Jinjiang Lou (left) and Riushi Lou tower over Jinjiangli village.

Jinjiang Lou was built in 1918, Riushi Lou was built in 1923 by Huang Bixou who made his fortune selling medicinal herbs in Hong Kong, It has nine floors, stands at 28 metres tall and cost HK$30,000 (US$3,800) to build. It is the tallest diaolou still standing. Jinjiangli village is one of four clusters that are Unesco World Heritage sites.

Although some diaolou date back as far as the 16th century most were built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to to guard against both bandits and periodic flooding. It s believed that about 3,000 were built originally, of these around 1,800 remain.