The characteristics of the Tujia hammock complete point

Hanging foot building for the Tujia people live in the place of life, more built on the mountain on the situation, was a tiger sitting in the shape of "the left blue dragon, the right white tiger, the front Zhuquan, after the Xuanwu" for the best house, and later on, pay attention to the direction, or sit in the west to the east, or sit in the east to the west. Hanger House on the mountain, with wooden pillars on the ground in the upper and lower levels, the upper ventilation, dry, moisture-proof, is the living room; the lower level is a pig and cattle pen circle or used to pile up debris. The scale of the house is generally a 4 rows of 3 houses or 6 rows of 5 houses, 5 columns of 2 rides, 5 columns of 4 rides for medium-sized families, 7 columns of 4 rides for large families, and 4 courtyards with 4 rows of 3 houses. 4 rows of 3 houses are structured in the middle of the hall, and the left and right sides of the hall are called "rao" rooms, which are used for living and cooking. Raochang is divided into two halves with the center column as the boundary, the front is used as a kang and the back is used as a bedroom. There is a curved corridor around the hammock, and the curved corridor is also equipped with railings. Once upon a time, the footstools were usually covered with thatch or cedar bark, and there were also stone slabs as the roof, but now, the footstools in Exi are mostly covered with mud tiles. The construction of hammock is a big event in the life of Tujia people. The first step is to prepare all the wood, the Tujia people called "cutting green hills", generally choose Tsubaki or purple trees, Tsubaki, purple due to the harmonic "spring", "son" and auspicious, meaning that the spring is always big, children and grandchildren Wang; the second step is to process the beams and column materials, the beams and column materials, the beams and columns are processed. is the processing of beams and columns, known as the "frame code", in the beams should also be painted on the eight trigrams, Taiji, lotus seeds and other patterns; the third process is called "row of fans", that is, the processing of the beams and columns connected to the tenon, rows of wooden fan; the fourth step is the The fourth step is to "set up the house firm pillar", the master choose the auspicious day, please neighbors to help, on the beam before the beam to sacrifice, and then all people work together will be a row of wooden fan up, then, firecrackers sound, neighbors send gifts to congratulate. After the establishment of the house firm pillar is nailed rafter angle, cover tile, installed board and wall. Wealthy people also want to decorate the roof to the sky flying eaves, carved dragons and phoenixes under the hole in the corridor, decorative balconies and wooden rails. Tujia people also planted flowers and grasses in front of and behind the house, a variety of fruit trees, but not planted in front of the mulberry, not planted after the peach, because of the "funeral" and "escape" harmonic, inauspicious. There are many benefits of hanging buildings, high hanging ground ventilation and dry, but also to prevent poisonous snakes, wild animals, floor boards can also be put under the sundries. Hanging buildings also have distinctive national characteristics, elegant "silk eaves" and wide "walking rail" so that the hanging-footed building in its own style. This kind of hang-footed building than the "railings" more successful to get rid of the primitive, with a higher cultural level, known as the "living fossil" of the Ba Chu culture.

The forms of the foot-hanging buildings are various, and their types are as follows:

Single-hanging type, which is the most common form, some people call it "one head hanging" or "key head". It is characterized by only one side of the main house of the compartment out of the overhang, the following wooden pillars support each other. Double-hanging type, also known as "double hanging" or "key-head", it is the development of single-hanging type, that is, in the main house on both sides of the room are hanging out of the compartment. Single-hung and double-hung and not to the formation of different regions, mainly depending on economic conditions and family needs, single-hung and double-hung often **** in one place.

Four water type, this form of hammock and is developed on the basis of double-hanging type, it is characterized by the main house on both sides of the room hammock part of the upper part of the house into one, forming a courtyard. The two compartments of the downstairs that is the gate, this courtyard into the gate must also go up a few stone steps to enter the main house.

The second house hanging, this form is in the single hanging and double hanging on the basis of the development, that is, in general on the foot of the building and then add a layer. Single and double hanging are applicable. Flat hanging type, this form of hanging is also in the single hanging on the basis of the development of the single hanging, double hanging are available. Its main feature is that, built in the flat dam, according to the terrain does not need to hang feet, but will be lifted up the compartment, supported by wooden pillars. The ground on which the wooden pillars are supported is leveled with the ground of the main house, so that the compartment is higher than the main house.

