Diaolou 碉 樓

UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site
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An application for UN world heritage site designation for the Kaiping diaolou 開 平 碉 樓 was made in 2004.

On June 28, 2007, an official announcement of a successful World Heritage site designation was delivered in New Zealand. A media conference was convened the same day in Vancouver, Canada, to share the news.

After 8 long years... a world wide collaborativeeffort was a success!

The other wonderful news the same day was that Canada's own Rideau Canal also made the UNESCO World Heritage status.

A very nice touch for our 2007 Canada Day weekend.

It made newspaper headlines all over the place, with the Singtao newspaper frontpage headlines gracing the entire cover with our family diaolou story, and again in our Nation's paper the Globe and Mail. Tres cool, eh?

Thanks to everyone who helped make this effort happen ...

Off the top of my head, Chinese Canadian Historical Society of BC , MLA Jenny Kwan, MP Olivia Chow, Gabriel Yiu, MP Raymond Chan, Victoria Mayor Alan Lowe, UBC Museum of Anthropology, and many, many others around our small world, including Dr. David Lung of Hong Kong University, former Washington state governor, Gary Locke who graced the info CD and book.

For those who are interested in this part of our history, please contact me (ideas@ generasian.ca). I'd like to share information on this legacy recognizing the strong historic link between the pioneer Chinese men and women of Canada and the US, with their ancestral homelands of Kaiping, Taishan, Enping and Xinhui.
Celebration poster with Wong family diaolou

The Diaolou in my ancestral village

Tian Lu 天 裸 樓 Diaolou, at Wing On Le 永 安 里 (Yong'an Li) Village


The tower image on the right is the Diaolou located in our ancestral village. It was built in 1922 and is seven stories tall. It is one of several in my ancestral village of Yong' An Li. It is named Tian Lu Diaolou: Tian 天 meaning "heavenly" and Lu 裸, meaning "success". Like other Diaolou, it is a "young" structure compared to the vernacular buildings found all over China. And they are unique, because each diaolou is different and they are found no where else in China.

As indicated earlier, the Diao lou (or Dialou) is both the singular and plural form for the noun. These towers are found only in the ancestral homeland of early overseas Chinese communities that had members (mainly males) who travelled abroad - to Canada for example. Thus, they are found in the four county districts (Siyi) of Guangdong province, and in particular, in Taishan and in Kaiping counties.

They are ecclectic Chinese interpretations of "western" architectural elements brought home and financed by the overseas sons. Built as towers for protection against bandits, creeps and other perverts who targeted families because of perceived wealth.

And looking at how extravagant some of them are, I believe they represented status symbols for the village. Unfortunately, many of them are now falling apart due to age and neglect. But thankfully, the Chinese government has recognized the cultural and historic importance of these buildings and are now presently repairing and protecting many of them.
... ?} •≠ ?M ?” copyright David Wong Canada 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

There are also a number of well written books on the topic (most in Chinese).

One interesting footnote:
 a reporter at the South China Morning Post had located me through his research on the diaolou, and flew from HK to Vancouver to talk to me about it.

Apparently, there is a bit of interest on these fascinating structures.

Stories of how they were built, how their names were assigned, how they were "designed"… stories of the protection offered during attacks by Pirates, thugs and by the Japanese during WWII, and historic stories from descendants like myself and current villagers.
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Wong Family Genealogy ... going back 1,000 + years
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