Guanxi Walled House
关西新围
A large square Hakka walled house built in the Jiaqing era of the Qing dynasty, with corner watchtowers and high, thick walls. Known as the “Oriental ancient Roman castle,” it is the representative walled house of southern Jiangxi.
Guanxi Xinwei is in Guanxi Town, Longnan City. The local wealthy merchant Xu Mingjun began building it in the third year of the Jiaqing reign (1798). It took nearly 30 years to finish. Covering about 7,400 square metres, it is one of the largest and best-preserved square walled houses in southern Jiangxi, and it is a national key cultural relic protection unit. The outer wall is about 9 metres high and 1 metre thick. Each corner has a watchtower, and the walls are full of loopholes. There is only one main gate. This reflects the Hakka way of living, with clans living together and defending against outside threats. At the centre is an ancestral hall, and the layers of halls and courtyards, with three entrances and six bays, are nested within one another. There are several hundred rooms in total. Outside the walls are a small garden, the “Young Ladies’ Tower” (Xiaojie Lou), and the Meihua Academy, among other ancillary buildings. Visit: allow about 1.5–2 hours. You can ask a guide to explain Hakka clan culture. Ticket prices are confirmed on site. Getting there: take a taxi from Longnan East or Longnan station on the Ganzhou–Shenzhen high-speed railway, about 30–40 minutes. You can combine a visit with nearby Yanyi Wei and Liyuan Wei in one day. Note that the house has residential areas, so do not enter private rooms. The interior is dim and there are many steps.
Opening hours
08:00–17:30
Nearby sights
- Xichang Wei & Penggao Wei
- Yuzaitan Wei
- Liyuan Wei
- World Hakka Folk Culture City
- Qianxin Town
- Nan Wudang Mountain
- Yanyi Wei
- Dongsheng Wei