What are the characteristics of Dong's wooden structure?

In mountainous areas, Dong people live in the "Gan Lan" building, with stone tablets downstairs, firewood and sundries piled up and livestock raised. People live upstairs. The first half is a place for the whole family to rest or engage in manual labor; The second half is the inner room, which has a fire pit, which is not only the place where the "ancestors" sit, but also the place where the whole family heats and cooks. On both sides of the fire pit or on the third floor are bedrooms. Dong people's houses are generally one by one, and some houses of the same family are connected together, and the eaves are connected and can communicate with each other.

The layout of Dong folk houses is often group-like, with houses arranged around a pool. The pool has two functions, one is to discharge sewage, and the other is to set up public toilets. Dong people's houses have no toilets, and toilets are common. It is located in the middle of the pool and has a wooden bridge to enter the toilet.

Another feature of Dong folk houses is the inverted pyramid shape, that is, the second floor is about 60 cm on the basis of the first floor, and the third floor is about 60 cm on the basis of the second floor. It is a way for Dong people to use space to form an inverted pyramid-shaped wooden building with a big top and a small bottom. This way of occupying the sky but not the land is really a clever way to seize the space.

Dong people, like building the Drum Tower, must ask the mage to look at the terrain and find a good foundation before building a vertical house. There is a folk saying that "Yi Long is divided into two parts and three parts", which shows that geomantic omen is also very important in residential buildings. When the foundation is selected, go up the mountain to look after the wood. Go home and prepare two fat pigs, hundreds of pounds of rice and drinks, and then start building a house.