Shantou Day 6 (22-9-11) Breakfast and Tulou 福建土楼 振成楼

福建土楼 振成楼
Zhengcheng Lou, popularly known as Bagua Lou, is a circular Tulou built in the year 1912, the first year of the Republic of China.
The building, consisting of 2 concentric circles of buildings, faces the south and covers an area of 5000 square meters.

The outer circle, 4 stories in height with 2 halls and 44 rooms on each floor, is made of rammed raw earth and divided into 8 units by brick partition walls.

However, as an inner through corrider layout, all neighboring units are connected via archway doors on the partition walls.

On the ground floor of each unit, a yard is formed.

Each unit has its own stairway. The floors are paved with blue bricks, while on the third and fourth floors , exquisite wooden handrails, attached with bench, are set along the corridors.

The inner circle is made of bricks and two stories in height. It links with the high ancestral hall to form the contral courtyard.

There are two halls and eight rooms on the ground floor.

The corridor on the second floor, with the center part a little higher than those on both sides, is decorated with cast-iron railing of delicate patterns.

The spacious ancestral hall may serve as a performance stage.

There are 4 lofty western-style stone columns standing in the front of the hall. On both sides out of the building, there is a two storied Lune shaped side building respectively serving as tobacco cutter workshop and private school, each has twelve rooms. There are all together 222 rooms, including halls, in the whole building.

The inner spaces are well designed with changes and magnificence, presenting an excellent practice of earthen civilian residence combining the Chinese style with the western style

In may 2001, Zhengcheng Lou was listed among the key cultural relics protected under national level.