Chuxi tulou complex in Chuxi village, Yongding district, Longyan city, Fujian province received World Heritage Status from UNESCO in 2008. [By Hu Meidong/China Daily]

Longyan is a city in southwestern Fujian province, and borders Guangdong to the south and Jiangxi to the west.

It boasts titles including National Civilized City, National Sustainable Development Experimental Zone and National Pilot Area for Ecological Civilization Construction. The city has been selected as one of the Chinese cities to carry out innovative city construction.

Longyan has a humid subtropical climate with short and mild winters, and long, hot and humid summers. It is an important mining area with many forests in Fujian. The city had a resident population of 2.69 million as of the end of 2023.

In 2023, Longyan's gross domestic product (GDP) hit 331.8 billion yuan ($45.8 billion), an increase of 3.8 percent compared to that of 2022, according to official data. The added value of the city's primary, secondary, and tertiary industries totaled 32.29 billion yuan, 133.91 yuan, and 165.6 billion yuan in 2023, respectively, increasing 3.9 percent, 2.3 percent, 5 percent.

It is renowned for the architectural wonders of the Hakka tulou — or "earthe building"－a type of rural dwelling in Fujian that combines accommodation and fortification.  

Set amongst rice, tea and tobacco fields, the tulou feature tall fortified mud walls capped by tiled roofs with wide over-hanging eaves. They are inscribed as exceptional examples of a building tradition and exemplify a particular type of communal living and defensive structure, have a harmonious relationship with the environment, and are an outstanding example of human settlement.

There are 23,000 tulou scattered about Longyan's Yongding district... The district is also home to the "prince of Hakka tulou", which was placed on the World Heritage List in 2008.

Yongding district also has over 5,700 hectares of persimmons, and produces 60,000 metric tons annually. More than 20,000 households in the district are involved in persimmon farming.

Longyan is also renowned for its local red tourism, which refers to visiting historical sites that have a modern revolutionary legacy. It is also home to the former site of the Gutian Meeting, which was a historical event for the Communist Party of China and the army.

Tulou, or earthen buildings, are the ancestral homes created by local Hakka people. [Photo/IC]

An aerial view of Yunzhai village in Longyan's Wuping county in East China's Fujian province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]