Chongqing Diaojiao Building, 4 rows of fans, 3 rooms.

A wooden/bamboo house supported by wooden supports, with ladders extending upward.

brief introduction

Also known as "Diaolou", it is the traditional residence of Zhuang, Buyi, Dong, Shui and Tujia, and there are also many Diaojiaolou in Xiangxi, Hubei and Guizhou. Diaojiaolou is built on the mountain and looks like a tiger. The best house is "left green dragon, right white tiger, before Suzaku and after Xuanwu", and later it faces, either sitting west to east or sitting east to west.

Diaojiaolou is a dry fence-style building, but it is different from the general dry fence. Stilts are suspended, so they are called semi-stilt buildings.

build

In the past, diaojiao building was usually covered with thatch or fir bark, but it was also covered with slate. Now the diaojiao buildings in western Hubei are mostly covered with mud tiles. The construction of diaojiao building is an important event in Tujia people's life. The first step is to prepare wood. Tujia people call it "cutting green hills", and generally choose Toona sinensis or purple trees. Toona sinensis and purple tree are auspicious because of homophonic "spring" and "zi", which means that spring is always big and future generations are prosperous; The second step is to process the material of large beams and columns, which is called "frame size", and draw bagua, Taiji and lotus seeds on the beams; The third process is called "fan arrangement", that is, the processed beams and columns are connected with tenons and arranged into wooden fans; The fourth step is "building a strong column". The host chose the ecliptic as an auspicious day and asked all the neighbors to help him. Before releasing the beam, he will make a sacrifice to the beam. Then everyone Qi Xin worked together to erect rows of wooden fans. At this time, firecrackers will explode and neighbors will send gifts to congratulate him. After the vertical house is reinforced, nail the rafters, cover the tiles and install the board wall. Wealthy families have to decorate eaves on roofs, carve dragons and draw phoenixes under corridors, and decorate balcony railings.

trait

The most basic feature is that the main house is built on the ground, and the wing is supported by pillars on three sides except one side leaning on the ground, which is connected with the main house. Diaojiaolou has many advantages. Hanging on the ground is ventilated and dry, which can prevent poisonous snakes and wild animals, and sundries can be placed under the floor. Diaolou also has distinctive national characteristics. Elegant "silk eaves" and wide "walking columns" make the diaojiao building unique. Compared with "Gan Lan", this diaojiao building successfully got rid of the primitive and has a higher cultural level, so it is called the "living fossil" of Bachu culture.

People still plant flowers and various fruit trees in front of the house, but it is unlucky not to plant mulberry before and peach after, because it is homophonic with "mourning" and "fleeing"

structure

Diaojiaolou, built on the mountain, is divided into two floors with wooden pillars on the flat ground, which saves land and is cheap. The upper floor is ventilated, dry and moisture-proof, which is the living room; The lower floor is a pigsty or used for stacking sundries. The average house type is 4 rows of 3-room houses or 6 rows of 5-room houses. The average house is 5-column 2 riding, 5-column 4 riding, and the big house is 7-column 4 riding and 4 courtyard. There are 4 rows of fans with 3 rooms, with a hall in the middle and Rao rooms on the left and right sides for living and cooking. Rao's room is divided into two halves by the pillar, with the fire kang in front and the bedroom behind. There is an arc corridor around the building on the diaojiao building, and the arc corridor is also equipped with railings.

Some diaojiao buildings are three stories, except for the tiles on the roof, which are all made of Chinese fir. The pillars of the house are all cut out of big Chinese fir, and the pillars are all connected by straight sleeves with Chinese fir of different sizes, although none of the nails are strong. There is also a hanging building around the house, and the eaves of the building are like wings. The walls of the house are closely inlaid with cedar boards, and the delicate inside and outside are coated with tung oil, which is clean and bright.

The bottom floor is not suitable for people. It is used for raising poultry and placing farm tools and heavy objects.

The second floor is a place to eat and live, with a bedroom inside, and outsiders are generally not allowed to enter. Outside the bedroom is a hall with a fireplace, and the family eats around the fireplace, which is spacious and convenient. Because there are windows, it is bright, well lit and well ventilated. Family members often do manual work and rest here, and it is also a place to receive guests. On the other side of the hall, there is a wide corridor connected with it. There is a railing half a person's height outside the corridor, and there is a row of benches inside. Families often rest here, and mothers will dress up their daughters here during festivals.

The third floor is airy, dry and spacious. In addition to being used as a living room, there is also a small room for storing food and things.

form

Diaojiaolou has many forms, and its types are as follows:

Single hanging, which is the most common form, is called "hanging at one end" or "key head". It is characterized in that only the wing on one side of the main room is hung, and the lower part is supported by wooden columns. Double crane, also known as "double crane" or "dustpan mouth", is the development of single crane, that is, there are hanging wings at both ends of the main room. Single cranes and double cranes are not formed in different regions, mainly depending on economic conditions and family needs. Single crane and double crane are often in the same place.

Four-in-one-water type is developed on the basis of double-hanging type, which is characterized by connecting the upper parts of the hanging feet on the two wings of the main house into a whole to form a quadrilateral. The downstairs of the two wing rooms is the gate. After entering the gate, this quadrangle must climb several stone steps to enter the main house.

Double-chamber crane is developed on the basis of single crane and double crane, and it is added with a layer on the basis of general hanging foot building. Single crane and double crane can be used. The form of flat crane and diaojiaolou is also developed on the basis of single crane, which has both single crane and double crane. Its main feature is that it is built in a flat dam. According to the terrain, it didn't need to hang its feet, but it just lifted its wings and supported them with wooden posts. The ground supporting the wooden column is flush with the ground of the main house, so that the wing is higher than the main house.

