Hakka families in the hills of western Fujian built their homes as fortresses. The tulou, or earth buildings, are huge round or square dwellings with thick rammed-earth walls, sometimes three or four storeys tall, with a single gate and a courtyard in the middle where a whole clan once lived, shared a well, kept animals and worshipped ancestors. UNESCO listed a set of them in 2008, and the Hongkeng area near Yongding holds some of the best, with dozens of buildings scattered among tobacco fields, tea bushes and bamboo. Zhenfu Lou belongs to that cluster, a round tulou of the early twentieth century, and it stands out for the way its builders mixed traditional Chinese construction with Western decoration, including arched windows and columns inside.
The reason for such buildings is protection. Hakka people, a name that means guest families, migrated south from central China over many centuries and often settled on land that locals did not want, in mountains where bandits and feuds were common. A tulou could be defended, and if there was a siege the household had a well and grain stores inside. Today the walls are warm brown, streaked with age, and the roofs sweep outward in broad grey tiles. Some are still lived in, and you may see laundry hanging from the galleries and old men playing cards by the gate.
This is mountain country, with narrow roads that climb and fall between villages, bamboo groves and terraces. Surfaces in the county are usually paved, but landslides after heavy summer rain are common, and fog can settle in the valleys. Riding in mainland China with a foreign motorcycle is a complicated matter for visitors, requiring local licences, registration and often a guide, so plan well ahead and check current rules.
Yongding, the county seat, has the shops, fuel stations and guesthouses, and the villages near the tulou have simple restaurants where you can eat dishes like Hakka stuffed tofu, braised pork with preserved vegetables, and rice wine. Spring and autumn are comfortable, while summers are hot and wet, and winter mornings can be chilly in the damp hills.