开平碉楼Kaiping Diaolou (the Watchtower-like Houses)
　　[概况]
　　开平市位于珠江三角洲西南部，东北距离广州110公里。开平市是著名的华侨之乡，更是闻名遐迩的碉楼之乡。中国人历来具有强烈的思想情绪，很多华侨将自己的积蓄汇回家乡，或者亲自回国操办“三件事” ：买土地、建房子、娶老婆。由于开平侨眷、归侨生活比较富裕，当时的社会较为混乱，经常惹来匪患。同时因为开平地势低，经常发生洪涝。所以，明末清初就有乡民建筑碉楼，用来防涝防匪。
　　[Introduction of Kaiping Diaolou]
　　Kaiping is a small city in Guangdong Province, about 100 kilometers to the southwest of Guangzhou, with an area of 1659 square kilometers and a population of 680 thousand. It has long been known as the native land of a great many overseas Chinese, the number totting up to or even more than its domestic population. The Chinese, you know, are a nostalgic people having a strong feeling of wistful longing for home, so the overseas Chinese from Kaiping, no matter how long they had been away and how far they were away from home, would come back to buy a piece of land to build their house and to get married. Those houses built by the returned overseas Chinese during the late 19th and early 20th centuries are all watchtower-like, with thick solid walls, small and narrow iron doors and windows, and even with embrasures on the walls and an observation tower on the top.
　　You may wonder why these returned overseas Chinese had their houses built into a structure of a watchtower. Well, the reasons are clear. First, public order at that time was bad and banditry was a real headache and the better-off returned overseas Chinese families naturally became targets for robbery; second, the Kaiping area is a stretch of low-lying land and folds were a frequent occurrence. So, these solid and high-rise buildings were good both for defense against bandits and for refuge from the floods.
　　So, “Kaiping Diaolou” is a proper name of the multi-storied defensive country houses of the returned overseas Chinese in Kaiping City. Built of stone, brick or concrete, these buildings display a fusion of Chinese and foreign architectural and decorative forms, and reflect the significant role these emigrant Kaiping people had played in the development of the countries they resided, in South Asia, Australasia, North America and other regions of the world.
　　开平碉楼是集防卫、居住和中西建筑艺术于一体的建筑群体，被誉为“华侨文化的典范之作” 、“世界建筑艺术博物馆” 。开平碉楼在鼎盛时期达3300多座。目前，登记在册的有1833座。开平碉楼是国务院公布的国家重点文物保护单位。目前开平碉楼已申报世界文化遗产。从功能上，有用作家族居住的居楼、村人共同集资兴建的众楼以及主要用于打更放哨的更楼三大类。在20世纪二三十年代，开平碉楼更成为共产党的地下活动场所。
　　Kaiping Diaolou is listed by the Chinese State Council as a key cultural relic protected by the state. Its total number amounted to 3, 300 in the peak years and now the registered number is 1833, and twenty of the better ones are inscribed on the World Heritage List by UNESCO. Org (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization). These buildings take three forms: communal tower jointly built by. Several families for use as temporary refuge, residential tower built by individual rich family and used as fortified residence, and watch tower for guarding against bandits. In the 1940s during the war of resistance against Japan, some of these towers became strongholds for people’s militia.
　　[自力村碉楼群]
　　自力村碉楼群是开平最精美、保存最完好的碉楼群，它位于开平市塘口镇，东距开平市区12公里。自力村现存15座，全部是全国重点文物保护单位，其中最精美的碉楼是铭石楼，建于1925年，是钢筋混凝土结构的居楼。楼高5层，顶部种种有一中西合璧的六角形瞭望亭，第五层四角均建有角堡（又名“燕子窝”）。铭石楼楼身宽大，外形壮观，有厚重的铁门和坚固的铁窗，内部陈设豪华，生活设施齐全。
　　除铭石楼碉楼外，还有登记在册的碉楼1833座，而其中最有名的除上面讲到的铭石楼外，还有赤坎镇迎龙楼碉楼、蚬冈镇瑞石楼碉楼，塘囗镇方氏灯楼，他们由于建筑年代不同或因不同的家族建造，所以建筑风格各异。其中迎龙楼碉楼是开平最早的碉楼，建于明朝嘉靖年间（1522-1566年），是开平没有受外来建筑风格影响，最古老的碉楼。瑞石楼碉楼是开平最高，最豪华的碉楼，楼高25米，9层，楼内设施布局典雅，具有中国传统格调，是开平碉楼第一楼。属钢筋混凝土结构。方氏灯楼是开平最具代表性的碉楼，建于1920年，楼内的警用发电机，探照灯，机械一应俱全，选地视野开阔，是典型的防守更楼，属钢筋混凝土结构。
　　[The Diaolou Structures in Zili Village]
　　The Diaolou structures in Zili Village, 12 kilometers away from the Kaiping city center, are the most magnificent and best preserved. There are 15 in all, which are all listed as key cultural relics protected by the state. Among them the Mingshilou is the best of all. Built in 1925, it is a 5-storeyed reinforced concrete structure, with an hexagon observation pavilion on the top and a blockhouse built on the outside walls at each of the four corners on the fifth floor. This huge and imposing tower is installed with heavy iron doors and strong iron windows, and is luxuriously decorated and well furnished.
