What are the characteristics of Kaiping sculpture?

Kaiping Diaolou is a unique type of local architecture in China, which is a multi-storey tower building integrating defense, residence and Chinese and Western architectural arts.

According to the existing evidence, Kaiping Diaolou was produced at the latest in the late Ming Dynasty (16th century), and developed into a unique group architectural image expressing the history, social form and cultural tradition of overseas Chinese in China in the late19th century and the early 20th century. This kind of building complex is large in scale, diverse and unique in shape, and distributed in the rural areas of Kaiping City.

History of Kaiping Diaolou

The rise of Kaiping Diaolou is closely related to Kaiping's geographical environment and past social security. Kaiping is low-lying with dense river networks. In the past, the water conservancy was in disrepair for a long time, and every time there was a typhoon and rainstorm, there was always the worry of being flooded. In addition, the territory under its jurisdiction used to be the remote border of Xinhui, Taishan, Enping and Xinxing counties, which has always been known as "caring for the four" and the social order is rather chaotic. Therefore, in the early Qing Dynasty, villagers built watchtowers to prevent floods and bandits. After the Opium War, the rule of the Qing government became more decadent, and Kaiping people began to go abroad to make a living because of livelihood problems. After a generation or even several generations of efforts, they gradually have some industries. By the time of the Republic of China, wars were more frequent and bandits were particularly rampant. Because of the blend of mountains and rivers, convenient land and water transportation in Kaiping, and the relatively comfortable life of overseas Chinese and returned overseas Chinese, bandits concentrated in Kaiping area to commit crimes. At that time, Shao Zhang, Zhu Bing, Hu Nan, Hou Wan, Tan Qin, Wu Jinfa, Zhang Zhan and Huang Bao were big bandits in the county. They plundered everywhere, causing countless tragedies. According to rough statistics, from 19 12 to 1930, about 7 1 occurred in Kaiping, killing more than 100 people, capturing more than 2 10 cows and plundering countless other properties. At that time, the county town of Cangcheng was captured three times, and even the county magistrate Zhu was captured. At the slightest sign of trouble, people gather up their gold and silver and hide everywhere, often with a few surprises at night and sleepless nights. When overseas Chinese return home, they often dare not stay at home, but go to market towns or relatives' homes, and often change their accommodation places, otherwise they will be in danger of losing their families.

During the period from the first year of the Republic of China (19 12) to the fifteenth year of the Republic of China (1926), bandits robbed schools eight times and captured more than 0/00 teachers and students. Among them, in the eleventh year of the Republic of China (1922), when several bandits robbed Kaiping Middle School in Chikan area, they were illuminated by the searchlights of Yingcun watchtower, and four township groups intercepted them in time, intercepting the principal and students 17. This incident caused a sensation in the county, and overseas Chinese were surprised to hear the news. They think the watchtower has played a role in preventing bandits. So, they scrimped and saved, and sent money back to their hometown to build a watchtower. Later, some overseas Chinese built various towers when they returned home to build new houses for the safety of their families and the protection of their property. In this way, the number of towers has become a major feature of Kaiping, the hometown of overseas Chinese, reaching more than 3,000 at most, with 1833 existing.

At present, the Kaiping Diaolou World Cultural Heritage Project has been officially accepted by the United Nations World Heritage Committee and included in the preparatory list.

systems modelling

The lower part of the watchtower is roughly the same in shape, but different in size and height. Large tower, each floor is equivalent to three bays, or even more; Small diaolou, each floor is only equivalent to a half-opened room. The tallest watchtower is the south tower of Chikan Township, which is as high as seven stories, while the short watchtower is only three stories, which is not much higher than ordinary buildings.

The shape change of the watchtower mainly lies in the top of the tower. From the existing 1400 buildings in Kaiping, the shapes of roof buildings can be summarized as 100, but the more beautiful ones are Chinese roofs, mixed Chinese and western roofs, ancient Roman mountain flower roofs, domes, American castle roofs, European and American villa roofs, courtyard balcony roofs and so on.

trait

Kaiping Diaolou rarely reflects the extensive exchange of modern Chinese and western cultures in rural areas of China; It combines the unique architectural art of traditional rural architectural culture in China and western architectural culture, and becomes a memorial monument of overseas Chinese culture in China. This is also the most convincing historical testimony that China immigrant culture and different national cultures influenced each other, merged with each other and promoted the common development of mankind in that historical period. It also highlights the process of overseas Chinese and people in China actively accepting western culture. At the same time, the rich and changeable architectural style of Kaiping Diaolou has condensed the architecture of many countries and regions in different periods in the history of western architecture, and has become a unique architectural art form, which has greatly enriched the content of the history of local architecture in the world and changed the local humanities and natural landscape. In Kaiping City, watchtowers are spread all over urban and rural areas. There are more than a dozen watchtowers in a village, and there are at least 23. From Shuikou to Lily, from Tangkou to Qi Gang and Chishui, it's dozens of kilometers across, which is spectacular. These towers are the witness of Kaiping's political, economic and cultural development. They not only reflect the history of the people in the hometown of overseas Chinese who struggled hard to defend their motherland, but also are a living museum of modern architecture and a unique art gallery. It can be said that as a hometown of overseas Chinese, architecture and art, the characteristics of Kaiping are obvious on the watchtower. Protecting and excavating the bunker resources is of great significance to the study of overseas Chinese history and architectural art, the development of tourism resources and the education of collectivism, patriotism and socialism.