The last two (Liu'ao and Gulei) share names with the long peninsulas where they are situated, which project into the Taiwan Strait to form large bays.
There are also four townships (乡): Nanpu (南浦), Chitu (赤土), Huxi (湖西) and Chiling (赤岭). The latter two are protected ethnic (minority) townships (民族乡), both for the She people.
In Huxi She Township (湖西畲族乡) there is a fortified compound called Zhaojiabao (赵家堡), where a party of Southern Song royals in flight from the Mongol invaders of the late 13th century are said to have taken up a residence long in term and low in profile. With the Ming restoration of Han Chinese ethnic supremacy to the empire some ninety years and five generations later, the Zhao family (赵家) revealed their pedigree and the compound received its current name.[citation needed]
Zhaojiabao has its own exit right on the Shenyang—Haikou expressway, about 40 minutes south of downtown Zhangzhou (i.e. of Zhangzhou' central urban district, Xiangcheng).
Another fortified compound, Yianbao (诒安堡), dating from the Kangxi era (1687) is located in the same Huxi She Autonomous Township as well.
The ruins of the Liu'ao Fortress (六鳌古城; Liù'áo gǔchéng, or 六鳌城墙; Liù'áo chéngqiáng) are located near the tip of the Liu'ao Peninsula. The fortress - a contemporary of the better known (and much better preserved - or restored) Chongwu Fortress in Hui'an County - was constructed in 1388 by the Hongwu Emperor's general Zhou Dexing.[1]
Tulou
Inside Rui'an Lou, an abandoned Jiaqing-era tulou (Shentu Town)[2]
Although most of the famous Fujian Tulou are located in Fujian's interior (Nanjing County, Yongding County, and surrounding areas), there are a few tulou structures in Zhangpu County as well. According to a 2001 survey of Fujian's tulou, out of the province's 3733 tulou known to the researchers, 125 were located within Zhangpu County. Among them were 60 round tulou (out of the total of 1193 such structures in the province), 48 rectangular ones, and 17 of other types.[3]
A characteristic feature of the tulou of Zhangpu County (and of the coastal Fujian in general) was the use of granite blocks for the lower part of the wall, as opposed to boulders/cobblestones which were used for a similar purpose in Fujian's interior.[4]
Although the local folk tradition may claim greater antiquity for some tulou elsewhere, several of the oldest tulou whose age is documented are located in Zhangpu county. According to Huang Hanmin, the oldest currently known construction date for any of China's tulou is 1558 - which is the date (Year 37 of the Jiajing era) that appears above the main gate of Yidelou (一德楼), a rectangular tulou in Makeng Village (马坑村), Sui'an Town, Zhangpu County.[5] It is a three-storey rectangular compound with walls 1.3 m thick; the compound is surrounded by an elliptic wall 1.6 m tall. It was damaged by bombs dropped from a Japanese aircraft in 1934.[5]
Several more tulou of comparable age (all of them of the rectangular type) are found within Zhangpu County as well. Merely two years "younger" than Yidelou is another three-storey rectangular tulou, Yiyanlou (贻燕楼), located in Guotian Village (过田村) of Xiamei Town (霞美镇), Yiyan Lou (贻燕楼) and dated 1560 (Jiajing 39) by a similar door inscription. In Yuntou (运头) Village of the same town, Qingyunlou (庆云楼) is dated 1569 (Longqing 3).[5] Yanhailou (晏海楼) in Tanzitou Village (潭仔头村, or 昙仔头村), Jiu Town (旧镇) dates from 1585, and the construction of Wanbilou (完璧楼), which is located inside the Zhaojiabao (see above) started in 1600.[5]
Out of the 56 "exemplary tulou" listed in Huang Hanmin's monograph, 6 are in Zhangpu County. One of them, Jinjiang Lou (24°03′49″N117°46′24″E / 24.063501°N 117.773239°E / 24.063501; 117.773239),
located in Jinjiang village[6] of Shentu Town, was built in 1791-1803, and consists of 3 concentric rings. It is one of the few tulou located in the immediate proximity (a few kilometers) of Fujian's sea coast.[7][8]
One of the many unusual natural rock formations at the site known as the Liu'ao Abstract Art Gallery
^Huang 2009, p. 35. The data are from the table containing the results of a preliminary, but pretty detailed "census" of all extant tulou of Fujian, conducted by researchers and provincial authorities in 2001. The numbers don't include tulou ruins.
^The "natural" Jinjiang village is part of the "administrative village" (行政村) of Jindong (锦东), and it is the latter that's more often shown on maps (e.g., sogou.com).
黄汉民, Huang Hanmin (2009), 福建土楼-中国传统民居的瑰宝 [Fujian Tulou: a jewel of China's traditional residential architecture] (in Chinese), 三联书店 [Sanlian Books], ISBN978-7-108-03175-4
