背景資料
客家土樓是東方文明的一顆明珠，是世界上獨一無二的神話般的山村民居建築，是中國古建築的一朵奇葩，它以歷史悠久、風格獨特、規模宏大、結構精巧等特點獨立於世界民居建築藝術之林。
土樓大多為方形或圓形，主要分布在永定，全縣有圓樓360座，方樓4000餘座。尤以奇特的圓形土樓最富於客家傳統色彩，最為震憾人心。
圓形土樓是客家民居的典範，堪稱天下第一樓。它象地下冒出來的“蘑菇”，如同自天而降的“飛碟”。
這種圓樓都由二、三圈組成，由內到外，環環相套，外圈高十餘米，四層，有一、二百個房間，一層是廚房和餐廳，二層是倉庫，三、四層是臥室；二圈兩層有三五十個房間，一般是客房，中一間是祖堂，是居住在樓內的幾百人婚、喪、喜、慶的公共場所。樓內還有水井、浴室、磨房等設施。土樓採用當地生土夯築，不需鋼筋水泥，牆的基礎寬達三米，底層牆厚1.5米，向上依次縮小，頂層牆厚也不小於0.9米。然後沿圓形外牆用木板分隔成眾多的房間，其內側為走廊。
土樓除具有防衛禦敵的奇特作用外，還具有防震、防火、防盜以及通風采光好等特點。由於土牆厚度大，隔熱保溫，冬暖夏涼。
客家土樓閃爍客家人的智慧，土樓格局的恢宏，令人為之肅然起敬。客家的民俗更令人陶醉，客家人世代相傳，朝夕相處，團結友愛，和睦共居的大家族的獨特的生活方式，淳樸敦厚，和善好客，刻苦耐勞的民風；傳統文化的可見、可觸、可感更吸引眾多的遊客的莫大興趣。
Earth Towers of the Hakkas
The Earth Tower of Hakka has a long history. As early as one thousand years ago, some of the original Hakka migrated and settled at the sparse Yongding area. In order to protect themselves against bandits and wild beasts, they used local materials to build tall, multi-storey circular earthen buildings where a whole family or clan could live in. These are the earth towers that we see today.
These buildings were constructed using fire-resistive material and therefore practically impregnable. They are spacious and they are made up of different shapes like square, rectangular, semi-circular and round.
The ones that are round in shape are the most famous. They are divided into three classes of sizes namely, small, medium and big. The small ones are usually 2 to 3 stories tall with a single ring and have 21 to 28 rooms. The medium dwellings are usually 3 to 4 stories tall with a large inner open space, which come in single ring or double rings and could contain 30 to 40 rooms. The larger round buildings are usually 4 to 5 stories tall consisting of as many as three rings and could house about 42 to 58 rooms. Finally, the very small round buildings have about 12 to 18 rooms.
Most of the round buildings are three stories high with a diameter of 70-80 meters. It is a "group-oriented" residence, usually with one main entrance. Its wall is usually around 1 meter thick. The main entrance door is padded with iron sheet and is locked by 2 horizontal wood bars. The wooden bars retract into the walls in order to open the door.
Inside the entrance is a huge central courtyard where all the doors of the rooms and inner windows open facing it. Normally, the rooms at the ground level, except the hall and the staircases, are used as kitchens and dining rooms.
The rooms on the second floor are used for storage and those on the third level are used as bedrooms. The rooms at each level are identical. In front of each room, there is an open round hallway and usually there are 4 staircases to move from one level to another.