Gaobei Tulou Cluster

The Gaobei Tulou Cluster, a short distance from Hongkeng in Yongding County, contains Chengqi Lou — the largest round tulou ever built and sometimes called the "king of tulou." The building's sheer scale is the primary impression: at 73 metres diameter with four rings of rooms, it feels less like a house than a small village folded into a circle. The outer wall is four storeys and impenetrable, the inner rings step down in height, and the central courtyard contains the clan's ancestral hall and the well that supplied the entire building.

Gaobei is quieter than Hongkeng and the smaller cluster allows for longer exploration of individual buildings. The outer ring at Chengqi Lou is open to visitors and several of the rooms have been left in a semi-original condition — iron cooking pots still in the kitchens, old furniture in the upper rooms. The cluster is 2 kilometres from Hongkeng and easily walked between if you are staying overnight in the area.

things to do sight architecture
A story
Chengqi Lou in the Gaobei cluster is the largest round tulou in existence: four concentric rings of rooms, 73 metres in outer diameter, built in 1709 and containing 400 rooms for an original population of around 600 people from a single clan. The internal layout is extraordinarily organised: each ring has a different function, with storage on the ground floor, granaries on the second, and living rooms on the upper floors. The shared well in the inner courtyard was the only water source for the entire community. At Chengqi Lou, that well has never run dry in three centuries.