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Kaiping Watchtowers (Diaolou) was inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List today (June 28). This is the first Guangdong heritage on the List.
The watchtowers were China's 35th sites on the List, following the Karsts in Yunnan, which was added to the List yesterday.
 The watchtowers in Zili Village, Kaiping
About Kaiping Watchtowers:
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.
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Editor: Wing
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