In the just concluded World Heritage Conference held in New Zealand, Kaiping Diaolou 开平碉楼, or Watchtowers, and Villages, as the only candidate of China to apply for the World Cultural Heritage in 2007, was successfully approved by the Conference, becoming the 35th Chinese item included on the World Heritage List.

As more than 200 items in the country stand in the waiting list for application for World Heritage status, the application project of Kaiping Diaolou and Villages was initiated only six years ago.

Moreover, it is now the youngest World Cultural Heritage site in China, claiming a relatively short history of barely over a century.

"I was shocked at the scene before me. Although I had seen relevant pictures and read articles, I never expected that these diaolou, or watchtowers could be so widely scattered in the rural areas of Kaiping, in the villages where local farmers live."

Zhang Fuhe, an architecture professor with Tsinghua University, told us his first response on seeing Kaiping diaolou in 2001. His feeling was echoed by Cheng Jianjun, another scholar studying the culture of Southern Guangdong with the South China University of Technology.

"I was very surprised to see so many buildings in villages which perfectly combine the Chinese and western architectural styles ?C not just one or two buildings, but nearly 2,000 such structures. That's amazing."

Kaiping is a small town in southern China's Guangdong Province, known as a hometown of overseas Chinese. As most Kaiping people went to America, Canada and Australia, when they came back, to build their houses, most of these buildings boasted strong exotic flavors. These buildings are called Diaolou, literally translated as watchtower.

Zhang Fuhe said that, although China boasts a history of centuries of building magnificent palaces, the Kaiping diaolou, with a history of just over a century, are definitely a unique creation of the Chinese farmers who combined eastern and western architecture.

"It can be considered to have inherited the style of the traditional Chinese watchtower, which can be traced back to the Han Dynasty, nearly 2,000 years ago, as we can see such an architectural style in many paintings and frescos of tombs from this period. It has also inherited the structure of local residences, which contain three rooms and two corridors on one floor. Along with these two, it has simultaneously absorbed many elements of western architecture."

The construction of Kaiping Diaolou started from the end of the Ming Dynasty, more than 300 years ago. But the real trend to build diaolou came at the end of 19th century, when the US issued a Chinese Exclusion Act, and Canada carried out a similar policy, forcing many overseas Chinese to return to their hometowns and build their own houses. During the peak of the 1920s and 30s, there were more than 3,000 diaolou constructed across villages of Kaiping area, 1,833 of which have been preserved. Among these buildings, one can find both the traditional Chinese architectural style alongside that of the western countries of various periods, including Greek, Roman, Byzantine, and Baroque, as well as some courtyards and villas that strike a good combination between Chinese and western styles.

But why did they choose the shape of watchtower to build these structures? Professor Zhang Fuhe explains.

"The building was constructed to mainly defend the moss troopers or robbers. In the old days, especially in the 1920s and 30s, when local warlords were rampant, security in the neighboring area was quite poor, so people constructed houses in the style of watchtowers for the purpose of protection."

Besides this advantage, the tall and solid watchtowers could also protect locals from flooding. Professor Cheng Jianjun with the South China University of Technology introduced that its building materials were the reinforced concrete, still rare even in large Chinese cities at that time.

"The building techniques of Kaiping diaolou were quite advanced in those days. They widely applied reinforced concrete in their construction. It is estimated that the earliest diaolou constructed with reinforced concrete was built in 1890 - which is even earlier than that in Guangzhou City."

Protecting the local villagers from moss troopers and flooding, the diaolou is also a place for education. Zhang Guoxiong, a professor with the local Wuyi Overseas Chinese College, tells us more.

"The Diaolou served as schools in Kaiping. It could form a classroom, a teachers' office, as well as dormitories for teachers and students. As we know, in early 20th century, when the western education mode had just been adopted by China, the children who could receive such education were usually only those from rich families. Consequently they became the target of moss troopers or robbers. So, due to its unique structure and function, the diaolou became the best and safest place for these children to receive their education."