would be people who derived their wealth from land and agriculture, (such as rearing ducks or cattle) for the later buildings trade and industry, in the 17th century shipping and tea, and later processing tobacco. For instance, the building of the early tulou in the Hongkeng cluster is attributed to Lin Yongsong, descendent of two brothers who had moved into the area around 1290, while Zhencheng Lou constructed in 1912 was built by Lin’s 21st generation descendents, two brothers who had made large sums from the Sunrise cigarette cutter factory, and spent 80,000 silver dollars on building the tulou. Tulou built in the 20th century were often funded by overseas Chinese such as one of the tulou in Gaobei cluster where local clansmen constructed the building jointly with money provided by their overseas relative, after whom the building was named.
15
The Fujian tulou seem first to have appeared in the Song and Yuan Dynasties (11th-13th centuries) and developed from the 14th and 16th centuries (Early and Middle Ming Dynasty), reaching their peak between the 17th century and the first half of the 20th century (the Late Ming and Qing Dynasties and the Republic of China period). The first tulou buildings were comparatively small, rectangular or square, plainly decorated, and without stone foundations.
From the end of the 14th century to the early 17th century (Ming Dynasty), in response to improved agricultural development in Fujian, and frequent bandit raids (attracted by the prosperity of the area) much larger tulou were constructed. As a result of an increase in the processing of tobacco and tea between the mid 17th and the first half of the 20th centuries, tulou were further developed that reflected in their size and decoration the wealth created from industry.
Many of the tulou are extremely well documented and the names of founders of the clans and the builders of the tulou are known from as early as the 13th century and in many areas the same family persisted until the 20th century. The Fujian tulou seem first to have appeared in the Song and Yuan Dynasties (11th-13th centuries) and developed from the 14th and 16th centuries (Early and Middle Ming Dynasty), reaching their peak between the 17th century and the first half of the 20th century (the Late Ming and Qing Dynasties and the Republic of China period). The first tulou buildings were comparatively small, rectangular or square, plainly decorated, and without stone foundations. From the end of the 14th century to the early 17th century (Ming Dynasty), in response to improved agricultural development in Fujian, and frequent bandit raids (attracted by the prosperity of the area) much larger tulou were constructed. As a result of an increase in the processing of tobacco and tea between the mid 17th and the first half of the 20th centuries, tulou were further developed that reflected in their size and decoration the wealth created from industry.
17
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
. . . . seeks to encourage the identification, protection and preservation of cultural and natural heritage around the world considered to be of outstanding value to humanity. This is embodied in an international treaty called Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, adopted by UNESCO in 1972. Cultural heritage refers to monuments, groupts of buildings and sites with historical, aesthetic, archaeological, scientific, ethnological or anthropological value. Natural heritage refer to outstanding physical, biological and geological formations, habitats of threatened species of animals and plants and areas with scientific, tconservation or aesthetic value.
1959
UNESCO launches an international campaign and collects US$80 million to save the Abu Simbel temples in the Nile valley. A draft of the convention on the protection of cultural heritage is prepared.
1962
UNESCO presents its Recommendation on the Safeguarding of the Beauty and Character of Landscapes and Sites. This recommendation covers the preservation and the restoration of the aspect of natural, rural and urban landscapes and sites, whether natural or man-made, which have a cultural or aesthetic interest or form typical natural surroundings.
1965
A White House Conference in Washington, D.C., in 1965 called for a ‘World Heritage Trust’ to protect ‘natural and scenic areas and historic sites.
1966
UNESCO spearheads an international campaign to save Venice after disastrous floods threatened the city.
1968
IUCN develops a proposal similar to the ‘World Heritage Trust’ for its members.
1972
Following a United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1972 and the work of expert groups involving IUCN, ICOMOS and UNESCO, all the proposals came together in the Convention concerning the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage, which was adopted by the General Conference of UNESCO in Paris on 16 November 1972.
1978
First twelve sites are inscribed on the World Heritage List.
1992
Marks the 20th Anniversary of the World Heritage Convention, the creation of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, and the adoption of the cultural landscapes category by the World Heritage Committee, making the World Heritage Convention the first international legal instrument to recognize and protect cultural landscapes.
1994
The Global Strategy for a Balanced and Representative World Heritage List is adopted by the World Heritage Committee with the goal of achieving better regional balance and greater thematic diversity in the World Heritage List. It encourages the nomination of sites in underrepresented parts of the world and especially in categories which are not yet fully represented on the List.
1966
UNESCO launches the Young People’s participation in World Heritage Preservation and Promotion Project with the aim to develop new educational approaches to mobilize young people in becoming involved in the protection and promotion of heritage.
2002
The United Nations proclaims 2002 the International Year for Cultural Heritage.
2002
To mark the 30th anniversary of the World Heritage Convention, UNESCO, with the help of the Italian Government, organizes in Venice the International Congress. World Heritage: Shared Legacy, Common Responsibility, with the objective to assess the past 30 years of implementation of the World Heritage Convention and to strengthen partnerships for World Heritage conservation.