Characteristics The most basic characteristic is that the main house is built on the ground, and the compartments are connected to the main house except for one side which is on the ground, and the rest are all overhanging, supported by the pillars. There are a lot of advantages of the hanging house, the high ground is not only ventilated and dry, but also can prevent poisonous snakes and wild animals, and the floor can be put under the sundries. Hanging-footed buildings also have distinctive ethnic characteristics, with elegant "silk eaves" and wide "walking railings" that make the hanging-footed buildings a style of their own. This kind of hang-footed building than the "railings" more successful to get rid of the primitive, with a higher cultural level, known as the "living fossil" of the Ba Chu culture.

People also planted flowers and grasses in front of and behind the house, and various fruit trees, but the front is not planted mulberry, and the back is not planted peach, which is inauspicious because of the harmonic sound of "funeral" and "escape".

Structure The hanging angle building on the mountain, with wooden pillars on the flat ground, up and down two layers, saving land, cheaper; the upper layer of ventilation, dry, moisture-proof, is the living room; the lower layer of pigs and cattle pens or used to pile up debris. The scale of the house is generally a 4 rows of 3 houses or 6 rows of 5 houses, 5 columns and 2 rides, 5 columns and 4 rides, 7 columns and 4 rides, and 4 patios and courtyards. 4 rows of 3 houses are structured in the middle of the hall, and the left and right sides of the house are called "rao room", which is used for living and cooking. Raochang is divided into two halves with the center column as the boundary, the front is used as a kang and the back is used as a bedroom. There is a curved corridor around the building, and the curved corridor is also equipped with railings.

Some hammocks are three-story buildings, except for the roof tiles, all up and down with cedar wood construction. House columns with large cedar chiseled eyes, columns and columns with different sizes between the cedar diagonal through the straight set together, although not using an iron nail is also very strong. The house is surrounded by a hanging tower, and the eaves of the building are turned upwards like wings to fly. The four walls of the house with cedar boards grooved dense inlay, the elaborate inside and outside are coated with tung oil and clean and bright.

The bottom floor is not suitable for living, is used to raise poultry, placed in agricultural tools and heavy objects.

The second floor is a place to eat and live, with a bedroom inside, and outsiders generally do not enter. Outside the bedroom is the hall, where there is a fire pit, the family will eat around the fire pit, which is spacious and convenient. It is spacious and convenient. Since there is a window, it is bright and well-lit, and the ventilation is good, so the family mostly does handicrafts and rests here, and it is also a place to receive guests. On the other side of the hall, there is a wide corridor connected to it, with a half-half-half-high railing and a row of benches, where the family often rests, and where the mother dresses her daughter during the festivals.

The third floor is airy and dry, very spacious, in addition to the living room, but also partitioned out of the small room for food storage and storage.

The hammock is a unique architectural form of the Tujia people in the mountainous areas of E.C., Chongqing, Hunan and Guizhou, which is a traditional mountain building with typical ecological adaptive characteristics built by combining the local ecological characteristics of steep mountains, wood and soil, humid and rainy, hot in summer and cold in winter, and is also a concrete physical carrier of the Tujia people's folklore, art and aesthetics, and other cultural orientations. Deeply hidden in the mountains of Xuanen County, Enshi Prefecture, West Hubei Province

Taking the hanging footstools of Pengjiazhai in West Hubei Prefecture as an example, based on the field mapping of the buildings, the unique and beautiful traditional architectural form of Tujia hanging footstools is described from the angles of architectural siting, spatial layout, construction technology, and cultural heritage, etc.

The hanging footstools of the Tujia ethnic group were built with typical ecological adaptive features.

Hanging foot buildings, also known as "hanging buildings", are the traditional dwellings of the Miao (Guizhou, etc.), Zhuang, Buyi, Dong, Shui, and Tujia ethnic groups, and there are many of them in western Hunan, western Hubei, and Guizhou. Hanging horns are mostly built on the mountain, in the shape of a tiger sitting on the "left blue dragon, right white tiger, before the Zhu Bird, after the Xuan Wu" for the best house, and then pay attention to the direction, or sit west to east, or sit east to west. Hanger belongs to the dry-rail building, but with the general reference to the dry-rail is different. The dry rail should be all overhanging, so it is called a semi-dry rail building.

The most basic feature is that the main house is built on the ground, and the compartments are connected to the main house except for one side which is on the ground, the other three sides are all overhanging and supported by pillars. There are a lot of advantages of the suspended floor, the high ground is ventilated and dry, but also to prevent poisonous snakes, wild animals, under the floor can also be put sundry. Hanging-footed buildings also have distinctive ethnic characteristics, with elegant "silk eaves" and wide "walking railings" that make the hanging-footed buildings a style of their own. This kind of hang-footed building than the "railings" more successful to get rid of the primitive, with a higher cultural level, known as the "living fossil" of the Ba Chu culture.

