Off the beaten path: exploring HIDDEN GEMS of rural China 🏯 不走寻常路的旅行，福建版！

[@SwampBeats666]

As a third generation overseas Chinese I have been rediscovering my ancestrial roots through reading and watching travel vlogs like yours. Thank you for sharing your travels!

[@gabriellagirardi4741]

China is undoubtedely amazing and your videos really allow us to know it better, not only big cities, but above all rural China with a real approach to local traditions.Thank you very much Katherine for showing us these hidden gems of China! ❤

[@sportsonwheelss]

old grandpa in small villages have such great hospitality.

[@xiaoshan-mj9xb]

USA spy.

[@Time4Peace]

You have captured a vanishing world in China's transition to modernity. Your video provides the window of that transition..Thanks!

[@simonyang-pe3ux]

Chinese culture is inclusive and totally awesome,guys

[@benthekeeshond545]

Do you have a clue why these Tu Lou buildings were built like a fortress? I hate to say this, but Chinese culture, just like most human behaviors, can be very intolerable.

[@ctourmaline]

@@benthekeeshond545 ? When will you realize that the actual intolerable one is YOU

[@agoogleuser5130]

@@benthekeeshond545 They were built to defend the villagers against foreigner’s invasion, genocide. Foreigners just like you.

[@louiserobinson9776]

I am so envious that you have the chance to go all over China and see all these amazing places!!

[@exjock4foodie]

Then follow her and travel

[@yung-chengchang3905]

Those are specialty buildings by Hakka people! I am 50% Hakka and I have been to the village and was impressed. Love this place and love to see Katherine in Tulou! There was a small square that contains many rods or columns or tiny monuments symbolizes the villagers who have been offciers in martial or literacial areas since generations ago!

[@seechunchong9876]

Awesome, thanks for the video. The Tulou were build by the Hakkas. I am a Moiyan (Meixian) Hakka, born and living in Malaysia, able to speak Hakka, Cantonese, Mandarin, a little Fujinese (Hokkien) but I spend a lifetime trying to figure out what my brother in law is saying. He is a Yonding Hakka from Fujian (Hakka with heavy Fujian influence). 😂😂😂

[@陈索-g4y]

语言会被地方语言互相影响😂

[@williamwijaya577]

福建客永定長汀連城武平上杭講的客家話都不一樣

[@musicboxforeverable]

土樓應該是客家人的傳統屋子，現代建築物類似這樣的設計應該算是蘋果公司的總部。感謝陽離子分享福建鄉土民情👍🏼

[@56degrees]

Your channel's distinct, creative, cinematic style - I absolutely love it!

[@dimascennel2075]

Bangunan itu kami menyebut nya sebagai bangunan etnik HAKKA. Leluhur kami berasal daris FUJIAN. walau sekarang kami sudah keturunan generasai ke4-ke5, yang lahir di indonesia.

[@JunnoWei]

与你同宗的福建人

[@jasonzhang4849]

我是广东的客家人，欢迎你们回来中国游玩。

[@charleneji6759]

Glad the tradition is well preserved. Many thanks to Katherine for recording it.

[@yiuhingwong5897]

陽離子晚上好🌠🤗

[@kats_journey_east]

晚上好🌛

[@hainanbob6144]

I've seen them in photos and on tourist sites but never in 'real life'. Your video filled that blank! PS I love the music, especially when you were in the older tulou.

[@Choolloyd]

A very nice and interesting video clip! Thanks for sharing it Katherine. All the best to to you; and will definitely be looking forward to your next clip. Cheers!🍻

[@marybendfeldt9596]

I watch these knowing that I may never get to China but am fascinated on so many levels! Thanks for making videos, Katherine, and go Hokies!!!

[@kats_journey_east]

Hope you get a chance to visit someday! and nice to meet a VT alumni😄

[@marybendfeldt9596]

@@kats_journey_east actually my husband is the Hokie and a local foods/soil science/ regenerative ag person. You may enjoy the podcast 4 the Soil… thinking it may relate to your work and is made by another (bit older) Hokie. Take care of yourself and know that we are so glad that you are well supported here and abroad!

