Hegui Lou is the tulou with a famous tilt. It is a five-storey earthen building in Nanjing County that has leaned to one side for decades, and it has been compared to the leaning tower of Pisa, though the cause is more modest: the foundations on one side settled, probably through water and the work of termites, and the rammed earth walls have shifted to a noticeable angle. Despite the lean, the house has stood, and the locals show it off with a mixture of pride and humour. The upper floors have been propped with timber, and the lower ones remain in use.
The name is usually said to mean harmony and noble, and the house was built in the early twentieth century by a family from the village. It is one of the group of Fujian tulou inscribed on the World Heritage list, which covers buildings across several counties and spans some six centuries of earthen construction. The structure of such a house is a lesson in how to build without cement or steel: walls of tamped clay with bamboo strips and wooden lattices for reinforcement, a timber frame inside, and a tile roof with deep eaves.
The landscape around is the usual rich one of the region, with hills terraced from valley floor to ridge, small streams, and fields where rice, taro and vegetables grow. Roads are narrow and winding, with frequent blind corners, and the local traffic includes tractors, three-wheelers, tour minibuses and stray dogs. After rain the surface can be very slippery, and typhoon season, from July to October, can bring flooding and rockfalls. Autumn and winter are generally drier and clearer.
If you plan to travel in Fujian, it is important to check that you may legally drive or ride, since foreign motorcycles are not normally allowed and a Chinese licence and plates are needed, so most visitors hire a car with a driver or take the bus. Fresh bamboo shoots in the spring, stir-fried with local pork, are a regional speciality. Locals are generally relaxed about visitors, but be polite and ask before photographing people in their own homes.