UNESCO Watchtowers Heritage and Ancient Villages Private Tour

The Diaolou Cluster in Zili Village and the Diaolou Cluster in Majianglong Village in Guangdong’s first World Cultural Heritage Site, and Li Garden, which is known as “a masterpiece of gardens built by overseas Chinese”. It’s a comprehensive tourist attraction integrating many elements, such as overseas Chinese culture, garden art, Chinese and Western architecture, cultural relics, five-country customs. Kaiping Diaolou is a special type of native architecture in China. It is a kind of multi-story tower building integrating defense, residence, Chinese and Western architectural art. It is also the fruit of Chinese rural people’s active acceptance of Western architectural art and its integration with the local architectural art, embodying the typical open, inclusive, conflicting and integrated development between overseas Chinese culture and Western culture with unique artistic charm, becoming a masterpiece of overseas Chinese culture and a unique world architectural art landscape.

Founded in the 17th year of Daoguang’s reign in the Qing Dynasty(1837), it is comprised of Anheli, He’anli, and Yong’anli unincorporated villages all with the surname of Fang. In the early days after the founding of new People’s Republic of China, all three villages were combined into Zili Village, implying “self-reliance”. The entire village has 92 houses in total, including 77 “three-room-and-two-corridor” traditional dwellings, 9 watchtowers, and 6 cottage-style villas. Apart from the finest building Mingshi Building, there are another characteristic buildings named Yesheng Mansion, Lansheng Mansion and Guansheng Mansion. The traditional dwellings and watchtowers in the village are well distributed and proportioned. Dotted with the lotus ponds, its unique country lifestyle and the stories behind the watchtowers have attracted visitors from all over the world.

Jinjiangli Village Diaolou Cluster, surrounded by mountains, with crisscross paths on the farmland and river flowing through away before it, lies in the Xian Gang Township, Kaiping City. Water buffaloes and geese appearing on the riverside from time to time, the granite-paved road leading from the pier to the village, and women carrying water coming and going, that is a pastoral life painting of Jinjiangli Village. 3 diaolou stand among traditional old houses, which gives you a sense of beauty of harmony in combination of western and Chinese traditional style. Ruishilou and Shengfenglou are 2 out of the 3 diaolou that forms the most beautiful diaolou cluster in Kaiping.

Built in the early 20th century by Mr. Xie Weili, a US-based Chinese, the Li Garden is based on the Grand View Garden depicted in the Dream of the Red Chamber and skillfully combines the classical garden features with popular villa architectures in Europe and America, which presents a unique form of architectural art and boasts a breathtaking man-made garden landscape. Known as the “Small View Garden”, the Li Garden focuses on the conception of “bridge, brook, and household”. Divided into grand garden, small garden, and villa clusters, the garden layout forms a style of its own: separation with the artificial river or walls, connection with pavilions and bridges or corridors, contributing to the pattern of gardens within gardens and landscapes within landscapes. With profound culture represented by the couplets by famous calligraphers and substantial romantic and legendary sculptures and murals, it will turn back the clock to make you feel like being in the early 20th century.

Situated at the flatland on the eastern coast of Tanjiang River, the Majianglong Village is under the administration of Baihe Township. It is composed of 5 villages: Yong’an and Nan’an Village of the Huang family and Qinglin, Hedong and Longjiang Villages of the Guan family. Yong’an Village was established during the Qianlong period(1736-1795). In the early years, it was known as “Fengsuilang” which bears the symbolic meaning of “good harvest every year”. They renamed the place “Majianglong” after 1949. There are seven Diaolou buildings and eight Western-style villas in Majianglong Village, which are all unique in design and well preserved, hidden in the dense ancient woods and bamboo groves, perfectly blending into the surrounding natural environment and folk houses. Standing among them, surrounded by luxuriant and well-spaced green bamboo, dense fruit trees, chirping birds and fragrant flowers, you will wonder if you are stepping into a fairyland.