Chengde Building

Chengde Building

Chengde Building is located in the downtown area and is the best-preserved typical traditional Hakka enclosed roundhouse in Meizhou City. The builder, Mr. Liang Jiongchang, also known as Xinglou, was from Zhéguìwō, Sanjiao Anding Yi, Jiayingzhou (now Meizhou), Guangdong. In his twentieth generation, he served as a leader of the overseas Chinese community in Siam (now Thailand) while also engaging in business. Chengde Building was founded in 1885 and completed in 1896, taking ten years to build. It covers an area of 3,780 square meters and features a two-story earth-and-timber horse stable–style structure with three halls, two wings, and one enclosed round component. It includes eight halls, eight courtyards, and eighteen rooms, totaling eighty-three rooms both upstairs and downstairs. The property is divided into a front garden surrounded by a fengshui pond and a rear garden enclosed by fruit trees, with the entire layout in an oval shape.

The enclosed roundhouse is one of China’s five distinctive types of residential architecture. Not only does it feature a unique structure, exquisite craftsmanship, and premium materials, but it is also highly practical and strongly defensive. Structurally, it combines the spaciousness, continuity, and centrality of Beijing’s siheyuan (courtyard houses) while retaining many of the defensive functions of Fujian’s tulou. It mainly emphasizes livability, supplemented by security and defense, making it an architectural style focused on both residence and safety. The enclosed roundhouse is a crystallization of Hakka people’s diligence and wisdom. It is not only grand in scale and exquisitely structured, but also sturdy and durable, reflecting the profound cultural heritage of the Hakka people.

Location

Fuchiqi Road, Sanjiao Town, Meijiang District, Meizhou City, Guangdong Province