Kaiping Diaolou

Featured as Huang Silang's home in the film Let the Bullets Fly, these watchtowers among fields and ponds mix Roman columns with Gothic spires to repel bandits.

Thirteen ornate watchtowers lie scattered through acres of green bamboo in this village, which visiting UN experts reportedly praised as among the world's most beautiful.

Rising nine storeys to nearly thirty meters, Ruishi Lou combines Byzantine and Roman domes and is the tallest and most ornate surviving tower in Kaiping.

Chinese-American Xie Weili built this garden, blending Jiangnan bridges and flowing water with the feel of Western villas.

From the mid-nineteenth century, Kaiping emigrants worked overseas and sent remittances home, supporting the development of Chinese-Western hybrid diaolou in their hometown.

Old Towns and Villages on the World Heritage List

The Ancient City of Pingyao and the Old Town of Lijiang were inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1997, followed by Xidi and Hongcun in 2000, Kaiping Diaolou and Villages in 2007 and Fujian Tulou in 2008.

In 2007, Kaiping Diaolou and Villages was inscribed for its fortified towers and village landscapes that fuse Chinese and international architectural traditions.