客家土楼是东方文明的一颗明珠，是世界上独一无二的神话般的山村民居建筑，是中国古建筑的一朵奇葩，它以历史悠久、风格独特、规模宏大、结构精巧等特点独立于世界民居建筑艺术之林。
   土楼大多为方形或圆形，主要分布在永定，全县有圆楼360座，方楼4000余座。尤以奇特的圆形土楼最富于客家传统色彩，最为震憾人心。
　　圆形土楼是客家民居的典范，堪称天下第一楼。它象地下冒出来的“蘑菇”，如同自天而降的“飞碟”。
　　 这种圆楼都由二、三圈组成，由内到外，环环相套，外圈高十余米，四层，有一、二百个房间，一层是厨房和餐厅，二层是仓库，三、四层是卧室；二圈两层有三五十个房间，一般是客房，中一间是祖堂，是居住在楼内的几百人婚、丧、喜、庆的公共场所。楼内还有水井、浴室、磨房等设施。土楼采用当地生土夯筑，不需钢筋水泥，墙的基础宽达三米，底层墙厚1.5米，向上依次缩小，顶层墙厚也不小于0.9米。然后沿圆形外墙用木板分隔成众多的房间，其内侧为走廊。
　　土楼除具有防卫御敌的奇特作用外，还具有防震、防火、防盗以及通风采光好等特点。由于土墙厚度大，隔热保温，冬暖夏凉。
　　客家土楼闪烁客家人的智慧，土楼格局的恢宏，令人为之肃然起敬。客家的民俗更令人陶醉，客家人世代相传，朝夕相处，团结友爱，和睦共居的大家族的独特的生活方式，淳朴敦厚，和善好客，刻苦耐劳的民风；传统文化的可见、可触、可感更吸引众多的游客的莫大兴趣。

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 sparse¹ 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 clan² 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 spacious³ 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 dwellings⁴ 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 retract⁵ 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.

While the round building is fairly large, it has an inner ring, which is like a round building within a round building. The round buildings that were built earlier than the 15th century also had another function, that of counter siege. It is said that during the Ming Dynasty, Japanese pirates who intruded⁶ the coastal⁷ areas, always leave the Hakka's Earth Buildings area alone.

The formation of the Earth buildings amplify⁸ the wisdom and creativeness of the ancestors of the Hakkas settlers in Yongding County. It closes the gaps between Chinese architecture history and the world architecture history and is regarded as a miraculous⁹ wonder by thousands of experts, scholars and tourists who have been enchanted¹⁰ by it beauty.