Let's talk about the origin of the watchtower: It is said that after the Opium War, capitalist countries needed a lot of labor to develop production, and they came to China to recruit labor. At that time, most people in China were living in dire straits, and many people in coastal areas left their homes to make a living abroad. Overseas Chinese in Kaiping began to live abroad at that time. After a group of people went out, they took one with them, and finally more and more (even now, according to the data learned by Yu Fan, the population of Kaiping is about 700,000, while there are more than 800,000 overseas Chinese).
These overseas Chinese who have traveled across the ocean have endured many difficulties such as high-intensity labor, language barriers, unaccustomed diet and climate, and gradually earned some money, so they came back to buy land and real estate, and then returned to foreign countries, and so on. In the 1920s, due to the rampant banditry and frequent floods, overseas Chinese successively built towers and houses for habitation and defense. These watchtowers are all iron gates and bars, with guns, gongs, searchlights and generators. There is a lot of food stored in it. Once the thieves invaded, the villagers hid in the building to compete with them, which made the thieves look at the building and sigh, but they returned in vain.
Because overseas Chinese are all over the world, they are exposed to different cultures and have different styles of building towers in their hometown, which integrates China tradition with foreign cultures. Therefore, the towers and villages in Kaiping are not only monuments of overseas Chinese culture, but also a lively architectural museum. Presumably, this is also an important reason why they can become world cultural heritage and famous tourist destinations.
Gigi Lai Village Diaolou Group (recommended index: ★★★★ ★)
Among the many carved buildings in Kaiping, the towers in Gigi Lai Village are outstanding representatives. It consists of Anheli (commonly known as Ploughhead Mouth), Heanli (commonly known as Xincun) and Yong 'anli (commonly known as Huangniling). In the 17th year of Qing Daoguang (A.D. 1837), the village was opened, which was named after its topography like plowshares. There are now 15 well-preserved watchtowers here, which have different styles, exquisite shapes and rich connotations, and are the outstanding ones in the prosperous period of Kaiping watchtowers.