The most basic feature is that the main house is built on the ground, and the compartments are connected to the main house except for one side on the ground, and the rest of the three sides are overhanging, relying on the pillar support. There are a lot of advantages of the suspended floor, high ground ventilation and dry, but also to prevent poisonous snakes, wild animals, floor boards can be put under the sundries. Hanging-footed buildings also have distinctive ethnic characteristics, with elegant "silk eaves" and wide "walking railings" that make the hanging-footed buildings a style of their own. This kind of hang-footed building than the "railings" more successful to get rid of the primitive, with a higher cultural level, known as the "living fossil" of the Ba Chu culture.

Once upon a time, the footstools were generally covered with thatch or cedar bark, and there were also slate roofs, and now, most of the hangings in Exi are covered with mud tiles. The construction of hammock is a big event in the life of Tujia people. The first step is to prepare all the wood, the Tujia people called "cutting green hills", generally choose Tsubaki or purple trees, Tsubaki, purple because of the harmonic "spring", "son" and auspicious, meaning that spring is always big, grandchildren Wang; the second step is to process the beams and column materials, the beams and column materials, the beams and columns are processed. is the processing of beams and columns, known as the "frame code", in the beams should also be painted on the eight trigrams, Taiji, lotus seeds and other patterns; the third process is called "row of fans", that is, the processing of the beams and columns connected to the tenon, rows of wooden fan; the fourth step is the The fourth step is to "set up the house and erect pillars", the master choose the auspicious day, please help all the neighbors, before the beam to sacrifice the beam, and then all people work together will be a row of wooden fans erected, at this time, firecrackers sounded, neighbors send gifts to congratulate. After the erection of the vertical column is nailed rafters and corners, cover tiles, installed board and wall. Wealthy people also want to decorate the roof to the sky flying eaves, under the hole in the corridor carved dragons and phoenixes, decorative balconies and wooden rails.

Features

The most basic feature is that the main house is built on the ground, and except for one side of the compartment, which is connected to the main house on the ground, the other three sides are overhanging and supported by pillars. There are a lot of advantages of the suspended floor, high ground ventilation and dry, but also to prevent poisonous snakes, wild animals, under the floor can also be put sundry. Hanging-footed buildings also have distinctive ethnic characteristics, with elegant "silk eaves" and wide "walking railings" that make the hanging-footed buildings a style of their own. This kind of hang-footed building is more successful than the "railings" to get rid of the primitive nature, with a higher cultural level, known as the "living fossil" of the Ba Chu culture.

Structure

The hanging angle building on the mountain, with wooden pillars on the flat ground, is divided into upper and lower levels, saving land, and cheaper; the upper level is ventilated, dry, moisture-proof, and is a living room; the lower level is a pig and cow pen, or used to pile up miscellaneous goods. The scale of the house is generally a 4 rows of 3 houses or 6 rows of 5 houses, 5 columns and 2 rides, 5 columns and 4 rides, 7 columns and 4 rides, 4 patio courtyard. 4 rows of 3 houses structure, the center of the hall, the left and right sides are known as the rao room, for living, cooking purposes. Raochang is divided into two halves with the center column as the boundary, the front is used as a kang and the back is used as a bedroom. There is a curved corridor around the building, and the curved corridor is also equipped with railings.

Some hammocks are three-story buildings, except for the roof tiles, which are all built with cedar wood. House columns with large cedar chiseled eyes, columns and columns with different sizes between the cedar diagonal through the straight set together, although not using an iron nail is also very strong. The house is surrounded by a hanging tower, and the eaves of the building are turned upwards like wings to fly. The four walls of the house with cedar boards grooved dense inlay, the elaborate inside and outside are coated with tung oil and clean and bright.

The bottom floor is not suitable for living, is used to raise poultry, placed in agricultural tools and heavy objects.

The second floor is a place to eat and live, with a bedroom inside, and outsiders generally do not enter. Outside the bedroom is the hall, where there is a fire pit, the family will eat around the fire pit, which is spacious and convenient. It is spacious and convenient. Since there is a window, it is bright and well-lit, and the ventilation is good, so the family mostly does handicrafts and rests here, and it is also a place to receive guests. On the other side of the hall, there is a wide corridor connected to it, with a half-half-half-high railing and a row of benches, where the family often rests, and where the mother dresses her daughter during the festivals.

