Yangcun Yan Yiwei

Hidden in the mountains of Ganzhou, this "castle" is the first time I've seen a 14-meter-high city wall complete with a defensive system in China! This is the Yangcun Yanyiwei located in Longnan County, Ganzhou. Location: Yangcun Yanyiwei, Longnan County, Jiangxi Province, Ganzhou It's a 1-hour high-speed train ride from Shenzhen, or a 3-hour drive. There's parking available, and guesthouses nearby. Admission: Free The site was originally built during the Shunzhi era of the Qing Dynasty (around 1650) by a local wealthy individual. The wall is 14 meters high, 41 meters long, and 31.8 meters wide, and it even has guard towers and gun emplacements. It is the tallest existing Hakka walled house, with the thickest walls and strongest defenses. It's worth taking a stroll down the nearby alleys, which are full of character. The local specialty here is rice wine, which you can take home with you; it tastes amazing. There aren't many tourists here, and nearby you can also visit Taiping Bridge and Wushiwei, which are both Hakka-style buildings. They're very close, just a 10-minute drive away. Worth checking out together.

Yanyi Enclosure and Wushi Enclosure are 5 kilometers apart, located in the southern part of Longnan City, adjacent to Lianping County of Heyuan, Guangdong. They are two original ecological Hakka enclosures in southern Jiangxi. Yanyi Enclosure was built during the Shunzhi and Kangxi periods (1650–1677) of the Qing Dynasty. It is the tallest and has the thickest walls among the existing Hakka enclosures, as well as the most robust defense system in the southern Jiangxi enclosures. Its layout emphasizes a rigorous structure to enhance defensive capabilities, with only a spacious courtyard paved with pebbles inside. Wushi Enclosure, also known as Panshi Enclosure, is named after a toad-shaped black stone in front of the enclosure's gate. It was built during the Wanli period (1583–1610) of the Ming Dynasty and is the oldest existing Hakka enclosure in southern Jiangxi. Inside the enclosure, there is a quadrangle courtyard with exquisite wood carvings, brick carvings, and gable craftsmanship. The lion and elephant sculptures on the upturned corners of the roof ridges are lifelike. (Recorded on February 14, 2024)

On September 1st, fleeing the typhoon in Guangdong, it took over two hours by car to arrive in Longnan City, Jiangxi, to start a weekend special forces tour. The first stop was the Yan Wing Weilou in Yangcun Town, a four-story tall large Weilou, said to be the tallest Hakka Weilou, which also houses the brewing of Hakka rice wine. Not far away, there is also the distinctive Taiping Bridge with a history of several hundred years. The bridge is built with an arch-like covered corridor, very artistic, and constructed in the style of the Weilou. The surprise of the night was staying at the Laowu Xia Hotel, with its large room types, an antique environment that could itself be a tourist attraction, and the price was not expensive, making for a very high cost-performance ratio.

Longnan, located at the southernmost point of Jiangxi Province in China, is a frontier town that has set three Guinness World Records. This city is famous for having the most, largest, and highest wonders in the world, and is known as the center of Chinese culture fusion. In Longnan, there is the world's largest square cultural relic - Guanxi Weilou. This Weilou took 29 years to build, has a total of 282 rooms, with turret at each corner, a narrow entrance, and the rear wall is up to eight meters wide. This grand building, which looks like a folk palace, hides the unity of the Xu family's 7426 square meters. They made every effort and invested millions of silver dollars just to build this family shelter. In addition, Longnan also has the world's tallest curtain, Nie Yiwei, which is 14.3 meters high and has a history of more than 340 years. In a peaceful environment, its unique red lanterns and wooden doors show the Hakka style. Some people describe Longnan as an ancient Roman castle in the East. In this small town, 376 Weilou have gathered hundreds of different architectural forms from all over the world. These Weilou have witnessed the glorious history of generations of Longnan people and inherited their unique cultural heritage. In the remote mountain villages of Longnan, traditional white-walled and black-tiled buildings are more like Siheyuan in Huizhou architecture. The eaves gather the old well shrine, showing traces of previous life. The residents used their own hands to build beautiful homes, gather different properties, and live together. And these Weilou, whether standing in the mountains or winding along the stream, converge into a harmonious courtyard. The countless flying eaves of the courtyard seem to point to the boundless sky, symbolizing the ambition of the people of Longnan and moving forward. Longnan, this charming city, is both a blend of history and modernity, and a symbol of Chinese national unity. The Weilou here not only show the architectural styles of the world, but also condense the wisdom and strength of the Chinese people. They are the pride of the people of Longnan and the precious cultural heritage of our country. As time goes by, the Weilou of Longnan will continue to attract the attention of the world with its unique charm and become a treasure of the excellent culture of the Chinese nation.