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| Folk Customs- Hakka
Village > Amazing Feats of Architecture |
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The
square Yanxiang Building has a round outer circle.
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The next afternoon we went to Gaobei Village
in Guzhu Township to visit the Chengqi Building, known as the
"king of round buildings". As our car approached a downward
slope near Gaobei Village, we could see below us many circular
earthen buildings scattered among the mountains. We were told
that there were more than a hundred buildings like this in the
area, which perhaps explains why it was once mistaken as a rocket
launching base by U.S. reconnaissance satellites!
The walls of the Chengqi Building are made of pounded earth
and look like ancient city walls. Within this enormous outer
circle, a unique Hakka cultural atmosphere reigns. The building
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Ancestors
of Taiwan's President Lee Teng-hui moved from Shibi
to Yongding and Lived there for 17 generations before
they moved to Taiwan.
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measures 73 metres in diameter and is comprised
of four concentric circles. In its centre is an ancestral hall
with a semi-circular courtyard. This is the public gathering
place for the several hundred residents of the building, where
weddings, funerals or other celebrations are held. The structure
of the outermost circle was almost identical with other round
buildings I saw. The rooms on the ground floor are used as kitchens
or dining rooms, those on the second floor for grain storage
and only those on the third and fourth floors are inhabited
by people. With the permission of the hosts, I ascended the
winding corridor on the fourth floor to look down at the whole
complex. Clustered below were 400 honeycomb-like rooms, one
on top of another, home to
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97-year-old
Lin Peixiu participated in the construction of the Zhencheng
Building.
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319 people of 57 households. Its design reminded
me of the stockaded villages of certain ethnic minorities.
It was drizzling the next morning,
and we prepared to leave. Our host's wife had got up very early
to prepare us some ciba, a Hakka rice cake. This is made by
steaming water-soaked glutinous rice and then pounding the steamed
rice in a stone mortar. When it is done, lump after lump of
rice is pulled out and mixed with other ingredients such as
peanuts and brown sugar. To me, the lengthy and complicated
preparation of this dish was symbolic of the wonderful hospitality
of this "guest family". |
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