During the week of Qingming, we went to see several clusters of Hakka Tulou in Nanjing and Yongding counties in the southwest of Fujian Province. From Hu Bin Nan Lu Bus Station in Xiamen, it took less than 2 hours to the Nanjing County seat, then about another hour to reach Shuyang Township. There we were met by Lao Zhang, the owner of the guest house (Gufengshu Guest House) in Taxia Village where we were going to stay. Lao Zhang took us home, walked us up to our room, and explained that the shower water was heated by solar power. Then he handed the business over to his old parents, while he returned to his pharmacy in the town.
It was the typical early April weather - overcast, humid, often drizzling, and quite chilly at night. Taxia Village was small, quiet, built along a waterway. On surrounding hills were rows of tea bushes, which were the villagers’ major source of income before tourists started to show up. Now each villager gets a token amount annually from entrance fees the government collects and some have opened guest houses. There were not many overnight visitors in Taxia though.
The main form of dwelling in Taxia Village is still Tulou - large enclosed earth building, circular or rectangular, with very thick walls, small windows, at least three storeys and only one gate. (Wikipedia has a good description of the structure and history of Fujian Tulou) From outside they look like castles; From inside, they can be quite spooky at dusk on a rainy day: dark and without much sign of lives except for a lazy dog or a few running chickens. Xiao Zhang, Lao Zhang’s son, who were driving us around in the following days, said many people deserted Tulous over past years for better living conditions elsewhere in town and they are now coming back to claim ownership for these dwellings. In some case, tension and disputes arise among relatives in a big family.
April 2 was also my birthday. We sat on the patio of the guest house in the evening, watching and listening to the rain falling on Tulous while having a delicious stew from a chicken they just killed and a glass of Tsingtao beer. Just let time pass. I said that I wish to have every birthday like this. Marcus said we don’t have to wait until birthdays. I know, but I just feel that if I can remember where I am, what I am doing and whom I am with on these symbolic days, life also becomes more memorable. After all, how many days in our lives can we really remember?
The very reliable Xiao Zhang took us to Tian Luo Keng, Changjiao, Gaobei and Chuxi Tulou clusters in the next two days. Chuxi is the most interesting and least commercial due to the hard road access to the village. Unlike clusters like Tian Luo Keng where people set up disturbing souvenir stands under colourful plastic umbrellas inside and outside Tulous, life appears to largely remain how it was in Chuxi before the World Heritage inscription. There’s a Tulou Museum in Jiqing Lou here with information on the major migrations of Hakkas since Tang Dynasty to escape civil wars, development, structure and functions of Tulous, and objects people used in their daily lives.
On the bus back the Xiamen, I still spotted Tulous here and there. I tend to think that one would not choose such an enclosed form of dwelling to live together with the whole clan inside one wall if not for the fear of war and the necessity of defence through unity. I would not like to live in a Tulou beyond childhood, but can imagine that everyone who has part of his life spent inside these castles must take on a permanent mark in his personality from such close and ever-existing human interactions that deprive any longing for privacy but shape one’s ability to find peace and harmony with the hustles and bustles of hundreds of other people at one’s door.
清明我们去了福建西南的南靖和永定两县看福建土楼。从厦门湖滨南路汽车站乘长途汽车，2个小时左右到南靖县城，再一个小时到书洋镇，在这里跟老张碰面，晚上住他家在塔下村的古枫树宾馆。老张开车送我们到家，带我们到房间，解释说冲凉的水是太阳能加热，之后将我们移交给他矍铄的父母，自己回他在镇上开的药房了。
这是典型的4月初天气－ 阴冷、潮湿、常常飘起小雨。塔下是个沿河而建的小村子，很安静，周围的山坡上种满了茶，是村民的主要收入来源。现在开始有了游人，政府收的门票钱每年能分到每人头上一点点，也有人在土楼里开了客栈，但在这里过夜的游人似乎不多。
土楼仍是塔下村的主要民居形式。无论是圆是方，都是至少三层，高大，封闭，厚墙，小窗，只有一个出入口。（Wikipedia有土楼简要的结构和历史）从外面看上去象城堡，里面在雨天黄昏中显得阴森黑暗缺少生气，院中会懒懒地卧只狗，有时四散着几只鸡。老张的儿子小张告诉我们过去一些年很多人离开了土楼，最近又回来讨所有权，一个家族里的亲戚常起纷争，关系变得紧张。
4月2日也是我的生日。晚上我们坐在宾馆的平台上，看细雨斜织，听着雨打土楼的声音，一边喝着青岛啤酒，吃着老张的姐姐刚杀鸡炖好的红烧鸡块，让时间慢慢流过。我说希望将来每个生日都这样，Marcus说不用等生日也可以这样。这个我知道，只是觉得如果可以记得每年这个特殊的日子在哪里度过，做什么，和谁在一起，那么这一生也更难忘更值得吧。我们一生里真的能记得的日子有多少呢？
接下来的两天小张开车带我们去了田螺坑、长教、高碑和初溪土楼群。他开车象他的人一样，很稳当。因为路途艰难，初溪村商业化最小，也最有意思。村民的生活看上去还在延续成为世界文化遗产前的原貌。村里倒是有个土楼博物馆，介绍客家人自唐代以来为躲避战乱的几次迁徙，土楼的历史发展、结构和功能，并展览土楼日常生活中的一些用品。
回厦门的汽车上，透过车窗依然看到土楼时隐时现的。我倾向于认为如果不是惧怕战乱和有合族同仇敌忾的必要，没有人会愿意举族群居在一面大墙之内。过了孩童时期，我一定就不愿意继续土楼里的生活了。当然可以想像，在土楼里生活过的人，一定被无所不在、无时不在的、极近距离的人群交流在他的性格中打上永久的印记，在被剥夺了一切隐私的环境里生发出对人的超常洞察力和与人和谐平静相处的能力。