Hakka Tulou Houses and Xiamen Quanzhou 5 Days Tour

Detailed Itinerary: Today you will be transferred to Yongding in Longyan City to visit villages in Chuxi Tulou. You will stay overnight in Yuqinglou.

Tulou
Tulou is the chinese name, it has been translated as Cluster, Hakka House, Earth Building, etc.  Most of Tulou clusters are located in three areas of Yongding county: HongKeng, GaoBei and Chuxi.  Clusters in HongKeng and Gaobei are visited by big coach tour buses everyday.  We will only visit Tulou in Chuxi village.

It takes 3 hours on road from Xiamen, this is why we have to stay ovenight in Chuxi.   Please be ready for simple hotel facility and no entertainment at night.  Chuxi is the most remote area in this province. 

Chuxi Tulou
UNESCO World Heritage site 1113-001.  Located in Chuxi village, Xiayang township. In Chuxi Village, there are five round clusters and many square clusters, scatted on mountains. A small path made of cobblestones links these clusters. Behind the buildings are terraced hills and dense forests. The most well-known clusters are Jiqinglou, Yuqinglou, Gengqinglou, Shengqinglou, Shanqinglou and, Xiqinglou.

Yuqing Lou
We will stay overnight in Yuqinglou for tonight. Three massive round clusters are situated near the entrance of Chuxi village, Yuqinglou is the one on the left.  It was first built in 1900. Lastest renovation was in 2010. The house owner Mr. Xu turned it into a family-runned hotel, simply facilities for bed and breakfast.  Some rooms have shower and toilet, many rooms do not have, you need to go to the first floor for public toilet.  Rooms are quite clean anyway.  It is quite experience to live there.

Detailed Itinerary: Today you will be transferred back to Xiamen to have a full day sightseeing of Tan Kah Kee Memorial Musem, Jimei University, Ao Garden, Wuyuan Bay Wetland Park and Museum of Ancient Culture.

Tan Kah Kee Memorial Musem in Jimei
JImei is the hometown of Mr. Tan Kah Kee, a patriotic oversea Chinese. Tan Kah Kee arrived in Singapore as a 17 year old in 1890 to help his businessman father and quickly became a prominent businessman, community leader, entrepreneur and philanthropist. He was very passionate about education and as a generous benefactor to schools in Singapore and China, had given large donations to eduction programs.

He set up the Jimei Schools (now Jimei University) and Xiamen University in China. At the invitation of the Xiamen authorities, over a hundred of his descendants gathered from all over the world on 21 October 2008 to commemorate the Grand Opening of the Tan Kah Kee Memorial Museum in Jimei and to celebrate Jimei High School’s 90th Anniversary.

Wuyuan Bay Wetland Park: Xiamen Wuyuan Bay Wetland Park covers an area of 85 hectares, equivalent to half of Gulangyu island, it is Xiamen's largest wetland ecological park, known as the green lung of the city of Xiamen.

Detailed Itinerary: Today you will have a day tour to Quanzhou. You will visit Kaiyuan Temple, Quanzhou Museum, Ashab Mosque and the ancient Tumen Street. Later, you will be back to Xiamen in the late afternoon.

Kaiyuan Temple
The largest Buddhist temple in this province. It was originally built in 685 or 686 during the Tang Dynasty and was rebuilt in the late 13th century. Major buildings in Kaiyuan Temple include Tianwang Hall, Daxiong Palace, the Sweet Dew Temple, the Sutra Depository, and Gongde Tang. A very old and famous pair of giant stone pagodas surrounded by temples and trees.

Quanzhou Museum
Quanzhou is one of the 24 famous historic cultural cities first approved by the Chinese government in 1983. Here you can see comprehensive and valuable displays reflect the history and culture of Quanzhou. Some of perfances availbe to see only in this museum: Huian Stoneware, Dehua porcelain, Puppet Show, Gaojia Opera, Dacheng Opera.

Tumen Street and Ashab Mosque
Tumen street is the oldest street in Quanzhou.  The relics of ancient Ashab Mosque is located on Tumen Street. The mosque is constructed in 1009, and this Arab style mosque is the oldest of its kind in China. Walking on the 1000 years old ancient street for the rest of afternoon.

Detailed Itinerary: After Hotel breakfast, you will take ferry to Gulangyu Island where you will see Shuzhuang Garden and Piano Museum. Enjoy your free time in the afternoon. Later today, you will be transferred to the airport for your flight home.

Gulangyu Island
It is renowned for its delicate natural beauty, ancient relics, and varied architectures.

Shuzhuang Garden
It is a tiny garden with style of mixture of Taiwanese and Japanese garden and features snaking paths, koi ponds and hidden zodiac sculptures.

Piano Museum
It displays a collection of over 200 pianos from different nations in the world, some of which are over a century old.  When the Treaty of Nanking was ratified in 1842, British forced China to open its door to outside world, Xiamen is a thriving port city once again.  More and more Europeans live in Gulangyu.  The study of piano proved more popular in 1920's, and some of the country's most skilled musicians came from Gulangyu.