THE NOMINATION PROCESS
Until the end of 2004, World
Only countries that have signed the World Heritage Convention, pledging to protect there
Heritage sites were selected
natural and cultural heritage, can submit nomination proposals for properties on their territory
on the basis of six cultural and
to be considered for inclusion in UNESCO’s World Heritage List.
four natural criteria. THE CRITERIA FOR SELECTION
With the adoption of the revised
To be included on the World Heritage List, sites must be of outstanding universal value and
Operational Guidelines for the
meet at least one out of ten selection criteria. These criteria are explained in the Operational
Implementation of the World
Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention which, besides the text
Heritage Convention, only one
of the Convention, is the main working tool on World Heritage. The criteria are regularly
set of ten criteria exists.
revised by the Committee to reflect the evolution of the World Heritage concept itself.
SELECTION CRITERIA
i represent a masterpiece
v be an outstanding
vii be outstanding examples
of human creative genius
example of a traditional human
representing major stages of
settlement, land- use, or sea-
earth’s history, including the
ii exhibit an important
use which is representative of a
record of life, significant on-
interchange of human values,
culture (or cultures), or human
going geological processes in
over a span of time or within a
interaction with the environment
the development of landforms,
cultural area of the world, on
especially when it has become
or significant geomorphic or
developments in architecture
vulnerable under the impact of
physiographic features
or technology, monumental arts,
irreversible change development
townplanning, or landscape
of landforms, or significant
x contain the most important
design
geomorphic or physiographic
and significant natural habitats
features
for in-situ conservation of
iii bear a unique or at least
biological diversity, including
exceptional testimony to a
vi be directly or tangibly
those containing threatened
cultural tradition or to a
associated with events or living
species of outstanding universal
civilization which is living
traditions, with ideas, or with
value from the point of view of
or which has disappeared
beliefs, with artistic and literary
science or conservation. The
works of outstanding universal
protection, management,
iv be an outstanding example
significance. (The Committee
authenticity and integrity of
of a type of building, architectural
considers that this criterion
properties are also important
or technological ensemble or
should preferably be used in
considerations
landscape which illustrates (a)
conjunction with other criteria)
significant stage(s) in human history
Since 1992 significant vii contain superlative
interactions between people
natural phenomena or areas
and the natural environment
of exceptional natural beauty
have been recognized as
and aesthetic importance
cultural landscapes.
SUCCESS STORIES
FINDING SOLUTIONS
→
The World Heritage Convention is not only ‘words on paper’ but is above all a useful instrument for concrete action in preserving threatened sites and endangered species. By recognizing the outstanding universal value of a site, States Parties commit to its preservation and strive to find solutions for its protection. If a site is inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger, the World Heritage Committee can take immediate action to adtdress the situation and this has led to many successful restorations. The World Heritage Convention is also a very powerful tool to rallyinternational attention and actions through international safeguarding campaigns.
HISTORIC TOWN OF ZABID NATIONAL PARKS OF GARAMBA
IN YEMEN
GIZA PYRAMIDS IN EGYPT
Kahuzi-Biega, Salonga, Virunga
The outstanding archaeological
These pyramids were threatened
and the Okapi wildlife Reserve
and historical heritage of Zabid
in 1995 by a highway project near
in the Democratic Republic of
has seriously deteriorated in recent
Cairo which would have seriously
the Congo Since 1994, all five
years. Indeed, 40% of its original
damaged the values of this
sites of the DRC were inscribed
houses have been replaced by
archaeological site. Negotiations
on the List of World Heritage in
concrete buildings. In 2000f at
with the Egyptian Government
Danger as a result of the impact
the request of the State Party,
resulted in a number of alternative
of the war and civil conflicts in the
the Historic Town of Zabid was
solutions which replaced the
region. In 1999, an international
inscribed on the List of World
disputed project. Royal Chitwan
safeguarding campaign was
Heritage in Danger. UNESCO
National Park in Nepal This Park
launched by UNESCO and
is helping the local authorities to
provides refuge for about 400
a number of international
develop an urban conservation plan
greater one-horned rhinoceros
conservation NGOs to protect
and to adopt a strategic approach
characteristic of South Asia. The
the habitat of endangered species
for the preservation of this World
World Heritage Committee, in
such as the mountain gorilla, the
Heritage site. The advancing
the early 1990s, questioned the
northern white rhino and the
agricultural frontier at the west
findings of the environmental
okaaapi. This resulted in a 4 year
side of the reserve, pushed by small
impact assessment of the proposed
US$3.5 million emergency
farmers and cattle ranchers, is
Rapti River Diversion Project. The
programme to save the five sites,
already reducing the Reserve’s
Asian Development Bank and the
funded by the United Nations
forest area. The southern and
Government of Nepal revised the
Foundation and the Government
western zones of the Reserve are
assessment and found that the
of Belgium. In 2004, international
subject to massive extraction of
River Diversion project would
donors, non-governmental
precious wood such as the caoba.
