Chuxi tulou complex in Chuxi village, Yongding district, Longyan city, Fujian province received World Heritage Status from UNESCO in 2008. [By Hu Meidong/China Daily]

Longyan is a city located in the southwestern part of Fujian province, bordering Guangdong to the south and Jiangxi to the west.

The city holds several prestigious titles, including National Civilized City, National Sustainable Development Experimental Zone, and National Pilot Area for Ecological Civilization Construction. It has been selected as one of the Chinese cities to carry out innovative city construction.

Longyan has a humid subtropical climate characterized by short and mild winters and long, hot, and humid summers. It is an important mining area with many forests in Fujian.

In 2024, Longyan's gross domestic product (GDP) hit 341.87 billion yuan ($46.65 billion), an increase of 5 percent compared to that of 2023, according to official data. The added value of the city's primary, secondary, and tertiary industries totaled 32.76 billion yuan, 135.82 billion yuan, and 173.29 billion yuan in 2023, increasing by 2.6 percent, 2 percent, and 7.9 percent respectively.

It is renowned for the architectural wonders of the Hakka tulou － or "earth building" － a type of rural dwelling in Fujian that combines accommodation with fortification. 

Set amongst rice, tea, and tobacco fields, the tulou features tall fortified mud walls capped by tiled roofs with wide overhanging eaves. They are inscribed as exceptional examples of a building tradition and exemplify a particular type of communal living and defensive structure, have a harmonious relationship with the environment, and are an outstanding example of human settlement.

There are 23,000 tulou scattered about Longyan's Yongding district. The district is also home to the "prince of Hakka tulou", which was designated on the World Heritage List in 2008.

Longyan is rich in tourism resources. The city has one world cultural heritage site, three national 5A tourist attractions, 13 national 4A tourist attractions, and 38 national 3A tourist attractions.

Longyan is also renowned for its local red tourism, which refers to visiting historical sites with a modern revolutionary legacy. It is also home to the former site of the Gutian Meeting, which was a historical event for the Communist Party of China and the army.

Tulou, or earthen buildings, are the ancestral homes created by local Hakka people. [Photo/IC]

An aerial view of Yunzhai village in Longyan's Wuping county in East China's Fujian province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]