Building

Yongxing is a Hakka village near the ocean. The features are architectural characteristics and construction techniques. The architectural style is based on the materials in the environment. It is different from Hakka villages in the mountains. Old houses are established by mud bricks or refractory bricks which show the simplicity of Hakka people and traditional Hakka building style.

Hakka people are cautious, even with house building. Position, base, terrain and climate of the houses are their concerns. In agricultural society, the gap between the poor and rich was significant. The scales of houses were relatively different. In one or three-section compounds, main hall is in the middle and it is the core of the building. Divine or ancestral tablets are worshipped in the houses where people welcome the guests and hold family meetings. The rest are kitchens or bedrooms.

Photo from:Albert Blog and miaolitravel

Cobbles are main materials of building. On “stone base” of mud bricks or refractory bricks, “stone ditch” should be dug and placed with large cobbles to reinforce basic structure of the houses.

Round cobbles on the beach

Rare shell wall of marine Hakka architecture

Photo from:JUST A BALCONY and the director

shape tile: anticlockwise means love and benevolence; clockwise means wisdom and power.

Tile carving: main hall and wall

Tortoise shell shape tile: fortune and longevity

Photo from:Albert Blog and Zaphkielyang Blog