[@hclau218]

It is not that expensive to visit China. A heck of a lot cheaper than going to Europe😂😂

[@marybendfeldt9596]

@@hclau218 our experience has been in Tanzania so we are usually East Africa focused when working or traveling, but I would love to go on an off the beaten path tour in China (which I realize is giant). My great aunt lived there and left when unrest after Boxer Rebellion started. I have her letters… even took Mandarin for a year. It is a heck of a lot harder than Spanish and Swahili, but I would still love to visit! Thanks for the encouragement!

[@k.k.c8670]

Very easy and not too expensive nowadays. And with real time translation on your phone, not a big problem.

[@alf7326]

Very cool. Fun Fact: Certain belligerent state during the cold war thought these tulou were missile silos. Imagine being the target of military strikes just because somebody thought your humble abode looked like a missile silo.

[@pandalover0704]

Katherine's videos deserve way more watches and subs 🤗🤗

[@norino8441]

Interesting place, people, custom and culture for one interesting video !❤

[@PS-383]

Katherine in full tourist mode - chasing down a procession and joining in.😅

[@AudreyHong-e1w]

Another fantastically interesting piece discovering Chinese history! Love learning about all that you explore, Katherine! Thank you for sharing your journey with us!

[@monkeynorn]

These fortresses are such unique architectural wonders!

[@lz4737]

1:23 Every time I see you guys rushing to some event, I got a big smile like this 😆

[@kail9777]

Super cool video 😄Man this brings back memories of exploration

[@banshong3997]

Another great video showing the unique architecture of southern China. Thank you for helping to popularising and perhaps preserving a log gone era. Perhaps your efforts will spur more conservation efforts to this end❤❤❤👍👍👍🙏🙏🙏

[@beautifuldream108]

I still remember USA thought tolou is the nuclear weapons in the 1960s.😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@这啥呀这是]

Bro how old are you

[@ufoforest]

i just want to say that too 😂

[@ufoforest]

​@@这啥呀这是i knew that too and i am almost 40

[@jerometsowinghuen]

I heard and learned about dirt fortresses before, and one from the live action movie of Disney's Mulan. Cannot believe that it is still using until the present day.

[@BenjiSun]

While it's cool they used the idea of it in a Hollywood production about Chinese that doesn't make a mockery of us, just know pretty much none of the things presented in Disney's Mulan are of any historical accuracy to Chinese history. Hua Mulan is likely Tuoba tribe of proto-Mongolian Xianbei ethnic gathering (like Murong tribe from the Louis Cha novel Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils), they're based in the areas around modern day Outer Mongolia and parts of Manchuria and a large portion of modern day Siberia, fighting off Xiongnu nomads(maybe related to the Huns) from Central Asia. Tulou's and similar Baodiao are exclusively a south and southeastern Chinese thing, for small villages warding off local bandit attacks. The two have nothing to do with each other, and probably a few hundred years apart at least.

[@TAL142]

Mulan was from northern China. So this was used mainly for Hollywood effects. There is big fish and Begonia animated also has these Tulou.

[@lz4737]

Yep, Big Fish was the first movie that I was reminded of.

[@vincenttayelrand]

Aaah Katherine - always chasing 'The Thing' May your chases never end.....

[@robinlam6797]

If you have another chance to visit a tulou, come to my grand grand father's tulou prince, 振成樓, u would definitely know how nice a tulou may look like. It is really a master piece of its kind.

[@hz240]

This channel is a breath of fresh air during times of uncertainty. Thanks for taking us on this fascinating journey and sharing the Fujian culture. Looking forward to your next series/destination. Keep spreading positive vibes. 😊

[@sportsonwheelss]

it is actually a Hakka culture with those tulou.

