There exist 1,833 Diaolous in Kaiping’s 16 townships. The most typical Diaolous are mostly seen in Tangkou, Baihe, Xiangang and Chikan Township in the central plain. Not many can be found in the hilly areas. The five nominated places listed for application for world cultural heritage are located in these four townships. They demonstrate the earliest and most representative Diaolous, especially the Diaolous built in their most booming time. They are the typical Diaolous that combine the Chinese and Western styles and indicate the relationship with the villages. One can see the various types of Diaolous and their different functions, which show their high value. All in all, these Diaolous are all major historical and cultural sites to be protected at the national level.
The Kaiping Diaolou mainly served the purposes of defence and dwelling. Kaiping Diaolou is divided into three types: Night Watchtowers, Communal Towers and Dwelling Towers. The Night Watchtowers were built for joint defence among villages. They were mostly built at the entrance of the villages, on the hill or beside the river outside the village. They functioned to give alarm. The Communal Towers were built in the rear part with the funds raised by all villagers or many households. Each family had one room to hide themselves in case of bandits’ attack. Such towers were built in a sealed and simple way for the purpose of defence. Solely rich families built the dwelling towers at the back of the village. Such towers well combine the two purposes. High, spacious and nice-looking as well as convenient for living, they are usually the symbols of a village.
The upper part of the Diaolous is built in the form of colonnade, terrace, receding terrace, over-hanging, castle and mixture of different styles. The appearance of a Diaolous reflects the economic strength of the owner, aesthetic taste and the impact of external culture. This is the most interesting part of the Diaolous.
From building materials and structure, Kaiping Diaolous can be divided into stone towers, lime-sand-clay towers, brick towers (including brick-wood and brick-concrete structure) and steel reinforced concrete towers. The stone and brick towers were mainly built in the hilly areas. They had a longer history. The early brick towers were of brick-wood structure. Later, they were mostly of brick-concrete structure. The steel reinforced concrete buildings were mostly seen in the plain areas. In the early 20th century, much steel and cement started to be used. Local people then began to accept modern building materials and technology.
Kaiping was the place where Xinhui, Xinxing,Taishan and Enping counties bordered. Because the society was not in good order and the bandits were rampant. The Ming Dynasty government stationed lots of soldiers during the reign of Emperor Wanli. It got the name “Kaiping” from then on, “Kaiping” at that time meant “establishing the safe of this area”. In the sixth year of Shunzhi’s reign in Qing Dynasty (1649 A.D.), bandits were rampant and floods often hit the villages. Local people started to build Diaolous to guard against bandits and floods. The Yinlong Tower at Sanmenli village built in the 16th century was the earliest Diaolous that can still be seen today. It also represented the earliest shape of Diaolous in Kaiping. The primary stage of the development of Diaolous lasted until the Opium War in Qing Dynasty (1840 A.D.). At this stage, the Diaolous were simple in both appearance and functions. Traditional materials and styles were adopted. The ten existent stone towers in Zhuliantang Village at Dasha Town in the mountainous area, which is not inhabited by returned overseas Chinese, are of the same type of Diaolous during the earliest period.
After the mid-19th century, the United States, Canada and Australia needed a great number of laborers for the opening of mines and the construction of railways. Thousands of impoverished farmers in Kaiping went to work abroad. As some countries did not allow Chinese workers to bring their spouses, and the Chinese had the tradition of returning to their hometown with position and wealth, some overseas Chinese soon remitted their money back home. “Buying land, building house and taking a wife” were the three musts for some returned overseas Chinese. Their vaunting of wealth had made the insecure Kaiping suffer more from bandits. Protecting the safety of people and property became the top important thing. Improved economic conditions also made it possible for them to build more comfortable and safe houses. In the early 1920s, building Western-Chinese houses and spreading western civilization were all the rage. A large number of Diaolous were built together with the traditional houses. Western building materials, techniques and designs were widely adopted. Many Diaolous with the western flavor were built. From the end of the 19th century to the 1930’s, it became the booming period for the development of Diaolous in Kaiping.
After World War II broke out, the remittances sent back by the overseas Chinese were reduced and suspended, making the house construction basically stop and Diaolous building decline. Today, with the change of social conditions, the conditions for the existence of Diaolous have fundamentally changed. The functions of the Diaolous have been weakened and diminished. Most of the Diaolous have been gradually laid idle. Some brick and stone towers have even been dismantled for people to get the building materials. Under the circumstances, the Kaiping city People’s Government ordered the protection of many most representative Diaolous and their internal facilities, defensive, production and living utensils. At the same time, the government also tried many ways to find and visit the Diaolou owners and help them take care of their property. It also put in a large amount of money into repairing and fortifying them in accordance with the Law on the Protection of Cultural Relics. Most of them are therefore well-preserved till today.