The mountain Village relics distributed in Zhangzhou.

The whole family live together,which is full of pleasure.

First, the basic feature of the clay building is the "living together" of the whole clan, which is similar to the traditional living way of the Hans in the central I plains of China. The clay building was well equipped while beaming a clan atmosphere like a small society.

    The head of the clan was chosen from the elders who should be of noble character and high prestige. The flat surface of the clay building is characterized by symmetry with explicit building centre while having reflected strong hierarchal ideas. Such a kind of arrangement embodied the patriarchal clan ideology while being in line with the management and control of the conglomerated clan. In terms of technology, though a great deal of ramming technologies were applied, the construction of the clay building was not divorced from the timber-framed building system popular in the Central Plains, while it could be called a branch of architectural culture of the Chinese dwellings.

    In spite of the fact that the ancestors of the Hakkas were the Hans in the Central Plains it was inevitable in the long process of their migration that their culture including language, costume, living habits exchanged with the natives in the southern part of China. The cultural variation emerged in comparison with the orthodox culture of the Central Plains. Moreover, Many Hakkas settlements formed the autonomous management model like the minority nationalities ¨C a trend of native-orientation. Although the Hakkas claimed themselves as the descendants of the Hans, the central authorities always treated them as a minority nationality, who were always called "southern barbarian". In the course of suffering from political oppression, military suppress and cultural bias, the Hakkas armed themselves with strong consciousness of self-defense. Besides, the mix of local ethnic groups led to uninterrupted conflicts and because of limited governmental management many Hakkas could not but live in the fortified clay dwellings for safety's sake.

    As for the emergence of the round clay building, Huang Hanmin who has studied the clay buildings for many years, pointed out that the round clay building could be traced back to the dwelling of Zhangzhou region of Fujian Province, near the Minxi Hakkas-inhabited region. The Hakkas had learned building technologies from them. Therefore the round buildings were widely distributed over the west part and the south part of Fujian Province. Historically the Zhangzhou area was affected by chaos resulting from civil wars. Then the round castles or mountain villages situated on the mountain tops emerged here and there and finally evolved into the round clay dwellings. At the initial stage the Hakkas lived in the Wufeng Buildings. Which were similar to the residential in the central plains. In the process of eastward migration, in other words, after they settled down at the juncture of three provinces, Fujian, Jiangxi and Guangdong and for the sakes of survival and security they had learned the constructing methods of the clay building of Zhangzhou area. their shapes of residence gradually simplified while its function of self-defense was strengthened, in other words, they had undergone the process from Wufe/tg dwelling to square building and finally to round building.

    Moreover, some scholars are inclined to explain the origin of the round building in terms of cultural orientation. In their opinion, in order to seek lucky, safety and wealth the designer of the round building mixed the Eight Diagrams and diagram of the universe into the designs of the buildings, which finally evolved into the round plane.