The People

    One of the major ethnic minorities living in south China, Dong people have a population of roughly three million, mainly distributed in the mountainous junction of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Hunan Province and Sichuan Province. In Guangxi, Dong people live adjacent to and get mixed with many other ethnic minorities—Zhuang, Miao, Yao, Buyi and so on. The name “Dong” is derived from the term xidong (“streams and grottoes) in Mandarin Chinese, which describes the geographical conditions prevailing in that area.[1]

    Like most of the family houses of Zhuang people, Miao people and Yao people, the traditional Dong family dwellings belong to the 3-story ganlan-style stilt house type representative of China’s vernacular architecture in the south. The stilt house is primarily crafted from locally produced cedar wood (commonly known as China fir) with structural parts linked together with mortise and tenon joints prevalent in various genres of traditional Chinese architecture. The choice of cedar wood is because of both its abundance in the forests of Dong people’s living area, and its ability of regulating the temperature and humidity in those timber structures. The term ganlan both indicates “hanging buildings” and “dry balustrade”, and most of ganlan-style stilt houses are built on sites of irregular topography with supporting pillars on the lower side.[2]

    Shaped by the local conditions of natural environment, Dong agriculture, forestry and architecture are organically intertwined. The Dong forestry primarily concerns the tradition of protecting the forest surrounding the Dong villages, which both results from the forest’s ability of mitigating the heat and humidity during the summer, and Dong people’s veneration towards the natural environment with the long-lasting belief that ancient trees have spirits of their own and would bring good luck to the village. The Dong agriculture is exemplified by a balanced combination of farming and fishing—ordinary rice and glutinous rice are both grown in the paddy fields that brim with water all year long, and fishes, shrimps and paddy eels are raised under the crops. The fishes help the growth of rice by eating algae, pests and weeds and producing fertilizing excrement, thereby fostering a sustainable cycle.[1] Other than the relatively unpretentious family dwellings, the Dong architecture includes ceremonial buildings such as the drum towers, covered bridges and temples of indigenous religions (sama) that are also made from cedar wood, which echoes the preciousness of wood and the forest surrounding the village in Dong Forestry.

    Similar to how the surrounding forest regulates the local climate in Dong villages, the prevalent usage of China fir in Dong architecture is also because of its ability of regulating the microclimate within the house other than its availability and practicality as building materials. Given the prominent temperature difference between day and night in the mountains, China fir can keep the house cool and relatively airy during the summer, and stabilize the room temperature all year long. Meanwhile, the stilt house’s massing guarantees the efficiency of agricultural production for the Dong families. The volume, layout and enclosure of each floor in a Dong stilt house is planned for specific agricultural activities. For the Dong stilt houses built in the pre-modern era, the ground floor is defined by rows of columns and is kept open at all times, in order to accommodate bathrooms and livestock including pigs, hens, ducks and water-buffalos. The first floor contains the main room, or tangwu (堂屋) with a cemented fire pit in the middle for cooking and family gatherings, functioning as the core of the house with bedrooms arranged around it.[2] The third floor was used to store firewood and harvested crops because of a better ventilation under the sloping roof, and additional bedrooms may be arranged beside it.[3]

    The holistic system of Dong agriculture, forestry and architecture greatly contributes to the formation of Dong culture and Dong people’s identity. As the outdoor space, ceremonial buildings and family houses are filled with increasingly diversified programs, the usage of spaces in a Dong ganlan-style stilt house is collectively determined by everyday life, festival celebrations and forms and functions of household items.

[1] Ou, Chao Quan. Life in a Kam Village in Southwest China, 1930-1949. Leiden: Brill, 2007. 51-60.

[2] Knapp, Ronald G. China's Vernacular Architecture: House Form and Culture. Honolulu: Univ. of Hawaii Press, 1989. pp. 51-62

[3] 张凯,闵庆文,许新亚. 传统侗族村落的农业文化涵义与保护策略——以贵州省从江县小黄

村为例[J]. 资源科学,2011,33(06):1038-1045.

[1] Geary, D Norman. The Kam people of China: turning nineteen. January 01, 2001, pp. 3-4.

[2] Geary, D Norman. The Kam people of China: turning nineteen. January 01, 2001, pp. 44-45.