To protect themselves from the chaos of ancient times, previous generations of men, inspired by silkworms, had built stone cocoons around them: the Tulou. Enclaves of security and stability in the midst of an anarchic world, these fortified constructions have endured to the present day. All the while, as China on the outside was transforming under the relentless onslaught of modernity, the Tulou continued to preserve their interior space from change. Today it is finally possible for the nostalgic traveler to open the heavy wooden door ajar and take a peek inside, at a world long forgotten.