广东开平，以华侨众多扬名海内外，如今留下的只有那一座座人去楼空的精美碉楼。在众多的碉楼中，又以自力村的碉楼最为精美，规模最为庞大，也最负盛名。
The diaolou or fortified watchtowers found in Kaiping, Guangdong Province, were first constructed in the early Qing dynasty (1644~1912). They reached their peak in the 1920s and 1930s when there were estimated to be more than three thousand of these structures and according to a recent survey carried out by the Kaiping City Government, there are over 1800 diaolou still standing. In 2001 the State Council declared the Kaiping Diaolou a Protected Cultural Relic in view of their special significance in China’s vernacular architecture. |