The third floor is airy and dry, very spacious, in addition to the living room, but also partitioned out small rooms for food storage and storage.

Forms

The forms of the foot-hanging buildings are many and varied, and there are several types:

Single-hanging type

This is the most common form, and some people call it "one-head-hanging" or "key-head". It is characterized by the fact that only one side of the main house, the compartments stick out in the air, and the following wooden pillars are supported.

Double-hanging type

Also known as "double-hanging" or "key-head", it is the development of single-hanging type, that is, at both ends of the main house are hanging out of the compartment. Single-hanging and double-hanging type and not to the formation of different regions, mainly depending on economic conditions and family needs, single-hanging and double-hanging type often **** in one place.

Tetrahedral water type

This form of hanging house is developed on the basis of double-hanging type, which is characterized by the main house on both sides of the upper part of the hanging house part of the chamber house into one, forming a courtyard. The downstairs of the two compartments is the main door, and this courtyard must go up a few stone steps after entering the main door in order to enter the main house.

Two houses hanging

This form is in the single hanging and double hanging on the basis of the development, that is, in general on the foot of the building and then add a layer. Single and double hanging are applicable. Flat ground lifting type, this form of footstool is also developed on the basis of single hanging, single hanging, double hanging are available. Its main feature is that, built in the flat dam, according to the terrain does not need to hang feet, but will be lifted up the compartment, supported by wooden pillars. The ground on which the wooden pillars are supported is leveled with the ground of the main house, making the compartment higher than the main house.

Legend

Legend has it that the ancestors of the Tujia people were flooded in their hometown before they moved to the west of Exi, where ancient trees, thorns and thistles, jackals, wolves, tigers and leopards were all over the place. Tujia ancestors built the "dog paw shed" was often attacked by beasts. People in order to be safe to burn up the root and branch fire, buried inside the bamboo section, fire and firecrackers scared away to attack the beasts, but still often threatened by poisonous snakes, centipedes. Later, a Tujia old man thought of a way: he let the boys use the ready-made tree as a frame, bundled with wood, and then paved with wild bamboo tree strips, and then on the top of the frame covered with a canopy, built large and small air housing, eating and sleeping on it, and from now on no longer afraid of poisonous snakes and fierce beasts of attack, this construction of "air housing" approach spread to more and more people, and then the "air housing" approach to the "air housing" approach. This way of building "air housing" was spread to more people's ears, and they all built "air housing" according to this method. Later, the "sky house" evolved into the present hanging foot tower.

Cultural connotation

The footstools have rich cultural connotation, in addition to the Tujia folk architecture focus on the dragon, built according to the situation and the human and God **** place of the phenomenon of the gods, there is also a very prominent concept of space cosmology. Tujia hammock is not only unilaterally in the embrace of the universe nature, the universe is also in the embrace of the universe nature at the same time. This spatial concept of accommodating the universe is very obvious in the ritual song of the Tujia people: "Take a step up, look at the treasure beam, a round of Taiji in the center, and the first element of the line is presented with auspiciousness. On the second step, joyful, 'Qiankun' two words on both sides, the sun and the moon into a pair of eternal enjoyment ...... "Here the" Qiankun "and", "The sun and the moon represent the universe. In a sense, the Tujia hammock in its subjective and the universe becomes closer, more intimate, so that the houses, people and the universe as one, inseparable.

Miao Hanging Footstools

The Hanging Footstools are the traditional architecture of the Miao people, an ancient form of architecture unique to southern China, with people living upstairs and elevated floors downstairs, which is regarded as the best form of ecological architecture by modern architects. The footstool is the architectural masterpiece of the Miao countryside, it is based on the mountains and the water, lined up, cascading up.

The formation of the foot-hanging buildings has historical reasons, but also natural reasons. According to architects, the Miao footstool is a dry-rail building in mountainous conditions characteristic of the creation, belonging to the hermetic style through the bucket pick beam wooden frame dry-rail type building. From a historical point of view, the Miao architectural culture can be traced back to the ancient times. Miao ancestors Chi where the Jiu Li tribal group began in the Taihu Lake area, they participated in the creation of the Hemudu culture and Liangzhu culture around the Taihu Lake area. Hemudu culture and Liangzhu culture of archaeological discoveries confirmed that the Miao ancestors of the residential is a dry bar type of building.

