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by Wu Yilong
BEIJING, July 15 (Xinhuanet) -- A Geng is the nick name of Lin Rigeng, a tourist guide in southeast China’s Fujian Province, though his father expected him to “do farm work day in and day out” as the name indicates.
Swarthy-faced, the man of Hakka origin looks like a farmer, talks like a farmer, but really only has done little farming all his life.
Now living in Zhenchenglou, one of the 46 tulou -- traditional Chinese “earthen building” of communal residence designated as UNESCO World Heritage site in 2008, the 65-year-old man works tirelessly for their protection and promotion.
“Zhenchengsou is one of the best kept and thus well-known as the prince of tulou,”said A Geng.
Nestling among mountains and streams in Fujian Province, tulou, round or square, used to house and protect huge extended families. Their strong thick walls were made of rammed clay and fortified with wood or bamboo internally.
In A Geng’s home county Yongding, there are all kinds of tulou. Chengqilou is the biggest, boasting 384 rooms and once sheltering more than 800 people, Jiqinglou the oldest, surviving rain and wind of more than 600 years, but Zhenchengsou is unquestionably the best kept and grandest.
“Our Zhenchenglou is the most majestic and typical of all tulou,”A Geng would often say.
Built from 1912 to 1916, the round Zhenchenglou covers an area of 5,000 square meters with more than 200 rooms, incorporating the Chinese traditional principle of fenshui (favorable sitting within the environment) and mysterious bagua (eight trigrams divination).
A Geng was born in Zhenchenglou and spent his childhood there. However, during the Cultural Revolution(1966-1976), he was evicted with his father, a graduate of Waseda University of Japan and county magistrate in the 1930s and 1940s.
Fortunately, in the late 1970s, with the implementation of the nation’s reform policy, A Geng moved back as the owner of one quarter of the building.
“It was empty and desolate then,”said A Geng, “only four families with over 20 people lived in such a big structure.” Tulou were said to be spotted by U.S. satellites and mistaken for missile silos or nuclear devices because of their shape and size. True or not, the tale increased the charisma of tulou.
In the early 1980s, architects and tourists began to zigzag through the mountains to visit the remote tulou, especially Zhenchenglou.
Surprised and perplexed, A Geng showed them hospitality of the Hakka people, guiding them around and treating them with home-made tea, food and wine.
“These guests unexceptionally got excited, even spell-bound, the moment they entered Zhenchenglou, and they examined it inside out,” recalled A Geng. “From then on, I realized my house was quite a treasure.”
He was then thrilled when an expert with the National Tourism Administration suggested for the first time that tulou should apply for world cultural heritage status in 1992.
“As a tulou owner, I felt a great responsibility for promoting and preserving tulou,” said A Geng.
In cooperation with the ever-growing cry from experts and villagers, the provincial and local governments launched all-round efforts for more than one decade to maintain and promote tulou and finally acquired UNESCO designation.
Million tourists began to come and see tulou. A Geng was quick to open a store and inn inside tulou in the late 1980s, and his family business has prospered ever since. Nevertheless, what makes A Geng a fame is how he talks about tulou, his own home.
He did not know much about Zhenchenglou at first. But he learned by reading books, asking questions and observing the buildings, while digging into his family stories.
In 1991, A Geng was employed by the county’s tourism bureau as the first tulou guide in Yongding, hence starting his lifelong career. His strong local Hakka accent adds to his charm as the most popular tulou guide.
“I talk about my own family to tourists almost every day, sometimes five times a day,” said A Geng. “I’m never tired of it, I enjoy it.”
When A Geng shows around Zhenchenglou, he interprets whatever his eyes touch: its fengshui outside and its structure inside, its sewage system underground and its lookout tower overhead, its earthquake-proof function and its fire prevention design.
Respectfully, A Geng recites and explains the family motto and moral couplets, written in fine calligraphy and hung or inscribed throughout the edifice.
He even leads tourists to his kitchen, pointing to a ground brick under which his placenta was buried. “We Hakka people have a custom of ‘planting the placenta’,”said A Geng, “It means your home is where your root is, you should never forget your cradle blood.”
Receiving only primary education, A Geng has published one of the best-sellers about tulou, featuring his guide commentary and sold more than 20,000 copies so far. “There’s no end of reading such a book as Zhenchenglou,” said A Geng. “I choose things to talk according to the tastes and needs of my tourists.”
However, foreign tourists, coming to A Geng from more than 30 countries and areas have left him few choices due to the language barrier. “I can only show them the wonderful construction techniques of tulou,” said A Geng. “I can’t communicate the beauty of Chinese traditional culture to them.”
A Geng once sent his daughter to learn English to become an English tulou guide, but she has moved to Xiamen City after marriage.
Anyway, foreign tourists have brought A Geng a lot of interesting experiences.
Once an old French couple checked into his inn, asking for a straw mat, a kerosene lamp and even a chamber pot; another time, a German family rejoiced at a night of unexpected blackout inside tulou.
“I hope we can have English guides and more translated books about tulou,” he said. “We should open our unique ‘fortress homes’ to friends all over the world.”
There are now 15 returned families of about 80 people residing in Zhenchenglou and engaging in tourism. A Geng remains the same. “I love to talk with people from all walks of life and all over the world,” said he. “I can touch the outside world inside tulou.”