[@chrisyong8719]

Thank u for this epic journey into the vernacular villages of China. Truly extraordinary. The drone captured the immerse scale of the buildings which I suppose houses an entire clan of families. This must be the first commune of its kind in the world?

[@marilovescoffee]

You've done a great job of sharing the delightful randomness of any given day in rural China. It's also delightful to see Mehmeti and Aysajan again.

[@utube41952]

I love your sense of adventure and showing things I will probaly never get a chance to see or experince. Keep up with your adventures and showing the diverse cultures in china.

[@truthseeker000000]

I love this video. The Tolou buildings are so unique and interesting. You and your friends are so cool. Love the vibe. 👍👍😍

[@MindofYǒng]

Congratz Kath for your dream come true, if you find yourself hard to understand these people dialect, I'm not surprised. 'Cause I still be able to speak Hakka dialect but only understand a few words from this local people. I realized their Hakka mixed with Fujian dialect become complicated to understand it.

[@ti-brindesbois5408]

You made my day! Thank you!

[@davidlaw9686]

The Tu Lou are actually built by the Hakka people. They are actually not native to Fujian. They came from the northern part of China to escape from their enemies. Such races have spread to other parts of China too, though in smaller numbers, as they moved south. They had built such houses for protection of their community from their enemies, as they were welcomed into Fujian.

[@injunnfuz6698]

What a fascinating place unbelievable building n unique style

[@rasamalai]

I was looking forward to this video!!! Thanks for the night tour, I had not thought you could visit them at night! :O And the little snippets of the ones turned into hotels, omg!! It sounds so nice to be able to live with all your family in one huge place :)

[@戢鎮海]

Very very unique architecture 😮

[@hawkkim1974]

so it's an ancient chinese version of apple HQ. very interesting

[@RespectOthers1]

What a fantastic video about tulous but our appreciation of your continuous hard work is never too high! :D

[@DannyChean]

Katherine, you are taking us to see a china that even lots of us have never seen before :D

[@Pink-Sushi-jp]

Urbanization will deplete the rural population, like the empty villages in Japan and Italy. Eventually, those not converted to tourism will decay and disappear. See them before they are gone. Thanks for capturing this.

[@ensteffo]

Was great to see inside the earth fortresses as i have never seen that. I remember maybe around 5 years ago some intelligence agency or think tank tried to present a small gathering of these earth fortresses on a satellite image as missile silos which was somewhat hilarious and sad at the same time.

[@ww7095]

Amazing architecture and the people living within. Probably one of the earliest apartment building concepts in history. First time seeing these type of fortresses in an awesome Chinese amine movie named "Big Fish & Begonia" a few years ago, now glad to be able to see the real deal and its culture continues...

[@iamnotfooled]

Wow!! Katherine , you have opened my eyes !! Thanks!

[@rasamalai]

Those lions reminded me of a short video I saw on facebook, of a little girl who was practicing her lion dance on the sidewalk, and then a truck with a lion dancers group and band drove by and they played music for her to dance to as they rode by, and then she greeted them with three head shakes, or something like that! I wish I could see a good explanation on everything about it!

[@eltonbritt1502]

It's pretty convenient to travel around China coz the transportation network is really great. 👍

[@davidlaw9686]

The black, or dark face figurine is not because of the smoke. The 3 doll like figurines are actually one. They represent three different forms. He is the Third Prince Diety, or called Nezha, or San Tai Zi.

[@sumamihardja6083]

Deity.

[@ZhenJieWU-ud1nd]

你做的视频非常棒非常有意思，让世界各地的人都能看到普通中国人民生活的样子，非常接地气，中国还有许多非常漂亮值得一去的地方，希望你能在中国玩得开心

[@6Euphoria6]

So happy to see more and more people noticing my home province, FuJian.