These hanging wooden buildings, full of Miao artistic imagery, give the hard life of the Miao people an eternal passion for life.

The foundation of the building must be the slope dug into the upper and lower two layers; the depth of each layer is more than 6 feet, each layer of the area of about 100 square meters. The difference between the upper and lower layers is about 4 feet, and the mountain wall between the layers and the outer layer of the mountain is made of stone to protect the can. When the house is built, the front row of flooring pillars are set aside on the lower foundation, and the outermost non-flooring pillars are leveled with the floor slabs sticking out of the upper foundation, forming a suspended foot, and the space between the upper and lower foundations becomes the ground floor of the footstools, which is the so-called "sky is flat and the ground is not flat" characteristic of the footstools. Hanging-footed buildings adopt the bucket structure, with 5 to 7 pillars in each row, and the pillars are connected by melons or square pillars to form a solid network structure. The center column must be made of maple wood, because maple is the totem tree of life of the Miao people, and it is the holy tree that symbolizes the soul of the ancestors.

According to tradition, the shrine of the ancestors' holy spirit is to be located at the foot of the center post on the second floor. The Miao people believe that in the foot of the building in the ancestors of the Holy Spirit day and night shade, the family can be prosperous, everyone can be healthy and safe. The walls of the building are made of sliced cedar boards. The window panes in each room are made of wood strips and are arranged in different patterns. Each room has a single door, except for the main door of the main hall, which has two doors. Wealthy people also carved dragons and phoenixes in relief on the gate. Above the main door, installed at both ends of the two doors when the wood carving, when the other end of the door into the bull's horns, commonly known as "hit the door hammer".

Most of the footstools have an overhanging corridor outside the foundation of the second floor, which serves as a passageway to the main door. Hall outside the suspended corridor, the installation of a unique s-shaped curved rail chair, the Miao language called "Ga interest" (ghab xil), the folk have a beautiful name called "beauty leaning", this is because the girls are often picking flowers in this embroidery, to the outside to display the posture and the name. In fact, the "Ga interest" is also used as a family after a long day of work to relax and take a break, cool off and watch the scenery, tell the inheritance of the Miao myths and migratory history, as well as singing the "ancient song of the Miao", "Ga Baifu song" of the multi-functional lanai.

The foot-hanging building is generally based on three four standing post or three two partial building, generally divided into three layers, the bottom layer are used as livestock and poultry pens, as well as used to shelve farm implements and sundries and other things. The middle layer of people, the center for the hall, the hall on both sides of the post to add columns, floor thickening; because this is the main activity of the family space, but also banquets guests singing and dancing place. There are a few families who place a shrine to the Holy Spirit of the Ancestors on the wall facing the main door. Sacred family ancestor worship activities take place in the hall, and generally, the left and right side rooms are used as bedrooms and guest rooms. The third floor is mostly used for semi-storage of grain and seeds, and is the family's storehouse; if the population is large, it is also fitted with partitioned off bedrooms for occupants. The kitchen is placed in the side building. The spatial division of the building is organized with the room where the shrine of the Holy Spirit of the Ancestors is located as the core, and then extends and radiates outwards. When family members live in such a spatial combination, they are invariably united by the spatial gravitational pull of the hall where the ancestral shrine is located, thus enhancing the affinity for family unity. The traditional Miao religion of ancestor worship is fully and perfectly embodied in the residential architecture of the hammock.

Dong footstools

The footstools are a kind of residential architecture very rich in Dong characteristics. Mountain dwelling of the Dong ethnic minority for the porch type two or three small buildings, downstairs placed pestle and mortar, stacking firewood and weeds, raising livestock. People live upstairs. Upstairs in the first half of the light, is a family rest or manual labor place; the second half of the room, which has a "fire", which is the "ancestors" of the position, but also for heating, cooking. The third floor has a bedroom upstairs. Generally a family of one, but also some villages, such as Miaojiang, Bajiang, Linxi area in Sanjiang County, Guangxi, more clans and live together, the same house family house connected together, the corridor eaves, can be intercommunicated, celebrations and festivals, gathered here, set up banquets to receive guests. The Pingba Dong, such as Tianzhu, Xinhuang, and Lianjiang in Rongjiang County, have two-story houses, with people living downstairs and storing food and sundries upstairs. There is a "shrine" in the hall, with bedrooms and kitchens on both sides, and pig and cow pens at the back of the house.

