Khai Binh long sculpture - China's cultural heritage

Unesco's Science, Education and Culture Organization has recognized China's Kaiping Long Sculpture as a World Cultural Heritage in 2007.

Khai Binh long sculpture - Chinese cultural heritage

Khai Binh is a multi-storey tower built with concrete in Kaiping, Jiangmen, and Guangdong of China. These towers were built to fit in and at the same time to guard and prevent bandits and bandits.

Most of the things in Khai Binh were built during the period from the 19th century to the early 20th century and owned by overseas Chinese . Currently, Khai Binh has about 1,800 things that still exist and are preserved and maintained in quite good condition. Since the Ming Dynasty, the construction of high towers to prevent robbery has been very popular and has become a tradition of this region.

Khai Binh was founded in 1649 under the reign of the Qing Dynasty, so far this is still one of the most expatriates of Guangdong. According to statistics, overseas Chinese in this region account for more than half of the region's total population. These people returned from 67 different countries around the world, from North America, Australia and Southeast Asia. After earning money and returning home, these overseas Chinese want their hometowns to know their wealth, from which high towers appear. The towers were built not only for daily living purposes but also for preventing theft and ostentatious wealth. The towers are built in many different architectures, the altitude is also different but there is a special thing that every floor has a kitchen . This is because Khai Binh area used to be very flooded in the past, this type of construction is prevented when the water level reaches 1-2 floors below, the daily life can still be guaranteed.

One thing in common is that the things that were long at Khai Binh were built with a lot of small windows , which are the doorways used for observation when the bandits invaded the territory, besides helping to circulate when in the tower. On the upper floors there is often a place to observe, like an observatory, if the villagers come close, people will throw rocks down from above to scare away.

The longest works in Khai Binh were built the most between 1842 and 1864 , after the Peace of Nanjing, which led to the first opium war. At this time Khai Binh happened on 100 murders, and thousands of kidnappings, hundreds of robberies. For that reason, overseas Chinese have built up their own defensive facilities urgently, although it is estimated that only about 10-20% of repatriated Chinese people actually have money.

Although there are different heights and sizes, the owners of these things are mostly rich, so these towers are designed with lots of rooms. The master is always upstairs, the maid is below, the terrace is the observation deck, with some large towers of the terrace also being built as defensive fortresses.

The sculptures are built with many different materials from gray brick, compressed soil, concrete to stone . depending on the level of wealth and scale that the owner wants. Of the approximately 1,800 things that remain, the longest are the long ones built of concrete and stone. Different from other buildings in China with typical national architecture , Khai Binh is a European-style villa . The reason for owning these things is that almost 100% of Chinese people, who have had long periods of living and working abroad, have brought influence from other countries to build buildings at my hometown. Therefore, if not introduced, any visitor who came to Khai Binh would be surprised by the existence of a series of Western-styled buildings beside the fields.

Khai Binh's long history was recognized by Unesco under criteria (ii), (iii), (iv)

Criterion (ii) : The long history of Khai Binh represents the combination of indigenous culture with western architecture brought by the migrants to their homeland.

Criterion (iii) : Khai Binh long story was built for the purpose of living and defending are representatives of Khai Binh's development for a while.

Criterion (iv) : Khai Binh long sculpture is not only beautiful architectural works but also shows the harmony between the Chinese community and other communities in the world when the people of this country migrate to Other countries live and suffer from the cultural influence of new lands.