Hekeng is a hamlet in Nanjing County, tucked into a steep valley where a river drops through a series of small gorges, and its tulou stand among terraces and bamboo thickets so close to the water that you can hear the stream from the courtyards. The setting is the thing to notice. Unlike the lowland villages, Hekeng lies hard against the hills, and the buildings are packed along the slope in a way that seems almost improvised, with narrow lanes and stone steps between them. The cluster includes a number of earthen houses, among them a large round one and several square ones, built by families of the Hakka and local Minnan communities from the nineteenth century onward.
What makes these houses special is that they grew from a very practical need. In a region with few roads, many mountains and an unstable political history, a family could build a house that served as home, granary, fort and temple at once. The rammed earth for the walls was dug close by, and the heavy timber for the beams came from the surrounding forest. In the courtyard of each house there is usually an ancestral hall, where tablets of the dead are kept and where weddings and festivals are held. Residents still live in many of them, and you will often see laundry hanging from the galleries and bicycles parked inside.
The road to Hekeng follows narrow valleys, often with rice and tea terraces on both sides, climbing and dropping in short bends. Rain is common throughout the year, and the surface can be slick with moss and fallen leaves, while rockfalls and washouts are possible after heavy storms. In the mist of an autumn morning the village feels remote and ancient, and the smell of wood smoke hangs over the roofs. Tourist traffic is heavier at weekends and at holiday times, and the parking areas fill quickly.
There is no big town nearby, and fuel and shops are in the county towns, so plan your stops. Visitors from abroad will find that riding their own motorcycle in China is generally not allowed without a Chinese licence and registration, so check the position carefully with the authorities. A bowl of local noodles and a pot of tea in a village house is a good way to end the visit.