threaten riparian habitats critical
organizations and the governments
The site was thus inscribed on the
to the rhino inside Royal Chitwan.
of Belgium and Japan pledged an
List of World Heritage in Danger
The project was thus abandoned
additional US$50 million to help
in 1996.
and this World Heritage site was
the DRC rehabilitate these World
saved for the benefit of future
Heritage parks.
generations. Archaeological Site
MOUNT KENYA NATIONAL PARK/
WIELICZKA SALT MINE
NATURAL FOREST IN KENYA
IN POLAND
of Delphi in Greece At the time of
The nomination of this site was
This property was inscribed in 1978
its nomination in 1987, plans were
first referred back to the State Party
as one of the first twelve World
underway to build an aluminium
on the basis of findings during the
Heritage sites. This great mine has
plant nearby the site. The Greek
evaluation that suggested there
been actively worked since the
Government was invited to find
were serious threats to the site,
13th century. Its 300 kilometres of
another location for the plant, which
primarily illegal logging and
galleries contain famous works of
it did, and Delphi took its rightful
marijuana cultivation inside the
art with altars and statues sculpted
place on the World Heritage List.
Park. The State Party responded
in salt, all of which were seriously
Whale Sanctuary of El Vizcaino in
with an action plan which included
threatened by humidity due to the
Mexico In 1999, the World Heritage
provision of additional vehicles,
introduction of artificial ventilation
community campaigned against
increased patrols, community
at the end of the nineteenth
a plan for enlarging an existing
awareness projects, training of
century. The site was placed on the
salt factory to commercial scale in
forest guards and a review of the
List of World Heritage in Danger
Laguna San Ignacio in El Vizciano
policy affecting the adjacent forest
in 1989. During nine years of
Bay, the last pristine reproduction
reserve. Based on these assurances,
joint efforts by both Poland and
lagoon for the Pacific grey whale.
the Committee inscribed the site
the international community, an
in 1997. Today, some threats still
efficient dehumidifying system was
remain but there has been
installed, and the Committee, at
significant progress in the
its session in December 1998, had
management of the site.
the satisfaction of removing the
The World Heritage Committee forewarned the Mexican Government of the threats posed to the marine and terrestrial ecosystems, the grey whales as key species as well as the overall integrity of this World Heritage site by locating saltworks inside the Sanctuary. As a result, the Mexican Government refused permission for the saltworks in March 2000.
site from the List of World Heritage in Danger. Ngorongoro Conservation Area in the United Republic of Tanzania This huge crater with the largest concentration of wild animals in the world was listed as an endangered site in 1984 because of the overall deterioration
OLD CITY OF DUBROVNIK ANGKOR IN CAMBODIA
IN CROATIA
of the site due to the lack of
One of the most important
The ‘pearl of the Adriatic’, dotted
management. By 1989, thanks
archaeological sites in South-East
with beautiful Gothic, Renaissance
to continuous monitoring and
Asia, Angkor Archaeological Park
and Baroque buildings had
technical cooperation projects,
contains the magnificent remains
withstood the passage of centuries
the situation had improved and
of the different capitals of the
and survived several earthquakes.
the site was removed from the
Khmer Empire, from the9th to the
In November and December 1991,
List of World Heritage in Danger.
15th century. In 1993, UNESCO
when seriously damaged by
embarked upon an ambitious
artillery fire, the city was
plan to safeguard and develop the
immediately included on the List
historical site carried out by the
of World Heritage in Danger. With
Division of Cultural Heritage in
UNESCO providing technical
close cooperation with the World
advice and financial assistance,
Heritage Centre. Illicit excavation,
the Croatian Government restored
pillaging of archaeological sites
the facades of theFranciscan and
and landmines were the main
Dominican cloisters, repaired roofs
problems. The World Heritage
and rebuilt palaces. As a result, in
Committee, having noted that
December 1998, it became possible
these threats to the site no longer
to remove the city from the List of
existed and that the numerous
World Heritage in Danger.
conservation and restoration activities coordinated by UNESCO were successful, removed the site from the List of World Heritage in Danger in 2004.
UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE MISSION
Encourage countries to sign the
Encourage States Parties to
Support States Parties’ public
World Heritage Convention and
establish management plans and
awareness-building activities
to ensure the protection of their
set up reporting systems on the
for World Heritage conservation
natural and cultural heritage
state of conservation of their World Heritage sites
Encourage participation of
Convention to nominate sites
Assist States Parties in safe-
preservation of their cultural
within their national territory
guarding World Heritage sites
and natural heritage
for inclusion on the World
by providing technical assistance
Heritage List
and professional training
Encourage international
Provide emergency assistance
of our world’s culturaland
for World Heritage sites in
natural heritage
Encourage States Parties to the
immediate danger
the local population in the
cooperation in the conservation
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