[@rosalianolasco5741]

Another beautiful & enjoyable video's to watch. Again thank you, Katherine & to the two very gentle man & handsome companions as well. Thank you! ❤

[@dongwu518]

阳离子，建议在土楼区域骑单车，可以从南靖到永定，看看各种的土楼。2017年带着10岁的女儿从福州骑行到那边。

[@DwenDwen-Snowball]

非常棒👍🏻，我也去过土楼，都是你去的更多😂。欢迎去福州参观，你发现地铁是免费的😊😊

[@Jkl62200]

These Tulous are the homes of Hakka Dialect people (usually those who fled to Fujian, not those in Guangdong) and were built around 1100 CE onwards. One was portrayed in the Hollywod movie Mulan, even though there was no such buildings during her time which was almost 900-1000 years before

[@andrewzhang985]

It is not true that Tulou only appeared after 1000 ce. There were Tulou long before that. It is also not true that Tulou only built by Hakka people. In Fujian, most Tulous were actually built by Han Chinese.

[@Jkl62200]

@@andrewzhang985 Hakkas are Han. What are you even talking about?

[@nileshbhattacharya2526]

CUTIPIE Sis pls do live session 🇨🇳🇮🇳❤️

[@SW-pn4ww]

Thanks for sharing. Amazing culture.

[@7hx89]

It’s gigantic! Much larger than a picture would suggest. Happy life’s!

[@summerbreeze9576]

Great video! Even people who are not Hakka live in big compounds in the Fujian countryside to protect from bandits--my dad's family' ancestral home in the mountains outside Fuzhou is like a small square Tulou, with turrets on each corner. Very cool!

[@KS-to9hb]

This is amazing! Both fun and informative!

[@kunchen6908]

very good informational and educational content.

[@coral1253]

陽離子感謝妳拍視頻給大家分享

[@LW78321]

Really enjoyed this video of you exploring Fujian!

[@tomsunuwar6940]

Anicent great 🇨🇳❤️💐

[@Goodmaolee]

土楼才是真正冬暖夏凉的建筑，小时候住过湖南的土房子，夏天很舒服。

[@leeleng1458]

So much things to see in this video,love it!

[@橙子-m8w]

晚上好，阳离子❤咋感觉你油管粉丝活跃一些，三小时都有100+回复了🎉

[@kananilehua100]

Glad to see you and Aysajan again❤❤

[@verophilly654]

Very interesting! Thanks, Kat.

[@lv9657]

A 4th generation of overseas Chinese & Hakka, we had visited these Hakka's tulou not long ago. Very impressive & Hakka foods are good.

[@k.k.c8670]

4th gen means what? The 4th gen born in Malaysia or you start counting from the ancestor who first came from China?

[@lv9657]

​@k.k.c8670 my great grandfather came to SEA during the late Qing dynasty period.

[@k.k.c8670]

@@lv9657 OK.. So you are 3rd Gen born in Malaysia. I know some people call that 4th. Just wanted to understand.

[@jamesmoy1214]

Ive seen a hutong at the Peabody museum in Salem Massachusetts once but I’ve never heard of these before! You got me interested in seeing tulous now! Thanks to you and your new buddies! 👍Happy New Year🐉

[@RP-mm9ie]

Thanks

[@margaretabendroth8658]

SO LOVELY TO WAKE UP TO A NEW KATHERINE BLOG. LOVE IT. HAVE A BLESSED DAY KATHERINE.

[@kats_journey_east]

hope you have a blessed day too ☀️

[@dtang-su9wg]

土樓的群体建築符合古代 "天圓地方" 概念😊

[@stevenkyle9426]

great video. thanks

[@lm-pw9ul]

Your Mandarin is so good. I'm of Chinese descent but can't even speak Mandarin, nevermind reading/writing Chinese. My mum's mother is from Fujian so she can still speak Mandarin and Fujian dialect/Hokkien.

[@bengt_axle]

Thank you for this wonderful episode of "China's Got Talent," featuring Aysajan. The architecture shown in the video confirms what I've always suspected, namely that Apple totally copied China when they constructed their Apple Park headquarters in Cupertino, CA.

