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Walled Village
A walled village () is a type of large traditional multi-family communal living structure found in China, that is designed to be easily defensible. It is completely surrounded by thick defensive walls, protecting the residents from the attack of wild animals and enemies. Usually, people living in the walled village are extended families or clans sharing the same surname. Walled villages are still found in southern China and Hong Kong. History During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the shore of Guangdong suffered from pirates. The area of Hong Kong was particular vulnerable to pirates' attacks. Winding shores, hilly lands and islands and far from administrative centres made Hong Kong an excellent hideout for pirates. Villages, both Punti and Hakka, built walls against pirates. Some villages even protected themselves using cannons. In Punti Cantonese, ''Wai'' (圍, Walled) and ''Tsuen'' (村, Village) were once synonyms. Ancestral halls The ancestral hall was the most important bui ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cannon
A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder during the late 19th century. Cannons vary in gauge, effective range, mobility, rate of fire, angle of fire and firepower; different forms of cannon combine and balance these attributes in varying degrees, depending on their intended use on the battlefield. A cannon is a type of heavy artillery weapon. The word ''cannon'' is derived from several languages, in which the original definition can usually be translated as ''tube'', ''cane'', or ''reed''. In the modern era, the term ''cannon'' has fallen into decline, replaced by ''guns'' or ''artillery'', if not a more specific term such as howitzer or mortar, except for high-caliber automatic weapons firing bigger rounds than machine guns, called autocannons. The earliest known depict ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Architecture In China
Chinese architecture ( Chinese:中國建築) is the embodiment of an architectural style that has developed over millennia in China and it has influenced architecture throughout Eastern Asia. Since its emergence during the early ancient era, the structural principles of its architecture have remained largely unchanged. The main changes involved diverse decorative details. Starting with the Tang dynasty, Chinese architecture has had a major influence on the architectural styles of Japan, Korea, Mongolia, and Vietnam, and minor influences on the architecture of Southeast and South Asia including the countries of Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and the Philippines. Chinese architecture is characterized by bilateral symmetry, use of enclosed open spaces, feng shui (e.g. directional hierarchies), a horizontal emphasis, and an allusion to various cosmological, mythological or in general symbolic elements. Chinese architecture traditionally classifi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kowloon Walled City
Kowloon Walled City was an ungoverned and densely populated '' de jure'' Imperial Chinese enclave within the boundaries of Kowloon City, British Hong Kong. Originally a Chinese military fort, the walled city became an enclave after the New Territories were leased to the United Kingdom by China in 1898. Its population increased dramatically following the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong during World War II. By 1990, the walled city contained 50,000 residents within its borders. From the 1950s to the 1970s, it was controlled by local triads and had high rates of prostitution, gambling, and drug abuse. In January 1987, the Hong Kong government announced plans to demolish the walled city. After an arduous eviction process, and the transfer of ''de jure'' sovereignty of the enclave from China to Britain, demolition began in March 1993 and was completed in April 1994. Kowloon Walled City Park opened in December 1995 and occupies the area of the former walled city. Some histor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shenzhen
Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern province of Guangdong, bordering Hong Kong to the south, Dongguan to the north, and Huizhou to the northeast. With a population of 17.56 million as of 2020, Shenzhen is the third most populous city by urban population in China after Shanghai and Beijing. Shenzhen is a global center in technology, research, manufacturing, business and economics, finance, tourism and transportation, and the Port of Shenzhen is the world's fourth busiest container port. Shenzhen is classified as a Large-Port Megacity, the largest type of port-city in the world. Shenzhen roughly follows the administrative boundaries of Bao'an County, which was established since imperial times. The southern portion of Bao'an County was seized by the British after the Opium ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dapengcheng
Dapeng Fortress (; Dapeng dialect ) or Dapengsuocheng is a walled village in the subdistrict Dapeng, district Longgang, Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China. The village lies 55 kilometers from the center of Shenzhen. History Dapeng Fortress was built in 1394 to protect the area from pirates. It later developed into a town during the Ming and Qing dynasties. In 1571, it sustained a siege of over forty days by Japanese pirates equipped with scaling ladders. The main dialect in this village is Dapeng dialect, a mix of Hakka and Cantonese. Dapeng defended the Thousand Household City, referred to as Dapeng City for the 27th year of Hongwu in the Ming dynasty (1394), and its main function was to resist the invasion of pirates. In the Ming dynasty, Dapeng City was mainly against the invasion of pirates. In the Qing dynasty, Dapeng defended the Thousand Households City as Dapeng Marine Master Camp, and established nine districts such as Dongyongkou, Shuishitang, Lantau, Red Incense ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chinese Kin
