The traditional courtyard houses in Chaoshan are the basic layout, and the most basic forms are called "Shang Lu Gen" and "Si Fen Jin". Small-sized residential buildings in cities and towns have a long and narrow "bamboo pole" layout. Large-scale residential buildings expand horizontally or vertically on the basis of four cents, which are called "three halls series", "eight halls opposite", "four-horse trailer" and "Baifeng Chaoyang", and their external contours remain very regular squares or rectangles. Large-scale collective housing is called "village", which is the product of militarization of rural residents in Chaoshan area in Qing Dynasty. From the plane, it can be divided into scheme and village construction, and from the peripheral way, it can be divided into fence and enclosure. In Chaoyang, this kind of residence is called "gallery". In the old society, most of the poor people by the sea were thatched huts, rammed earth, or made of wood and grass. Building materials in Chaoshan area are adapted to local conditions, and local materials are used, and shell ash and stones are widely used. Shell ash has been fired at the latest in the Northern Song Dynasty, and concrete masonry with shell ash as the main raw material is very popular, not only for building houses and towers, but also for strengthening dikes. Stone materials are not only used in building components such as doorframes, railings, drum stones, steps, column bases, well circles and beams, but also in large-scale buildings such as Shipai Bridge, Stone Pagoda and Stone Bridge.

The basic structure of Chaoshan ancestral hall can be divided into two types: two halls, one hall and three halls and two courts. Its architectural system uses three Chaozhou architectural techniques: wood carving, stone carving and porcelain inlay. It is luxuriously decorated and magnificent, and has certain appreciation value. Chaoshan ancestral temple also has certain historical and cultural value. For example, in Yongsitang, Xishe Township, Puning City, there are inscriptions built during the Republic of China, from which we can learn the origin and lineage of this ancestor, which is of great help to the study of the history of this cluster. There is an ancestral grave at the entrance of Fangzhuang Hall in Houxi Township, Chenghai City, which is extremely rare in Chaoshan.

Chaoshan earth buildings are mainly distributed in Raoping County and Fenghuangshan District of Chaozhou City, such as Tiepu Town Plain in Chao 'an County.