Guangdong Province Kaiping county has, which may have been one of the places in this vast country - China, if not a feature unique to this area. Dyaolou - a multi-storey fortified mansions, towers of stone that served for centuries a place of protection from a variety of dangers for local residents. Now they are the main historical and cultural attractions Kaiping, the property which is under UNESCO protection.
during the sunset of the Ming Dynasty (XVI cent.) - a disturbing period of Chinese history, a gang of bandits did not allow people to live in peace villages and towns, carrying out attacks constantly. Perhaps it was the cause of building such houses (often called the tower), which are built according to the rules the construction of fortifications of the Middle Ages - the thick walls of stone, on each floor the doors of iron, loopholes, iron shutters.All
Dyaolou can be divided into 3 types. Outside the villages were built fire towers at the river or on a hill, from which was fed a signal if there is a risk. Public towers built the whole village. In the tower, each family had a room where she hid during the attack. Families in richer built the tower for himself. The spacious, high and attractive as they were for protection and for life. Yangtze River at one time was also a strategic place.
For several centuries, were built more than three thousand houses, of which until now remained somewhere in 1.8 thousand Many towers are now empty and is gradually crumbling, others have become museums, and there are houses, which now can be live.
There is also a tower that was built in the twentieth century. Local residents, earning money in other countries, wanting to show everyone how they got rich, began to build new Dyaolou, using their various construction styles. What led to the entanglement in such towers national Chinese motifs with Western fashions as well as elements of Ottoman and Gothic.