[@Abraham-lu9rx]

Interesting building

[@hsheuw]

6:23 Cate.. you might find it interesting that there is a life-sized replica of Yongding Tulou in Jakarta, Indonesia 😊. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesian_Hakka_Museum It serves as a museum by the way. of course, it comes with modern amenities like : flush toilets, lifts and air cons.

[@TD-yj8ch]

I like how her Xinjiang friend kept telling the kids that he was Chinese.

[@JJ098_yt]

你看到有活动，兴奋追赶的样子，太可爱了😂

[@hehe-mq2bk]

your singing friend is handsome heheheh

[@roberttan6418]

These tulou is constructed by the Hakka people and they are nomads. My ancestry is also from Fujian but I'm born in Malaysia.

[@Jkl62200]

Hakkas are not "nomads". They are "guest people" from Northern China who fled southwards in batches over several centuries starting from around the time the Song Dynasty was deteriorating

[@roberttan6418]

@@Jkl62200 What you said is true, but in layman's terms is coined that way. They are basically not a guest and that's why they built such houses in order to protect themselves and family.

[@MindofYǒng]

Hakka are Not Nomad, their hometown are in Henan.They flee to the south because of war during Jin dynasty and they are the latest Han people that migrated to south, that's how they got the name Hakka (guest family) from Cantonese people, your Fujianese people called them "Khek Lang" and "Kejia" in Mandarin.

[@Jkl62200]

@@roberttan6418. Nomads move around. They are seasonal people. Hakkas were not. But maybe that's how you call them in Malaysia

[@roberttan6418]

@@Jkl62200 BTW, my wife is a Hakka. There are few types of Hakka people. You can differentiate by the accent. Malaysia has many southern Chinese namely Cantonese, Chaoshan, Hakka, Hainanese, Fujian people and on average many can speak all dialects. We are very proud of our Chinese heritage and Chinese education.

[@charmingst9850]

love your video

[@Jimmy_Chow]

我的老家也是每年都有这样的游神活动，抬着菩萨打着鼓挨家挨户走

[@z_a_r_a_oxowowsb7511]

Like it much

[@rikoscorpion]

awesome!

[@ynnusliewkamwah7146]

Nice 👍

[@haoryu3233]

我最喜欢你的好朋友啊！ now that I can understand mandarin a bit more I can really appreciate your spin on the translations.😂🎉❤

[@feiwang6338]

That's a Chinese missile silo in the satellite view.😁😁😁

[@privacyhelp]

CNN: China has dangerous facilities close to residential areas.

[@aungaisum8654]

Actually they thought it was UFO 😅

[@phoenixgogo]

Not common missile, starship😂

[@privacyhelp]

Why was my comment deleted? 🤨

[@tkh2944]

Why are her 2 companions so happy ... ? People who are being genocided shouldn't be so happy & free !?🤣🙄

[@Crom21]

what a place

[@ExpatNatt]

Stunning 😍😍

[@KendanNYC]

you are amazing

[@truthbetold001]

My late grandfather taught me enormously. After nearly 2 decades I visited his grave site with some difficulty locating it, laid out offerings and cleaning peripherals, a non family started lighting red candles, the wind was there, however he tried numerous times,it refused to lit, my first attempt at red candles offering accepted instantly, his first born grandson in the family. His act touched me Deeply still and revaluate my nonchalant beliefs in honouring my grandfather, ps the site was demolished by the greedy bastard burmese government to onsale money making. I strongly believe we have guardian angels looking after us although he known me for my first two years of life 😢😢

[@junkman888]

That VT QTR zip seems to be of great quality…

[@donewow9112]

不错不错，粉丝量都12W多了，优兔播的水晶杯应该领到了的吧

[@iirabbitful]

最有特色的是东歪西倒楼也叫裕昌楼😊

[@amandagrant4331]

There is such a building in the Hollywood movie Mulan

[@xiangtian5385]

应该把农具和以前的生活用具整理好，成为博物馆，因为那些东西很快就不会再有了