Portrait of an LBX

A girl flashes us the ubiquitous peace sign as we walk back to our hotel after checking out Luxi Town's tulou.

A man carries his granddaughter piggyback through the courtyard of Luxi Town's Zhibi Tulou (植碧楼).

A woman prays at a small shrine in the courtyard of Luxi Town's Shengwu Tulou (绳武楼), the larger and more recent of the town's two remaining tulou (roughly 120 years old). The building used to house 24 families, but now only two remain. The others have used money sent back from relatives working in China's cities to build their own homes and move out. But since the building is considered to be of historical and cultural value, the families are not allowed to sell their tulou homes, which are now used only as storage spaces. Each tulou includes a central well for communal use.

With China's schoolchildren off for the New Year holiday, it looks like some parents are taking advantage of the free labor, but not just for shoveling the driveway as is the case when I'm home!

A teenager on a scooter passes in front of the Zhibi Tulou (植碧楼), the older and smaller of the two remaining tulou in Fujian's Luxi Town (芦溪镇). On our way out of town today we finally passed through one of the UNESCO World Heritage Tulou areas. While the concentration of the unique buildings was impressive, the Disneyland-like atmosphere of the area left us feeling extremely grateful for being able to see the tulou in their unrestored form in Luxi.

A man works in the fields outside of Zhongteng Village (钟腾村) in Fujian. Zhongteng has three tulou (土楼) -- large, castle-like, earthen structures housing dozens of families around an inner courtyard. The one on the left is called Facing the Sun Building (朝阳楼) and the one on the right Horizontal Building (水平楼). A third, not pictured, sits further to the right. Generally, only the poorest residents of a village live in the tulou as everyone moves out as soon as their children off working in China's cities send home enough money for them to build "Western" houses (read: cement and brick boxes).

Two little girls play chase among the tulou (土楼) of Zhongteng Village in Fujian.

Brother and sister sit in the back alleys of Xiazhai, Fujian.

A little boy stares at the three goofy looking foreigners walking around town in spandex shorts and bike jerseys.

This girl didn't really want her picture taken and looked away from the camera right as I was taking it. Now it looks like she's got some serious attitude.