Diaolou structures were built from the time of the
Ming dynasty to the early 20th century, reaching a peak during the
Warlord Era in the 1920s and 1930s, with the financial aid of
overseas Chinese, when there were more than three thousand of these structures. Today, approximately 1,800 diaolou remain standing, and mostly abandoned, in the village countryside of
Kaiping. The earliest standing diaolou in Kaiping is
Yinglong Lou () in the village of Sanmenli (Chikan township), built by the
Guan lineage during the reign of the
Jiajing Emperor of the Ming dynasty (1522–1566). It was a massive three-storey rectangular fortress with one-meter thick walls, with little resemblance with the high tower diaolous built four centuries later. Yinglong Lou was renovated in 1919 and is 11.4 meters high. Kaiping was a region of major
emigration abroad, one of the "pre-eminent sending area" of overseas Chinese. Diaolous built during the chaotic early 20th century were most numerous around the centers of emigration. Monies from emigrants wanting to ensure the security of their families, villages, or clan lineages were used to fund the diaolou. As a result, the villagers built their diaolou to incorporate architectural features from China and from the West. Still, they stand as a tribute to overseas Chinese culture and the perseverance of the peasants of Kaiping. UNESCO wrote, "
...the Diaolou ... display a complex and flamboyant fusion of Chinese and Western structural and decorative forms. They reflect the significant role of émigré Kaiping people in the development of several countries in South Asia, Australasia, and North America, during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and the close links between overseas Kaiping and their ancestral homes. The property inscribed here consists of four groups of Diaolou, totaling some 1,800 tower houses in their village settings." The four restored groups of Kaiping diaolou are in: Zilicun village () of Tangkou township (), Sanmenli village () of
Chikan township (), Majianglong cluster () of Baihe township (), and Jinjiangli village () of Xiangang township (). The Kaiping diaolou was the location for parts of the filming of 2010 movie
Let the Bullets Fly (). ==Examples==