The housing of the Dong people in Hunan Province channel, still retains the characteristics of the Baiyue ethnic "dry appendage" type of building, more than three houses dry appendage type of wooden buildings, the bottom floor for pigs and cattle and other livestock house, upstairs, the wooden buildings have corridors out, and decorated with railings, railings are equipped with fixed benches for rest, commonly known as "hammock", the "hammock", "hammocks". The wooden buildings have corridors extending out and decorated with railings, and fixed benches are provided by the railings for people to rest, which is commonly known as "hanging footstool". This wooden building, up to five or six layers, the structure is strict, not allowed to use a nail, the whole system mortise and tenon embedded, showing the Dong architectural craftsmanship.

Indoor layout, the second floor has a fire pit, is cooking and hospitality places. They also retained the Yue people "sit all squatting" ancient custom, eating and drinking with short feet. Sitting on primitive wooden stools, it is hard to find high tables and chairs. When cooking, firewood should be put in from the west. Because of the legend that the west is the birthplace of the Dong people, the fire was brought from the west by their ancestors. Dong is a beautiful people, like to dress up the environment is very beautiful, such as the house of the column head, like to carve it into the form of bamboo, wooden buildings like with corridors and carved railing. Walled wells, like to use the carving of the green slate to build a hut cover up, the well also put some red, white and black flowers and fish. The front and back of the fortress are shaded by ancient trees. Even the village road is also paved with lapis lazuli or pebbles, people always make it into a variety of patterns, very beautiful, so it is called "Flower Street". Therefore, into the Dong village, so that people have as into the gallery.

Tujia footstools

The footstools are the embodiment of the wisdom of the Tujia people.

The Tujia footstools are mostly wooden structures, and earlier the King of the Tujia strictly prohibited the people of Tujia to send tile, only allowed to benefit cedar bark, thatched grass, called "only allowed to buy horses, not allowed to send tile". Has been to the Qing dynasty Yongzheng thirteen years "change on the return to the stream" only after the rise of Gaiwa. Generally for the horizontal row of four fans of three, three columns of six riders or five columns of six riders, the middle of the hall, for generations of ancestors shrine, is the core of the family rituals. According to the terrain, the building is divided into half hanging, half hanging, double handcart two-wing hanging, hanging key head, curved hanging, Linshui hanging, across the gorges over the hole hanging, rich people carved beams and painted buildings, cornices high, stone level coiled, there is a large air of poetry and painting of the mood of the Pavilion.

The footstool for the Tujia people live in the place of life, more built on the mountain on the terrain, was a tiger sitting in the shape of a triad. Pay attention to the direction, or sit west to east, or sit east to west. The main house has a long three, five long, seven long. Large and medium-sized families are mostly long five or long seven, small families are generally long three, the structure has 3 columns 2 melon, 5 columns 4 melon, 7 columns 6 melon. The l room in the center is called the "hall", which is used for offering sacrifices to ancestors, welcoming guests and handling weddings and funerals. The left and right rooms on both sides of the hall house are "human dwelling rooms", each divided into two small rooms in front and behind with the center pillar as the boundary, the front small room is used as a fire room with 2-eye or 3-eye stoves, and there is a fire store installed in front of the stove, and there is a 3-foot-square fire pit between the fire store and the stove, surrounded by 3 to 5-inch bluestone boards, and there is a "three-legged" stand in the middle of the fire pit, which is used for cooking, cooking, and cooking, and for the purpose of cooking, and for the purpose of cooking. In the middle of the fire pit, there was a "three-legged" stand, which was used as a stand for cooking rice and stir-frying pots and pans. In the center of the fire pit, there is a "three-legged" shelf, which is used to set up pots and pans for cooking and stir-frying. Above the fire pit, at a height of one person, there is a wooden kang frame hanging down from the upper floors, which is used for baking preserved meats and dried bean curd. The back room was used as a bedroom, which had floor boards to prevent dampness, and the parents lived in Dali-tou (on the left) and the daughter-in-law lived in Xiaoli-tou (on the right). When the brothers were separated, the elder brother lived in Dali Tou, the younger brother lived in Xiaoli Tou, and the parents lived in the "robbing pocket room" behind the shrine in the hall.