A Chinese kin, lineage or sometimes rendered as clan, is a patrilineal and patrilocal group of related Chinese people with a common surname sharing a common ancestor and, in many cases, an ancestral home. Description Chinese kinship tend to be strong in southern China, reinforced by ties to an ancestral village, common property, and often a common spoken Chinese dialect unintelligible to people outside the village. Kinship structures tend to be weaker in northern China, with clan members that do not usually reside in the same village nor share property. ''Zupu''—the genealogy book A ''zupu'' () is a Chinese kin register or genealogy book, which contains stories of the kin's origins, male lineage and illustrious members. The register is usually updated regularly by the eldest person in the extended family, who hands on this responsibility to the next generation. The "updating" of one's ''zupu'' () is a very important task in Chinese tradition, and can be traced back thousands ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walled Villages Of Hong Kong
Most of the walled villages of Hong Kong are located in the New Territories. History During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the shore of Guangdong suffered from pirates, and the area of present-day Hong Kong was particularly vulnerable to pirates' attacks. Winding shores, hilly lands and islands and remoteness from administrative centres made the territory of Hong Kong an excellent hideout for pirates. Villages, both Punti and Hakka, built walls against them. Some villages even protected themselves with cannons. Over time, the walls of most walled villages have been partly or totally demolished. Names In Punti Cantonese, ''Wai'' (, Walled) and ''Tsuen'' (, Village) were once synonyms, hence most place names which include the word 'wai', were at some point in time a walled village. Conservation Two heritage trails of Hong Kong feature walled villages: * Ping Shan Heritage Trail. One walled village: Sheung Cheung Wai (). * Lung Yeuk Tau Heritage Trail. Five walled villages: ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hakka Walled Village
A Hakka walled village ( zh, 围龙屋) is a large multi-family communal living structure that is designed to be easily defensible. This building style is unique to the Hakka people found in southern China. Walled villages are typically designed for defensive purposes and consist of one entrance and no windows at the ground level. History The Hakka were originally immigrants from northern China who settled in the southern provinces. From the 17th century onwards, population pressures drove them more and more into conflict with their neighbours (called ''punti'' in Cantonese). As rivalry for resources turned to armed warfare, the Hakka began building communal living structures designed to be easily defensible. These houses, sometimes called ''tulou'' 土楼, were often round in shape and internally divided into many compartments for food storage, living quarters, ancestral temple, armoury etc. The largest houses covered over and it is not unusual to find surviving houses of over . ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Synonym
A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all synonyms of one another: they are ''synonymous''. The standard test for synonymy is substitution: one form can be replaced by another in a sentence without changing its meaning. Words are considered synonymous in only one particular sense: for example, ''long'' and ''extended'' in the context ''long time'' or ''extended time'' are synonymous, but ''long'' cannot be used in the phrase ''extended family''. Synonyms with exactly the same meaning share a seme or denotational sememe, whereas those with inexactly similar meanings share a broader denotational or connotational sememe and thus overlap within a semantic field. The former are sometimes called cognitive synonyms and the latter, near-synonyms, plesionyms or poecilonyms. Lexicograph ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hakka People
The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka Han, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas are a Han Chinese subgroup whose ancestral homes are chiefly in the Hakka-speaking provincial areas of Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan, Zhejiang, Hainan, Guizhou in China, as well as in Taoyuan City, Hsinchu County, Miaoli County, Pingtung County, and Kaohsiung City in Taiwan. The Chinese characters for ''Hakka'' () literally mean "guest families". Unlike other Han Chinese subgroups, the Hakkas are not named after a geographical region, e.g. a province, county or city, in China. The word ''Hakka'' or "guest families" is Cantonese in origin and originally refers to the Northern Chinese refugees fleeing social unrest, upheaval and invasions in northern parts of China (such as Gansu and Henan) during the Qin dynasty who then seek refuge in the Cantonese provinces such as Guangdong and Guangxi, thus the original meaning of the word implies that they are guests living in the Canton ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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