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Huai Yuan Lou is located north of Yun Shui Yao. Walking from the south of Yun Shui Yao, and along the ancient path toward north to reach Huai Yuan Lou, it looks beautiful of this tulou house from far with the surrounding greens and mountains. This is one of the beautiful tulou houses in term of the main entrance decoration. I did not visit the inside of the house, but just appreciate the views from outside. This would be the first impression of Yun Shui Yao or the main entrance, the stone bridge that connects to the other side of the village, the river with a beautiful stream, and a roll of old shop houses with a theater stage toward the end. There is a famous Chinese movie filmed in this location known as Yunshuiyao, which means a song for cloud and water in Chinese, perfectly matching the scenery in this village. The clear stream in the movie is Changjiao brook, which goes through an old village and meanders along a more ancient pathway paved with cobblestones that formally named as Yunshuiyao Ancient Path.
There are 12 banyans with a history of over hundred years spotted in the length of 5KM of the brook banks, especially two of which, being seen in that movie, more than 1,000 years.
He Gui Lou is the highest tulou house in Fujian. It has 5 storeys high. There are 15 protecting houses outside the Tulou and a private school in the Tulou, forming a flat layout of the protecting houses and Tulou embosoming each other. It indicates that He Gui Lou has more than 200 years of history as the traditional Chinese rammed earth construction technology had reached its crest. It is very mysterious that this castle like Tulou was built on a piece of marsh land and has been here for more than 200 years, covering an area of 3000 square meters.
The Pu Shan Village is a small village opposite He Gui Lou. It is inside Yun Shui Yao, away from the main river of Yun Shui Yao. This is an example of Fujian village that made of out of tulou houses of different shapes and sizes that has not been explored to be visited by tourists. Walking into the village, visitors could see the green vegetable fields, the butcher on motorbike, original structures of tulou houses with ponds in front of the main entrance, the worker worked on the water filter system in front of a tulou house, old man wearing old communist uniform seating in front of a tulou main entrance with patriotic slogans of old communist China. It was quite interesting to see the old China still remaining in this part of Fujian.
Every morning, with this beautiful country side landscape of Yun Shui Yao, including the clear water stream, the basic wooded bridge, and the background of the tulou earth houses and mountains, I would rank it as the best spot of trips in China.