No matter how big or small the house has a sky floor, the sky floor is divided into two types of board floor, strip floor. In the bedroom above the board floor, with wooden boards paved floor, put all kinds of objects and food cabinets, can also be arranged in the bedroom; in the fire room above the floor is a strip, with bamboo strips paved with gaps in the strip floor, specializing in putting grain sticks, melons, by the fire room fire produced by the smoke can be discharged through the gaps smoothly. In front of the main house, a hammock building with compartments is built behind the building to build pigsties and toilets. The construction of wooden hammock buildings emphasizes the bright feet (i.e., the pillars should be straight and long), and the roof emphasizes the flying eaves and corners. Hanging foot building is often three-story, downstairs placed pestle, mill, stacking firewood; in the middle of the building stacking food, farm equipment, etc., the upper floor for the girls floor, is the Tujia girls embroidery, paper-cutting, performance of hemp, shoes, reading and writing place. Outside the middle and upper floors, there is a wooden corridor around the building, which is used for drying clothes, etc. During the harvest season, corncobs are often worn on long strings, or soybeans and peanuts pulled from the ground are tied up and hung in the corridor to cool in the sun. In order to prevent thieves, the house is surrounded by a stone and mud wall. In front of the main house is a dam, and outside the dam there is an eight-fold gate on the left side of the wall, and most of the houses are surrounded by bamboo, fruit trees, and landscape trees. However, the front is not planted mulberry, not planted after the peach, because with the "funeral" and "escape" resonance, inauspicious.

Tujia hammock window carving art is to measure the level of architectural craftsmanship is an important symbol. There are a variety of carving techniques, such as relief, hollow carving, carving techniques are delicate, colorful connotations. Some symbolize the status, some pray for good luck, some show farming, some reflect life, some education, some record style. Birds and animals, birds, flowers, insects and fish, song and dance competitions, myths and legends, lifelike, deliberate and profound.

There are many benefits of hanging buildings, high hanging ground ventilation and dry, but also to prevent poisonous snakes, wild animals, under the floorboards can also be put debris. Hanging buildings have distinctive national characteristics, elegant "silk eaves" and wide "walking rail" so that the foot of the building into its own style. This kind of hang-footed building is more successful than the "railings" to get rid of the primitive nature, with a higher cultural level, known as the "living fossil" of Ba-chu culture. Yinjiang now well-preserved, representative of the Langxi, Heshui area of the Tujia footbridges.

To Zhangjiajie, who want to see the Tujia footsteps. The Tujia people love to live in groups and live in footstools. Built houses are mostly wooden structure, small green tiles, lattice windows, the Division of the eaves overhanging, wooden railing handrails, walking horse corner, ancient color. General home have a small courtyard, fences in front of the yard, the yard behind the bamboo groves, green stone paving, planing planks mounted house, pine bright illumination, a family living in the sunrise and sunset of the idyllic and quiet life. Kang family to three columns of four chess for the main house, the rich family has five columns of eight chess, there are seven columns of twelve chess and "four patios" of the compound. On both sides of the courtyard, there are compartments or corner houses, including the main house with a single corner house and the main house with a double corner house. The center of the main house is called the hall, and there is a shrine on the upper wall, which is a place for ancestor worship and entertaining guests. The left and right rooms on both sides of the hall are called the living room, and the living room is divided into two rooms with the center pillar as the boundary. One room in the back was for people and the other in the front was called the fire hall. In the fire hall, there is a kang, inside the tripod, for cooking, stir-frying, hot water, is a family dinner, warmth, rest, guests come to sit on the side of the kang. There is a wooden frame hanging on the kang for kang bacon or baking objects.

Due to the successive dynasties on the Tujia to implement the policy of suppression of troops, the Tujia people into the mountains and old forests, its living conditions are very poor, the "Old Tang Dynasty" said: "soil gas more miasma, the mountain has poisonous grass and sand vipers and snakes, and the people and the building to live, climbed the ladder and up the dry bar." Plus less land, the Tujia people had to repair footbridges on the steep slopes of the cliffs.

Earlier, the King of the Toastmasters strictly prohibited the people to cover the tile, only allowed to cover the cedar bark, thatched grass, called "only allowed to buy horses, not allowed to cover the tile". Has been to the Qing dynasty Yongzheng thirteen years "to return to the stream" only after the rise of cover tile. Generally for the horizontal row of four fans of three, three columns of six riding or five columns of six riding, in the middle of the hall, for successive generations of ancestral shrines, is the core of the family rituals. According to the terrain, the building is divided into half hanging, half hanging, double handcart two wings hanging, hanging key head, curved hanging, waterfront hanging, across the gorge and across the stream hanging, rich people carving beams and paintings, cornices high, stone level coiled, there is the poetic and pictorial mood of the pavilion in the air. Famous Tujia poet Wang Chengdong wrote:

Wonderful mountains and beautiful water wonderful Huanqiu, wine cottage song township beauty to collect.

