Kuiju Lou
Built in 1834, the 14th year of the reign of Emperor Daoguang of the Qing Dynasty, Kuiju
Lou is situated in the northwest part of Hongkeng Village. With 3 halls as the main part and 2
podium buildings on both sides, it faces the south and covers an area of 6000 square meters.
Along the central axis from south to north are the main gate, entrance hall, courtyard, central
nave, patio, main hall (antechamber of the ancestral hall) and ancestral hall, with two podium
buildings on both sides .
The earth-wood-structured main building is in square shape, 33 meters in width and 31 meters
in depth, of which the walls for the first floor are 1.5 meters thick, with a combination of the
column and tie construction and the post and lintel construction. There are corridors connecting
the rooms. The frontal part is 3 storeys high while the rear part 4 storeys high, presenting a
significant drop in height. The 1st and 2nd floors of the frontal part do not have windows. The
1st, 2nd, and 3rd storeys of the rear part have no window due to the fact that they face the
mountain. The whole Tulou has only one gate.
Both the roofs of the frontal part and the rear part are divided into three sections, featuring
gable and hip roofs. And the podium buildings on both sides have overhanging gable roofs. The
1st floor is used for a kitchen and a dining room, the 2nd floor as a grain-storage room, the 3rd
floor and above as living rooms. The podium buildings on both sides are divided into frontal and
rear parts by firewalls made of grey-brick walls from the 1st floor through to 3rd floor. There
is a brick-laid archway connecting the inner corridors, whose brick walls on both sides are
symmetrical. In fact, these two walls are also the dividing line between the frontal building and
the rear building. The inner ring corridor on the 1st floor is paved with pebbles while those of the
upper storeys are paved with thin grey bricks that are fire-resistant.
The ancestral hall, which is the most important part of the whole Tulou, is on the central axis
line of the rear building. The inner yard forms a small patio enclosed by the antechamber of the
ancestral hall and the cloisters on both sides of the central hall. The cloisters are open to the patio
in the center and they surround the penthouses externally.
The floors of the ancestral hall and the penthouses are paved with tabia. Each of the
penthouses on the left and right sides, which are used as bathrooms, is provided with a water
well. The roof of the penthouse has an opening similar to the well mouth in size so as to collect
rain water on rainy days.
Full of paintings and carvings, the ancestral hall is of two storeys with a brick-and-wood
antechamber. It is a pavilion-like building with a double-eave gable and hip roof which joins the
waist eave of the rear building. Magnificently decorated, the canopy hall on the 2nd floor serves
as an “honor hall”. Under its overhanging eave is a horizontal tablet inscribed with the words “Best
Scholar Selected”, honoring the owner of the Tulou Lin Kuiyang for his excellence in imperial
examinations. A small section of roof protrudes from the waist eave of the 4th story of the rear
building, and therefore four tiers of overlapping eaves are clearly formed in the frontal part of the
ancestral hall, which adds to the grandeur of the building. For this reason, people call this Tulou
a Potala-Palace-like building.
The elegant and magnificent single-storey central hall is situated in front of the ancestral hall
and behind the entrance hall, full of paintings and carvings. Its floor is paved with tabia and its
doorframe is made of stone.
There are a lot of corridors and side gates inside. Above the archways are tablets about good
manners and moral values.
The frame of the main gate is laid with grey bricks, with the name of the Tulou inscribed on
the head. There is also an inscribed couplet on both sides of the gate written by Wu Yifu (born
in Daxi Town, Yongding County), one of the members of the Imperial Academy in the Qing
Dynasty, which reads: “prosperity under the Kui star; a new look of the clan”. The gates are
covered with iron sheet.
The yard in front of the main gate is enclosed with pebble-stone-laid walls and the gateway
is also paved with pebblestones. Joining the bounding wall, the outer gate is in the southwest, 45°
from the central axis of the Tulou, with a gable and hip roof and stone frame, decorated in good
taste.
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