Hakka Group Houses

Lingnan Hakka Group houses are a kind of large residence popular among the people called "Hakkas" in Lingnan (places south of the Five Ridges) including Fujian, Guangdong, southern Jiangxi provinces and eastern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

In Chinese history, there were two large-scale movements of the Han nationality, from the central plain and then south China. One was in the Western Jin and Eastern Jin period, and the other was in the Northern Song and Southern Song era. This was due to the chaos caused by war in the north, which forced distinguished and big families to undertake a southward shift by the whole clan. They continuously advanced southward, settling in Lingnan areas south of the Five Ridges, which were then still quite backward. The clan lived in compact communities which formed themselves into Hakkas.

Hakkas abided by the cultural tradition before their southward movement. They particularly follow the Confucian rites, worship ancestors, treasure clan unity, value their homeland and were patriotic and paid attention to geomancy, to form a special Hakka Culture. Hakkas group houses are the most characteristic expressions of Hakka Culture. In most cases, they embody the original look of the Han Culture in the central plains during the Jin and Tang dynasties

For example, Hakka group houses can be regarded as closely related to "Wu Bi" (castle wall) popular during the period from the Eastern Han to the Wei and Jin dynasties.

The term "Wu" (fortified castle) originally referred to a small castle for stationing troops in a frontier fortress. Beginning from the middle part of the Eastern Han Dynasty, due to the chaos caused by frequent wars in the central plains, which continued for several hundred years, rich and powerful people vied to build fortified castles for self-defense. For a while, the construction of castles was all the vogue, and those constructed at this time were called Hakka Group Houses. They are in a variety of forms, but mainly fall into two kinds -wu feng lou (five phoenix tower) and tu lou (earthen tower), in addition to wei long Wu (a dragon-encircled house). The common characteristics are large size, compact encirclement and a centripetal and symmetrical layout, housing a dozen to several dozen families of the same clan.

Wu Feng Lou consists of the lower hall, middle hall and main hall, called the three halls, arranged from the front to the back along the axial line of the whole residence. The lower hall is the vestibule, while the middle one is the big hall for clan get-together, and both are single storied. The main hall mostly consists of from three to five stories.

The center of the ground floor is the ancestral hall, erected with ancestral tablets. Its left, right and upper floors are living rooms for various families. The three halls are separated by a small yard, its left and right sides each having a wing hall which has passage leading to the horizontal house. The so-called horizontal house refers to the strip-shaped Long house parallel to the axial line. It also serves as living rooms for various families, the number of floors increasing steadily from the front to the back, until; finally, its height is close to that of the main hall. Centered on the main hall, the two horizontal houses look like the wings of a big bird surrounding and protecting the left and right sides. In a stretch manner, it looks like a phoenix spreading its wings, hence is called a "five-phoenix house”.

The area at the foot of the mountain, low in the front and high at the back, was selected for the Wu Feng Lou. The top of the house has a Chinese hip-and-gable roof. The slope of the house is rather leisurely, while the eave tip is flat and straight, and obviously retains many styles of the Han and Tang dynasties.

Tu Lou consists of square and round houses. Its characteristic is that the height of the first circle can reach as high as a five-storied house . Inside is a central courtyard. The ancestral hall is generally set up on the ground floor of the house on the axis facing the main door of the courtyard; or, a single-storied house is built within the courtyard to form the second ring or even the third, fourth and fifth ring. The ancestral hall is set up at the center of the central inner ring, which is a place for worshipping ancestors and holding clan grand ceremonies, The mud wall of the outer ring is exceptionally thick, often reaching as much as two meters or more. The first and second floors serve as the kitchen and granary. No window is opened to the Outside, or only a very small perforation is allowed. The third floor and above have living rooms with windows, which can also be used for shooting, giving it a strong defensive character The Square Hall type is represented by the Yijing Lou in Yongding of Fujian Province and the round hall can be represented by the Chengqi Lou in Yongding.

客家土楼

岭南客家集团民居是流行在闽、粤、赣南、桂东等岭南地区称为"客家"的人群中的一种大型民居。
中国历史上有过两次汉族大迁徒，都是自个原而华南，一次在两晋，一次在两宋，全是因于北方战乱，望族大姓被迫大举合族南移，并不断南进，辗转定居于当时还相当落后的吟南，聚族而居，形成为客家。
客家恪守南迁前的文化传统，特别遵行儒礼，崇拜祖先，珍视家族团结，重土爱国并重视风水，形成为特殊的客家文化。客家集切式民居就是客家文化最具特色的表现，更多体现了晋唐中原汉族文化的原貌。
例如，客家集闭民居即可认为与东汉至魏晋时中原盛行的"坞壁"有很大关系。"坞"字原指边塞用于屯兵的小型城堡。从乐汉中期开始，中原战乱频繁，数百年来动乱不安，各地豪族纷纷筑坞自保，一时坞壁之筑大兴，传承至今，就是客家集团民居。它有多种形式，主要有五风楼和上楼两种，还有因龙屋，其共同特点是规模巨大，围合严密，作向心对称布局，居住同一家族的十几至几十个家庭。
五凤楼沿全宅中轴线内前至后布置下堂、中堂和主楼，合称三堂。下堂即门厅，中堂为家族聚会大厅，都是单层；主楼大多为三、四、五层，底层正中为祖堂，供祖先牌位，左右及以上各层为各家居室。三堂之间隔以天井，左右各有厢厅，并有通道通向横屋。所诣横屋，指与中轴平行的条形长屋，也是各家居室，由前至后层数递增，最后与主楼高度接近。以主楼为重心，两横楼如大鸟之冀左右拱卫，气势舒展若凤凰展翅，所以称为"五凤楼"。
五凤楼选择在前低后高的山脚地带，屋顶多为歇山式、屋坡舒缓，檐端平直，明显保留了较多的汉唐风格。
土楼又有方楼、圆楼两种，特点是以一圈高可达五层的楼房围成方形或圆形巨宅，内为中心院，祖堂一般设在楼屋底层与宅院正门正对的中轴线上；或在院内建平房围成第二圈，甚至第三、四、五圈。祖堂设在核心内圈中央，是祭祖和举行家族大礼的地方。外围土墙特厚，常可达2米以上。一、二层是厨房和谷仓，对外不开窗或只开极小的射孔，三层以上才住人开窗，也可凭以射击，防卫性特强。
方楼可以福建永定遗经楼，圆楼可以永定承启楼为代表。永定遗经楼是方楼中气势最大和设计最为杰出者，后楼五层，其他三面围以四层楼，方约45米。方院内再建平房三合院，以中轴线上的祖堂及堂前天井为核心。在方楼前方附建前院，衬托出主院的雄伟，对比强烈。
圆楼和方楼差不多，只是整体为圆形，可以福建永定承启楼为代表。外环四层，直径63米，各层为内通廊式。二环以里都是平房，在核心圆院里有祖堂。