　　Other well-known Diaolou structures are the Yinglonglou in Chikan Town, the Ruishilou in Yan’gang Town and the Fangshe Denglou in Tangkou Town. They were built in different years by different families and so are different in architectural style. The Yinglonglou, built during the Jiajing Reign of the Ming Dynasty in the middle of the 16th century (1522 - 1566), is the oldest Diaolou structure and is free from foreign influence in architectural style. The Ruishilou, a 9 – storied 25-meter high reinforced concrete structure, is the most luxury and is laid out and furnished in the traditional Chinese pattern. The Fangshi Denglou, a reinforced concrete structure built in 1920 by the Fang family, is typical of the Diaolou structure as a watchtower for it was located in an open land and was provided with electric generator,searchlights and guns.
　　[开平立园]
　　开平立园，位于广东省侨乡开平市塘口镇北义乡，立园结合了中西园林的风格与情调，与1936年建成的花园别墅。在高大圆拱形门上书写“立园”二字。园内有别墅区、大花园区和小花园区。建筑有“立园”大牌坊、“修身立本”大牌楼和四个桥亭，以及古罗马式的建筑—“鸟巢”、“花藤亭”。而镶刻期间的名家书法对联更使立园散发出浓厚的传统文化气息。
　　立园的最大特色是有意开凿一些运河，把园内的别墅区、大花园区和小花园区联起来，运河之上布置了长长的回廊、小桥和亭台楼榭。穿过大约100米的彩画回廊，就进入了立园的别墅区。其中以“泮立”与“泮文” 两幢别墅最为壮观。
　　别墅的楼顶按照中国宫殿式的建筑风格；而楼身却采用了西式建筑风格，楼内的楼梯和地面、墙壁装饰也是中西结合。如西式壁炉、吊灯，意大利瓷砖、中式的酸枝家具，民间故事壁画，涂金木雕。立园不仅建筑艺术精湛，传统文化氛围也非常浓厚。立园的主人认为处世兴家的根本在于自身修养，所以他既注意庄重的德行，也提倡休息游览。
　　[The Li Garden]
　　Another tourist attraction in Kaiping City is the Li Garden. It was a private residential garden built in 1926 – 1936 by an American Chinese, Xie Wei Li by name. The garden’s name “Li” was derived from the name of its owner and it gives expression to the meaning of a Chinese idiom Xiu Shen Li Ben, which is written on an archway in the garden, meaning that cultivating one’s moral and character is the key to success in one’s life and work. This idea of the owner’s is also embodied in many other inscriptions and couplets written in the garden.
　　The Li Garden is laid out in the way of traditional Chinese gardening but many of its structures are built in Western styles, such as the two Roman-styled structures popularly known as the Bird’s Nest and the Flower & Rattan Pavilion. The garden covers an area of 19, 600 square meters, with a man-made stream running through and cutting it into two parts, which are connected by arch-bridges. Along the stream are pavilions, a hundred-meter-long corridor, archways, residential houses and other structures.
　　The residential buildings in the villa area are also combinations of Chinese and Western architectural elements. While their main structures are foreign-styled, some are roofed like a Chinese palace, and inside they are decorated and furnished with both Chinese and foreign artifacts: Western fireplace and pendent lamps, Italian ceramic tiles, Chinese wooden furniture, wall paintings depicting Chinese folk stories, Chinese gilded wood-carvings etc.The Li Garden is indeed a paragon of harmonious combination of the Chinese and foreign cultures.