Jinjiang Tulou (also known as Jiangtou Tulou)

Jinjiang Tulou, or Jiangtou Tulou for short, stands in Jindong Village, Shentu Town alongside the Foxi-Sui County Highway, approximately 20 kilometers away from the county seat. It is designated as a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level.

The tulou is a three-story circular rammed-earth building with inner connecting corridors, consisting of three concentric rings: an inner ring, a middle ring and an outer ring. The inner ring was constructed in the 56th year of the Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty (1791) by Lin Shengze from Jiangtou Village. The middle ring and the outer auxiliary wing houses were completed by his wife Li Can in the 8th year of the Jiaqing reign (1803). The complex has a history of more than 200 years to this day.

The main gate faces south. The outer gate is built of stone with an inner arched vault top. A stone plaque above the gate of the middle ring bears the inscribed characters "An Lan Zhu Qing", meaning "Peaceful Rivers Bring Abiding Blessings". Water tanks for fire prevention are installed on the inner upper side of the two main gateways. Three tiers of brick plazas with gradually descending elevations stretch in front of the tulou. The rammed-earth walls rest on stone foundations and are compacted with a mixture of lime, sand and clay.

The inner ring has a planar diameter of 25 meters with three main floors each 3 meters high, plus a four-story gate tower. The first and second floors are each divided into 12 rooms measuring 5 meters in depth. The second floor features a wooden inner corridor running all the way around, while the third floor is undivided. Two small side gates on the gate tower lead directly to the roof of the third floor, which is encircled by a circular walkway. Embrasures for firearms are set into the parapet wall on the outer edge of the walkway.

The middle ring has a planar diameter of 42 meters and two floors split into 24 rooms, each 4.5 meters deep. Its three-story gate tower incorporates a watchtower, and the main gate adopts the same architectural style as that of the inner ring. Narrow side gates flanking the middle ring gate tower open onto a 0.7-meter-wide circular patrol walkway along the roof for defense and sentry duty, bordered by an outer parapet wall 0.7 meters tall.

The outer ring covers a planar diameter of 58 meters and contains 36 single-story houses with double-sloped roofs.

A light-admitting courtyard sits at the heart of the inner ring, paved with stone slabs and centered around an ancient well. The entire tulou complex holds over 120 rooms, and more than 400 people once resided here at its peak.

As a classic coastal Minnan earthen dwelling engineered to fend off bandits, theft and earthquakes, Jinjiang Tulou distinguishes itself with its unique multi-concentric layout. Many scenes from the feature films Joyful Heroes and The Boundary Between Yin and Yang were shot on location here.