China · 17th century
Kaiping Diaolou ranks #1,419 of 9,040 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #30 of the 103 mapped in China. Founded c. 1650, it is older than 25% of the atlas's dated landmarks, one of 710 atlas entries founded in the 17th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 2,824 times in the last 60 days, more than 77% of the atlas. The nearest day-trip guide is Zhongshan, 90 km away. See how China compares in the castle statistics.
Kaiping Diaolou and villages are famous throughout the world for their watchtowers and associated villages; located in the countryside of Kaiping city, Jiangmen, Guangdong province, they comprise 1,833 surviving diaolou. Kaiping Diaolou and Villages was designated a World Heritage Site in 2007, comprising four heritage areas: the Yinglonglou of Sanmenli village, the Majianglong village cluster, Zilicun village with the Fang Family Lantern Tower, and Jinjiangli village. The Kaiping diaolou were listed in 2001 among the fifth batch of Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level, and the Kaiping Diaolou Cultural Tourism Area was designated a National 5A tourist attraction in 2020.
Machine-translated from “开平碉楼” on the Chinese Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
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