增冲鼓楼
贵州是个多民族的省份，世世代代居住着苗、布依、侗、彝、水、瑶、仡佬等少数民族。贵州各族人民在长期历发展进程中，创造了绚丽多姿的建筑文化，为丰富中华民族的文化宝库做出了独特的贡献。贵州各族民居，堪称建筑文化百花园中的朵朵奇葩。
Zeng
Chong Drum Tower
增冲鼓楼
侗族民居
文/吴正光 图/吴正光 冯玉照
China's Dong people, whose villages lie along the boundary between the three
southwestern provinces of Hunan, Guizhou and Guangxi, have a distinctive and
highly developed architectural tradition. This unique style is best illustrated
by the two most important structures in any Dong settlement: the Drum Tower
and the Roofed Bridge.
These Drum Towers & Flower Bridges are among the highlights of the ethnic
architecture. About one million Dong people live in traditional houses that
project over water in the border areas of Guizhou. These houses are flanked
by drum towers, flower bridges, roadside, pavilions and performance stages.
Most Dong Drum Towers are built in the form of a many-story pagoda supported
by pillars of fir. They vary from 3 to 13 tiers and reach a maximum height of
20 meters. The eaves of the ground floor are four-cornered, while those of the
upper levels are hexagonal or octagonal. The front between the first and second
tier is carved with dragon and phoenix patterns - symbols of village prosperity.
The Drum Towers of the Dong Nationality, looking very like pyramids, are made
of fine wood. With unique technology the Drum Towers are constructed without
any nails or rivets. Their Roofed Bridges, crossing over the flowing waters,
are built by means of putting the bridge, corridor and pavilion together. They
are both practical, pretty and convenient. 
Different than those of the Miao minority people, these Dong houses projecting over water have suspended roofs. A typical Dong house has one or three rooms and two or three stories; some have four stories. The first floor is for raising poultry and domestic animals; on the second floor or above, in the front part, is an open-air area that is protected by a waist-high railing. This area is for eating and resting. At the back, there is a kitchen, a storeroom and some bedrooms. The stairs on both sides lead to the second floor and above. Each family has a fire pit in the kitchen for cooking and for heating water.
Historically, Dong-inhabited areas were rich with Chinese fir trees. The local people respected fir trees. Drum towers, a landmark of Dong villages, are built in the shape of a fir. In general, the drum towers are square in shape. Some are square in shape on the first and second floors and octagonal from the third to the top floor. The shortest ones have three stories while the tallest, a dozen stories. Odd numbered stories have dangling eaves. The flying eaves of all the stories are supported with golden claw pillars. Inside the tower there are no extra floors from the bottom to the top. The bottom half of the outside wall of the top floor is decorated with wooden lattice windows and the top half is covered with green-tiled roofs. Its eaves have up pointed ridges. At the canopy of the tower, there is a mast that is hung with a treasured bottle gourd.
In the old days, each tower housed a drum -- hollowed birch log with ox hide stretched over it -- used to summon the village elder to council on important occasions, or to gather the villagers together in case of attack by enemy tribes. The drum was also beaten whenfire broke out, and answering rhythms from neighboring villages would indicate that they were also preparingto stop the flames from reading.In winter, family members sit around the fire pit and make tea to warm themselves up. In summer, they sit in the open-air area behind the railing and enjoy the mountains in the distance and the river below their houses. In spring and autumn, people come to the flower bridges to watch their children play. Dong houses are not built merely with land, wood and but also with the spirit of the villagers. The buildings demonstrate differences in architectural style and skill different areas.
In the
old days, each tower housed a drum -- a hollowed birch log with ox hide stretched
over it -- used to summon the village elder to council on important occasions,
or to gather the villagers together in case of attack by enemy tribes. The
drum was also beaten when fire broke out, and answering rhythms from neighboring
villages would indicate that they were also preparing
to stop the flames from spreading.
Dong villages are built next to rivers and streams, and bridge construction is also an important part of Dong architecture. The roofed (or pavilion) bridge, which gives shelter to travelers in bad weather, is a popular Dong tradition. The pavilions and covered passages which span the length of the bridges are decorated with colorful murals, and they are, indeed, very beautiful.
Dong villages are wooden kingdoms. The houses projecting over the water, the flower bridges and the drum towers, as well as the performance stages, are all built withwood. Each building consists of dozens or even hundreds of logs. All the buildings are built with tenon and mortise. No nails or rivets are used, not even wooden pegs. Dong carpenters know almost nothing about blueprints: they merely depend on their own experience, plus an angle ruler and a bamboo brush. Before construction starts, the master carpenter makes a ruler out of a bamboo tree and uses it to measure or mark the mortise and tenon points of columns or beams. The building of such structures are solid and stable.
All Dong structures are joined by mortises and tenons without the use of a single nail. At least 300 fir logs of various sizes are needed for the average drum tower and are skillfully fitted together diagonally or perpendicularly. Many Dong towers built 300 years ago are still standing steadily. The drum tower group in Zhaoxing Township is the largest and best preserved in China.