客家土樓
背景資料
客家土樓是東方文明的一顆明珠，是世界上獨(dú)一無二的神話般的山村民居建筑，是中國(guó)古建筑的一朵奇葩，它以歷史悠久、風(fēng)格獨(dú)特、規(guī)模宏大、結(jié)構(gòu)精巧等特點(diǎn)獨(dú)立于世界民居建筑藝術(shù)之林。
土樓大多為方形或圓形，主要分布在永定，全縣有圓樓360座，方樓4000余座。尤以奇特的圓形土樓最富于客家傳統(tǒng)色彩，最為震憾人心。
圓形土樓是客家民居的典范，堪稱天下第一樓。它象地下冒出來的“蘑菇”，如同自天而降的“飛碟”。
這種圓樓都由二、三圈組成，由內(nèi)到外，環(huán)環(huán)相套，外圈高十余米，四層，有一、二百個(gè)房間，一層是廚房和餐廳，二層是倉(cāng)庫(kù)，三、四層是臥室；二圈兩層有三五十個(gè)房間，一般是客房，中一間是祖堂，是居住在樓內(nèi)的幾百人婚、喪、喜、慶的公共場(chǎng)所。樓內(nèi)還有水井、浴室、磨房等設(shè)施。土樓采用當(dāng)?shù)厣梁恢�，不需鋼筋水泥，墻的基礎(chǔ)寬達(dá)三米，底層墻厚1.5米，向上依次縮小，頂層墻厚也不小于0.9米。然后沿圓形外墻用木板分隔成眾多的房間，其內(nèi)側(cè)為走廊。
土樓除具有防衛(wèi)御敵的奇特作用外，還具有防震、防火、防盜以及通風(fēng)采光好等特點(diǎn)。由于土墻厚度大，隔熱保溫，冬暖夏涼。
客家土樓閃爍客家人的智慧，土樓格局的恢宏，令人為之肅然起敬。客家的民俗更令人陶醉，客家人世代相傳，朝夕相處，團(tuán)結(jié)友愛，和睦共居的大家族的獨(dú)特的生活方式，淳樸敦厚，和善好客，刻苦耐勞的民風(fēng)；傳統(tǒng)文化的可見、可觸、可感更吸引眾多的游客的莫大興趣。
Earth Towers of the Hakkas
The Earth Tower of Hakka has a long history. As early as one thousand years ago, some of the original Hakka migrated and settled at the sparse Yongding area. In order to protect themselves against bandits and wild beasts, they used local materials to build tall, multi-storey circular earthen buildings where a whole family or clan could live in. These are the earth towers that we see today.
These buildings were constructed using fire-resistive material and therefore practically impregnable. They are spacious and they are made up of different shapes like square, rectangular, semi-circular and round.
The ones that are round in shape are the most famous. They are divided into three classes of sizes namely, small, medium and big. The small ones are usually 2 to 3 stories tall with a single ring and have 21 to 28 rooms. The medium dwellings are usually 3 to 4 stories tall with a large inner open space, which come in single ring or double rings and could contain 30 to 40 rooms. The larger round buildings are usually 4 to 5 stories tall consisting of as many as three rings and could house about 42 to 58 rooms. Finally, the very small round buildings have about 12 to 18 rooms.
Most of the round buildings are three stories high with a diameter of 70-80 meters. It is a "group-oriented" residence, usually with one main entrance. Its wall is usually around 1 meter thick. The main entrance door is padded with iron sheet and is locked by 2 horizontal wood bars. The wooden bars retract into the walls in order to open the door.
Inside the entrance is a huge central courtyard where all the doors of the rooms and inner windows open facing it. Normally, the rooms at the ground level, except the hall and the staircases, are used as kitchens and dining rooms.
The rooms on the second floor are used for storage and those on the third level are used as bedrooms. The rooms at each level are identical. In front of each room, there is an open round hallway and usually there are 4 staircases to move from one level to another.