Kaiping Diaolou Tour: Jinjiangli Village, Guangdong Province, China

If you have read my first two posts (Chikan and Majianglong) on the Kaiping Diaolou Tour in China’s Guangdong Province and were awaiting the next installment, then here it is finally. A little later than billed but you know how it is. On the second morning in Kaiping we headed out to Jinjiangli Village to check it out. Our day ticket from the day before included entry to this one as well. JInjiangli Village translates as Embroidered River Village and is one of the 4 villages as part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site listing for Kaiping Diaolou.

How to get to Jinjiangli Village

As I mentioned on the previous posts on Kaiping Diaolou there are really only 3 ways to get to these places and those ways are:

1. Hire a car and drive yourself (could be tricky).

2. Go as part of a bus tour (could be costly).

3. Hire a driver (probably the best option).

If I was travelling alone I would choose option 2 there as it will work out better value and you might also meet fellow travellers to share the experience with. On this occassion myself and my girlfriend had my girlfriend’s brother taking us round, so it was a case of giving him some petrol money and off we went! Getting there by car driving yourself could be very tricky.

Where is Jinjiangli Village?

Obviously it’s a village on the edge of the city of Kaiping in Guangdong Province. But that’s not really going to be useful to you. It’s in the countryside and it is hard to find. Head out of the city of Kaiping south west on the main road (National Highway 325) then past Gong Fu Ting, head onto the S275 and look for Xian Gang. The entrance to the Jingjiangli Village is near Xian Gang. I’d just go with a driver or a tour group to save the hassle.

What is Jinjiangli Village?

It is a series of Diaolou buildings in a small village in the Chinese countryside. They were influenced by Byzantine architecture andbuilt by returning Chinese people who had lived abroad in the United States and Canada. The village is a traditional Chinese village bereft of commercialism. As far as I’m concerned Jinjiangli (and the other Kaiping Diaolou I visited) are unique and special places.

How much does it cost to visit Jinjiangli Village?

The day before we had bought our Kaiping Diaolou tickets which includes entry to all 5 of the main attractions. At the entrance to Jingjiangli we just got that stamped though you can buy a ticket there and then too, to cover all 5 sights. (Chikan and Kaiping City are free of course – they’re just towns/cities!).

This ticket costs 180 RMB/Chinese Yuan per person. The ticket includes one visit to each of the five main sites, of which Jinjiangli Village is one. Tickets are bought on arrival.

What are the main attractions of Jinjiangli Village?

Walking around the village is enough to inspire you and you will love it, but going inside the Diaolou buildings is the main thing you should really do. They are opened by the owners, or friends of the owners during the day time and you can go inside, which we did of course. This village at Jinjiangli was much better and nicer than Majianglong in my opinion, which I found odd as Majianglong has been described as the most beautiful village in the world. Here are the main three Diaolou Buildings to check out:

1. Shengfeng Lou

2. Jinjiang Lou

3. Ruishi Lou

This was the third building we went into in the JinJiang Lou and was the most memorable. We liked the views from the top and the fact you had a better view of the other Diaolou buildings from up there. The Ruishi Lou was my personal favourite.

This is the third part of the Kaiping Diaolou Tour, of which I will write five posts, so two more to come Zili Village and the more elegant LiYuan Garden will follow.

In the meantime here are my videos from JinJiangli Village: