Li Dan

IN stark contrast to Shenzheners, who do not seem to care about the fate of paolou, people in Kaiping have done a lot to preserve and promote diaolou.

In August 2001, the Kaiping authorities had a group of Beijing University researchers draw up a blueprint to preserve the fortified towers. In early 2002, they invited a South China University of Science and Technology taskforce to make detailed plans to improve the areas surrounding the towers. The Guangdong provincial authorities issued a decree in the same year to preserve the towers.

Besides preservation, Kaiping’s government has turned the diaolou into tourism attractions.

In July 2004, Zili Village became the first to try a development plan. The villagers had been strongly against it. They insisted that application to make the area a world heritage site was the problem of the government, which had no right to infringe on their private properties.

After many rounds of negotiation, the tourism development company finally reached a deal with the villagers. In 2004 and 2005, the villagers received more than 70,000 yuan in tourism revenue, and gradually began to welcome the project.

The villagers have opened small restaurants to attract city dwellers who miss the taste of rough, natural food. They also grow fruits and vegetables for sale.

“The government helped us clean our houses and build toilets. We used to take diaolou to be a lackluster part of our daily life, now we are proud of it,” said a villager.