Fr : version française / En: english version
.mheu, Historical Museum of the Urban Environment
Babel and Babylon
Aztec cities
Heavenly Jerusalem
The Fujian Tulou
Utopia
Romorantin, capital of a kingdom...
The city of brotherly love
Saint Petersburg, Peter's great city
Industry, socialism and utopia
Taking technology to new heights
Home sweet home
A towering challenge...
New towns
Conjuring capitals
Auroville: "divine anarchy"
Private cities
Dubai: miracle or mirage?
All eyes on the horizon
Major cities were quick to appear in Asia, especially in China. Canton had several hundred thousand inhabitants by the 9th century.
As these capitals appeared, so did more original and less well-known forms of urban planning, like these round villages found in the Fujian region. Built to provide defenses, their structure reflected and reinforced the communal nature of their resident clans. Home to nearly one thousand people, the communities are distant reminders of Europe's own walled towns, built at around the same time.
Tulou are fortified earthen buildings built by the Han Chinese who migrated to the south-east of China 800 years ago. There, they were given the name "Hakka", which literally means "invited family".
Tulou can be round or square and are also known as "little family kingdoms" or "little prosperous towns": a single building may be home to an entire clan of up to 800 people. Each family was given two or three rooms per floor, with residences split vertically. Despite the simple exterior, the inside was finely decorated and extremely comfortable. Built between the 12th and 20th centuries, the Tulou have only one entrance and no windows on the bottom two floors.
There are more than 20,000 Tulou in southern Fujian, some of which were designated UNESCO World Heritage sites in 2008.