Kaiping Diaolou——The watchtower-like Houses in Kaiping City【【What second, the Kaiping area is a stretch of low-lying land and folds were a frequent occurrence. So, these solid and high-rise buildings were good both for defense against bandits and for refuge from the floods.Kaiping Diaolou is listed by the Chinese State Council as a key cultural relic protected by the state. Its total number amounted to 3, 300 in the peak years and now the registered number is 1833, and twenty of the better ones are inscribed on the World Heritage List by UNESCO. Org (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization). These buildings take three forms: communal tower jointly built by. Several families for use as temporary refuge, residential tower built by individual rich family and used as fortified residence, and watch tower for guarding against bandits. In the 1940s during the war of resistance against Japan, some of these towers became strongholds for people’s militia.【【Outstanding Diaolou Structures】】The Diaolou structures in Zili Village, 12 kilometers away from the Kaiping city center, are the most magnificent and best preserved. There are 15 in all, which are all listed as key cultural relics protected by the state. Among them the Mingshilou is the best of all. Built in 1925, it is a 5-storeyed reinforced concrete structure, with an hexagon observation pavilion on the top and a blockhouse built on the outside walls at each of the four corners on the fifth floor. This huge and imposing tower is installed with heavy iron doors and strong iron windows, and is luxuriously decorated and well furnished.Other well-known Diaolou structures are the Yinglonglou in Chikan Town, the Ruishilou in Yan’gang Town and the Fangshe Denglou in Tangkou Town. They were built in different years by different families and so are different in architectural style. The Yinglonglou, built during the Jiajing Reign of the Ming Dynasty in the middle of the 16th century (1522 - 1566), is the oldest Diaolou structure and is free from foreign influence in architectural style. The Ruishilou, a 9 – storied 25-meter high reinforced concrete structure, is the most luxury and is laid out and furnished in the traditional Chinese pattern. The Fangshi Denglou, a reinforced concrete structure built in 1920 by the Fang family, is typical of the Diaolou structure as a watchtower for it was located in an open land and was provided with electric generator,searchlights and guns.【【The Li Garden】】Another tourist attraction in Kaiping City is the Li Garden. It was a private residential garden built in 1926 – 1936 by an American Chinese, Xie Wei Li （谢维立）by name. The garden’s name “Li” （立） was derived from the name of its owner and it gives expression to the meaning of a Chinese idiom Xiu Shen Li Ben（修身立本）, which is written on an archway in the garden, meaning that cultivating one’s moral and character is the key to success in one’s life and work. This idea of the owner’s is also embodied in many other inscriptions and couplets written in the garden.The Li Garden is laid out in the way of traditional Chinese gardening but many of its structures are built in Western styles, such as the two Roman-styled structures popularly known as the Bird’s Nest and the Flower 而楼身却采用了西式建筑风格，楼内的楼梯和地面、墙壁装饰也是中西结合。
如西式壁炉、吊灯，意大利瓷砖、中式的酸枝家具，民间故事壁画，涂金木雕立园不仅建筑艺术精湛，传统文化氛围也非常浓厚立园的主人认为处世兴家的根本在于自身修养，所以他既注意庄重的德行，也提倡休息游览。