Kinmen Trip—Deyue Tower in Shuitou

April 4, 2011 — Deyue Tower, Shuitou, Kinmen

Deyue Tower in Shuitou was built in 1931 by Huang Hui-huang after he made his fortune in Indonesia. Standing about 11.26 meters tall with walls 40 centimeters thick, it was the tallest building on Kinmen at the time.

In an era when local security was poor and pirates sometimes landed to raid the area, the tower—originally part of a residence—became a defensive gun tower. When an alarm sounded, armed guards would take their positions inside.

Deyue Tower with firing ports beside the entrance to its courtyard — The tall gun tower and courtyard entrance formed part of the residence’s defensive layout.

Its name comes from the Chinese saying “the pavilion nearest the water enjoys the moonlight first.” Most of the defenses were concentrated on the third and fourth floors. Round firing ports on all four walls reduced blind spots, iron protected the observation windows, and the rooftop parapet included rests for firearms. It was an exceptionally sturdy defensive structure.

Courtyard entrance at Deyue Tower with carved stonework and patterned brick walls — Carved stonework, patterned brick, and curved gables frame the courtyard entrance.

Inside the courtyard, the tower stands beside Western-style houses and traditional southern Fujian buildings. Their walls, roof ridges, and entranceways reveal far more detail up close than they do from outside the complex.

Western-style courtyard façades with arcades and carved details at Deyue Tower — Arcades, stonework, and traditional ornament meet across the courtyard façades.

A tunnel beneath Deyue Tower connected it with the main residence. The elaborate Western-style house behind the tower served as a decoy, while the family’s real home stood behind and to the right. If attackers focused on the false house and the tower, the delay gave the family enough time to escape through the hidden passage.

Narrow passage between blue patterned tiles and red-brick walls in the Shuitou compound — A narrow passage runs between blue patterned tiles and red-brick walls.

View through wooden doors toward patterned tiles, a red window, and couplets — Open wooden doors reveal a richly patterned wall, red window, and calligraphy.

The courtyards and lanes are narrow, yet brickwork, patterned tiles, stone walls, swallowtail roofs, and Western façades overlap everywhere you look. Around nearly every corner, another set of details appears.

Narrow village lane framed by brick walls, stone walls, and swallowtail roofs — Swallowtail roofs rise above a narrow lane between brick-and-stone houses.

Stucco wall ornaments and red-brick latticework on a traditional house in Shuitou — Stucco reliefs and red-brick latticework layer the details of a village corner.

Looking back through the village, the pink tower reappeared between the rooftops.

Pink Deyue Tower seen at the end of a lane through Shuitou Village — Deyue Tower reappears at the far end of a lane through the village.

A neighboring mansion now houses an exhibition on Kinmen’s overseas-Chinese heritage. Its façade, arcades, and rooftop balustrades preserve the distinctive Western-style architecture of Shuitou.

Western-style mansion used for an overseas-Chinese heritage exhibition in Shuitou — A Western-style mansion with arcades and an ornate parapet houses a heritage exhibition.

Before piped water became common, hand pumps like this drew water directly from wells and were an important part of daily life. They have almost disappeared from cities now...

Young girl operating a blue hand pump as water flows from its spout — A child works the blue hand pump and sends well water spilling onto the ground.

The children quickly found the old pump entertaining: one worked the handle while the other waited nearby for her turn.

Two girls beside a stone well and hand pump in a Shuitou courtyard — The two sisters take turns with the old pump in the white-and-red-brick courtyard.

High on the mansion’s façade are the characters “Ziyun Yanpai,” identifying the ancestral branch of the Huang family in Kinmen. Here, yanpai refers to a family’s lineage and place of origin; the inscription connects this Huang household with Ziyun Hall.

Pink mansion façade bearing the Ziyun Yanpai inscription above stone columns — The inscription “Ziyun Yanpai” crowns a façade decorated with columns, color, and figures.

According to tradition, their ancestor Huang Shougong donated land for the construction of Kaiyuan Temple in Quanzhou. Purple clouds were said to have filled the sky when the main hall was completed. The words “Ziyun Screen” were later carved on the wall opposite the temple, giving Ziyun Hall its name, while Huang Shougong came to be honored by his descendants as the founding ancestor of the Ziyun line.

Deyue Tower, brick houses, and the side of a pink mansion across a lawn — Across the lawn, Deyue Tower faces a pink mansion beyond the brick houses.

After making a full circuit, we found ourselves back at Deyue Tower. We had to return to Taipei that afternoon, and there were still so many places we had not managed to revisit...

Deyue Tower and the surrounding historic complex beyond a stone interpretive plaque — After a circuit of the grounds, Deyue Tower and the full complex come back into view.

Tourism development in Kinmen had been moving quickly over the previous few years, and each visit brought newly opened attractions. Next time, I would do more homework first and take my time appreciating the distinctive architecture of each village...

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