Pillow night on the footstool, ten years of dreaming also flow.

Now, if you want to watch the Zhangjiajie Tujia footstools and folklore performances, the best place to go is the Tujia Museum - Tujia Style Park and Xiuhuashan Pavilion.

Yao Hanging Footstools

In the depths of the Nanling Mountains, you can see such a unique landscape everywhere: between the blue sky and blue water, covered by the mountains, a chic wooden buildings living in accordance with the mountain situation, creating a flat space for human habitation in the steep mountainous terrain. This is the Yao ethnic dwellings hanging feet.

The Yao people are a mountainous people, often built on the mountains next to the water, the masterpiece is the harmony between man and nature and living in the footstools. Yao people live in mountainous areas, very little flat land for building houses in pieces, so they chose a place with a gentle slope, half of the land leveling, the other half of the mountain according to the different lengths of cedar wood columns to support, frame wood paving slabs, and dug the flat house site into a flat whole, and then build houses on this whole. The climate in the mountains is humid, rainy and hot, in order to ventilate and avoid moisture and prevent wild animals.

These footstools, presented in front of you in a decentralized, hazy, hidden way, like a piece of light and beautiful music, like a simple and simple Yao family man, like a quiet and shy Yao family daughter, into the embrace of nature, to harmonize and unify the connotation of the beauty of one infected people.

I remember the 19th century aesthetes, artists have coincidentally called the building "solidified music". If China's long history of a variety of human landscapes as a rich and majestic symphony, then I think, the Yao family footsteps is rooted in the Nanling Mountains, across the ages, hidden and stored for a long time of the song of the ages. It is deep and heavy singing pastoral, moonlight song, lullaby, behind the light melody, contains a very strong sounding story, so it is a thousand years of singing, standing.

It is no wonder that so many literati, experts and scholars, both ancient and modern, have traveled to visit the footstools and left countless poems, paintings, beautiful articles and music for them. Born and raised in the Yao painter Wang Mengyi, life and footstools have formed an unbreakable love affair. The foot-hanging buildings under his pen are as quiet as a virgin, and as beautiful as a fairyland. It seems that there is life bubbling and flowing in it. His masterpieces "Border Village" and "Frosty Morning", the foot-hanging buildings on his paper exudes a unique artistic charm, which has been recognized by experts at home and abroad. I think the painter may also be one of the confidants of the footsteps, the cultural and artistic charm of the footsteps itself in the painter's mind stirred up unlimited creative excitement Qing and potential, so he wrote a god.

Of course, with the development of production, social progress, now a new generation of Yao people have a new pursuit, they aspire to the city, out of the mountains, into the modern civilization of the ranks of the townspeople to come, their ancestors have lived in the hammock, and therefore by the cold.

Into the Yao Mountain I often feel that such a scene, in a spring like a modern brick building, there are always a few dilapidated footstools, in the wind and rain silently watch, hidden a few points difficult to support the Bureau and shaking. So my heart can not help but a burst of bitterness; must know that a wooden house is a history of engraved marks, a story of the past ah! You can imagine, it must have been a warm home, family members depend on each other, generation after generation, spring sowing and fall harvesting, hard work, how many brilliant or bleak, ordinary or strange life's first footprints on the brand here ah. The owner of the house, even in his old age, often recalled that difficult and cozy life, cloudy eyes often staring at the life that is crying, wrinkles will gradually smile, that is their own hope ah. They are by the wind and rain of life, such as through the vicissitudes of the footsteps of the building as old, however, who can deny that they have been yellowed by the years of erosion of the history of entrepreneurship? Who can forget the lullaby full of tears and joy? The first is the blood and soul of the Yao people.

In China's vast land, the ancestors left behind a lot of architectural works of art, according to experts pointed out that, like the Yao family footstools such as the excellent building, is the Chinese traditional architecture in the world's longest history of continuation of the longest, the most adaptable, very distinctive style of an architectural system, people should be cognizant of it.

Admittedly, the aesthetic value of the hammock should be a historical depth and abundance, should be the succession and extension of the ancient and modern, without its existence, there is no today's Yao architecture of aesthetic thinking development, it left to posterity is the footprint of the evolution of human civilization, is the eternal national spiritual temperament.