南兴楼的故事

Stories of Nan Xing Building

​

南兴楼有三百多年历史，村里三分之二的人都是从南兴楼出来的，门牌上写有“湖楼组”的住户都是从南兴楼里搬出来的。

​

The Nan Xing tulou has a history of more than 300 years. Two thirds of the people in the village come from it. Now, many of its old residents live a neighborhood of the village that identifies them as the“Hu Lou”group. Either they or their ancestors were born in the Nan Xing tulou. 

​

当时南兴楼里面住的人特别多，有40多户，两三百人。为了能容下更多的人，一楼的厨房，原本是两间房，中间加砌了一堵墙变成三间厨房；顶楼的卧室多加了一层木板，和屋檐形成一定角度变成第五层。

​

At that time, there were a lot of people living in the Nan Xing tulou. There were more than 40 households, distributed in two or three hundred people, who shared the common spaces of the Nan Xing tulou. In order to accommodate the growing families, the neighbours made some structural changes on it. For example, the rooms on the first floor, which originally hosted two kitchens, were divided with a thin wooden wall to accommodate three. Another example is the division of bedrooms in the floor: in this case, a layer of wood was also added to the bedrooms  in order to form a fifth angle with the eaves.

​

据村民所述，在清朝年间，土楼里的两个兄弟闹矛盾，其中一个兄弟就去北京打官司，后来另一个兄弟官司打输了，就跑去了台湾，现在生活在台湾的客家人有不少是南兴楼的后代。

​

The Nan Xing tulou is full of interesting stories. One of the villagers told us the story of his grand-grand-grandfather, during the Qing Dynasty: This man and his brother were in conflict for possessions. One of the brothers went to Beijing to go to the Emperor’s court and the Emperor proved him right. The brother, having lost the lawsuit, had to leave the tulou. Also, many of the inhabitants of the Nan Xing tulou emigrated to Taiwan. Therefore, some of the Hakkas living in Taiwan now are descendants of the inhabitants of Nan Xing tulou.

​

土改后，农民分到了土地，生活条件开始慢慢好起来，人们不想住在拥挤的南兴楼里。一些人就在南兴楼旁建起了现代化的砖楼，另一些人则随着子女到城市中去。

​

After the land reform, the peasants were assigned land, and the living conditions began to get better. People did not want to live in the crowded Nan Xing Building. Some people built modern brick buildings next to the Nan Xing tulou, while others went to live to the city with their children.

​

从大门进入方形的南兴楼，你会发现它只有三个楼梯，左前方的转角没有建造楼梯。村民说，当时建造南兴楼的时候，风水先生说那边风水不好，如果建了那只楼梯，家族就会倒霉运。

​

From the gate to the square of the Nan Xing tulou, you will find that it has only three stairs, and there are no stairs in the bottom left corner. According to the villagers, when the Nan Xing tulou was built, the Fengshui master said that the stairs were not good. If the stairs were built, the family would have bad luck.

​

南兴楼的大门宽度达到两米，经历过枪弹和火灾，在太平天国时期，农民的起义也波及到了南兴楼，现在可以看见的修补痕迹就是当年战火留下的。南兴楼大门外面墙的白墙是文革的时候留下的，是用来写“毛泽东思想”的地方。

​

The gate of the Nan Xing tulou is two meters wide. It has experienced wars with bullets and attacks with fires. During the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the fights also spreaded to the Nan Xing tulou. Some traces of repairs after the war can still be seen now. During the Cultural Revolution, the white wall outside the gate of the Nan Xing tulou was used to write "Mao’s thoughts".