Jinjiang Tower

Jinjiang Tower

Jinjiang Tower, located in Jinjiang Village, ShenTu, is over 27 kilometers from the county town. It was first built in the 56th year of the Qianlong reign during the Qing Dynasty (1791 AD) and has a history of more than two hundred years.

Constructed with a stone base and rammed earth walls made of lime, clay, and sand, Jinjiang Tower features three concentric circular corridors and is an ancient residential building designed to be theft-proof, bandit-proof, and earthquake-resistant. The inner ring has a plan diameter of 25 meters, is three stories high with each floor being 3 meters tall, and contains 12 rooms on both the first and second floors, each 5 meters deep, while the third floor has no internal partitions. The middle ring has a plan diameter of 42 meters, is two stories high, and includes 24 partitioned rooms, each 4.5 meters deep. The outer ring has a plan diameter of 58 meters and is divided into 36 rooms, all of which are single-story. The main gate has a 16-meter-wide passage, paved with brick, and 50 meters in front of the brick-paved area lies a large theater stage covering over 100 square meters. During festivals, this area becomes the most lively entertainment venue in the village. Jinjiang Tower was once used as the main filming location for the color feature films *The Border Between Yin and Yang* and *Happy Heroes*, produced by the Fujian Film Studio in 1983. With its unique architectural style, it is hailed as “a rare gem among the earthen building complexes of southwestern Fujian” and has attracted strong interest from numerous domestic and international experts and scholars.

Jinjiang Tower (also known as Jiangtou Tower), located in Jindong Village, ShenTu, sits beside the Fusu County Road and is about 20 kilometers from the county town. It is a nationally designated key cultural relic. The tower consists of three concentric rings—a three-story circular corridor structure—and was built in stages. The inner ring was constructed in the 56th year of the Qianlong reign (1791) by Lin Shengze from Jiangtou Village, while the middle and outer rings, including the surrounding wing rooms, were added in the 8th year of the Jiaqing reign (1803) by his wife, Li Can. Having stood for over 200 years, later generations honored the couple as the “Tower Ancestors” and “Tower Ancestress Mother” in their memory.

From a distance, Jinjiang Tower resembles a pyramid—the first ring is a single-story, the second ring has two stories, and the third ring has three stories, with each successive ring higher than the last from the outside in. The main gate of the tower faces south, and the outer gate features a stone structure with an arched ceiling. The stone plaque above the middle ring’s gate is inscribed with the characters 安澜著庆 (“Tranquil Waves and Celebrated Peace”). Both of the tower’s main gates have upper inner sections equipped with fireproof water channels. In front of the tower are three progressively descending levels of brick-paved plazas. The earthen walls of the tower were built using a lime-clay-sand mixture atop a stone foundation. The inner ring has a plan diameter of 25 meters, is three stories high (each story 3 meters), and includes a four-story gatehouse. The first and second floors each contain 12 partitioned rooms, each 5 meters deep, with the second floor featuring a wooden interior corridor. The third floor has no partitions. The gatehouse includes two small doors that lead directly to the rooftop of the third floor, where there is a circular walkway, and the outer parapet wall is equipped with gun ports. The middle ring has a plan diameter of 42 meters, is two stories high, and includes 24 partitioned rooms, each 4.5 meters deep. The gatehouse here is three stories with a watchtower, and its door matches the style of the inner ring’s gate. On both sides of the middle ring’s gatehouse are small doors leading to a 0.7-meter-wide circular corridor on the roof, used for defense and patrolling. Outside the corridor is a 0.7-meter-high outer wall. The outer ring has a plan diameter of 58 meters, includes 36 partitioned rooms, all single-story with double-sloped roofs. The inner ring has a central skylight courtyard, with a stone-paved floor and an ancient well at its center. The entire tower has over 120 rooms and at its peak housed more than 400 residents.

The Lin family, who built the tower, originally came from Ninghua Shibi, the ancestral homeland of the Hakka people. Although they followed the traditional methods of constructing earthen buildings, being relatively far from the cultural center of such architecture, they adapted the design to local conditions and made necessary modifications. Jinjiang Tower is a coastal Fujian ancient residential earthen building uniquely designed for theft prevention, bandit deterrence, and earthquake resistance. Its multi-ring structure makes it distinctive, and many scenes from the feature films *Happy Heroes* and *The Border Between Yin and Yang* were filmed here.