This is What an Ancient Chinese Anti-Theft Alarm System Looks Like

I walked into the courtyard of a historic house in Pubian Village on Kinmen Island with a historian who started pointing out the peculiar aspects of the architecture. It was an old East/ West hybrid house, a peculiar architectural style that is unique to the Kinmen area. But my attention was captured by something else: an assemblage of curved terracotta pieces that were artfully assembled into a row of triangles along the top of the property’s stone wall.

“What are those clay triangles for?” I asked.

“It’s to keep thieves away,” I was told. “It’s kind of like an old anti-theft alarm. If someone tries to climb over the wall they will break the ceramic, and it will make a loud noise and the people inside will hear.”

The ceramic tiles are too frail to support the weight of a human, so if someone was to grab onto them or try to climb on them they will shatter. Apparently, the sound of this is loud enough to work as an alarm.