One legend is that ...

Legend has it that Tujia ancestors moved to western Hubei because of floods in their hometown. At that time, there were towering old trees, thorns, wolves, tigers and leopards everywhere. The dog claw shed built by Tujia ancestors is often attacked by wild animals. For safety, people lit a tree fire and bamboo was buried in it. Fires and firecrackers scare away the attacking wild animals, but people are often threatened by poisonous snakes and centipedes. Later, an old Tujia man thought of a way: he asked the boys to make a shelf out of ready-made big trees, tie up wood, spread wild bamboo strips, build a roof on it, and build large and small air houses to eat and sleep in. From then on, they are no longer afraid of the attack of poisonous snakes and beasts. This method of building aerial houses later developed into the present diaojiao building.

Cultural connotation

Diaojiaolou has rich cultural connotation, besides the deification phenomenon that Tujia folk houses pay attention to Long Mai and create a land of man and god according to the situation, it also has a very prominent space cosmology. Tujia diaojiao building is not only in the arms of the universe and nature unilaterally, but also in the arms of the universe and nature. This concept of space accommodating the universe is very obvious in Tujia Shangliang's ritual music songs: "In the previous step, look at Baoliang, with a round of Tai Chi in the center, and a line of unity is auspicious. In the last two steps, the word "Gankun" is on both sides, and the sun, the moon and Yong Cheng can both enjoy it ... "The words" Gankun "and" Sun and Moon "here represent the universe. In a sense, Tujia Diaojiao Building is subjectively closer to the universe, thus making the house, people and the universe integrated and inseparable.

Dong people's diaojiaolou

Diaojiaolou is a kind of residential building with Dong characteristics. Most of the Dong people's houses living in the mountains are two or three-story verandah-style small buildings. There are stone tablets downstairs, firewood and sundries piled up, and livestock are raised. People live upstairs. The first half of the upstairs is full of light, which is a place for rest or physical labor; The second half is the room, in which there is a "fire pond", which is the location of "ancestors" and is also used for heating and cooking. There is a bedroom on the third floor. Generally, there is one building for each family, and some villages, such as Miaojiang, Bajiang and Linxi in Sanjiang County, Guangxi, are inhabited by many ethnic groups. Houses of the same family are connected together, and the eaves are connected, so we can exchange needed goods and celebrate the festival together. They gathered here to hold a banquet to receive the guests. Dong people in Pingba, such as Lianjiang area in Tianzhu, Xinhuang and Rongjiang counties, are mostly two-story buildings with people living downstairs and food and sundries stored upstairs. There is a "shrine" in the hall, with bedrooms and kitchens on both sides, and pigsty and cowshed behind the side room.

The Dong folk houses in Tongdao, Hunan Province still retain the characteristics of Baiyue nationality's "Ganlan" architecture. Most of them are three or more dry partition wood buildings, and the bottom floor is a miscellaneous house for raising animals such as pigs and cows. People live upstairs, and the wooden building has corridors extending outward and railings. There is a fixed bench beside the railing for people to rest, commonly known as "diaojiao building". This five-or six-story-high wooden structure is rigorous, and it is not allowed to use a nail. The whole system is embedded with tenons and mortises, which shows the superb architectural technology of the Dong people.

Indoor layout, there is a fire pit on the second floor, which is a place for cooking and entertaining guests. They also retained the ancient Vietnamese custom of "sitting and squatting" and several cases of eating with short feet. Sitting on a simple wooden stool, it is difficult to find a tall desk and chair. When cooking, put firewood from the west. Because it is said that the west is the origin of the Dong nationality, and the kindling was brought from the west by ancestors. Dong is a nation that loves beauty. He likes to dress up the environment beautifully, such as the stigma of a house, and likes to carve it into the shape of bamboo. Wooden buildings such as corridors and carved railings. The well in the stockade is made of carved bluestone slabs, and there are some red, white and black flowers and fish in the well. There are old trees in front of and behind the village. Even if the roads in the stockade are paved with bluestones or pebbles, people always make them into various patterns, which are very beautiful, so they are called "Flower Street". Therefore, entering Dongxiang makes people feel like entering a gallery.

stilted building of tujia nationality

When we arrive in Zhangjiajie, everyone wants to see Tujia Diaojiao Building. Due to the suppression policy of stationing troops by the imperial courts in past dynasties, Tujia people were driven into the deep mountains and forests, and their living conditions were very bad. "Old Tang Book" said: "There are many poisonous weeds and snakes in the mountains. People live on the first floor and climb stairs to dry the fence." Coupled with a small land and a large population, the family had to build a diaojiao building on a steep cliff.

Tujia diaojiao building is mostly wooden structure. Earlier, the toast king banned the natives from sending tiles, and only allowed Chinese fir bark and thatch, which was called "only buying horses, not sending tiles". It was not until the thirteenth year of Yongzheng in the Qing Dynasty that Gaiwa was promoted. Generally, there are four fans, three rooms and one row, three pillars and six riding or five pillars and six riding, with ancestral temples in the middle, which is the core of family sacrifice. Buildings are divided into semi-trailer, semi-trailer, two-handed cart trailer, key trailer, bending ruler trailer, water trailer and crossing gorge and hole trailer. The rich carved beams and painted buildings, with towering eaves and winding stone steps, which is quite a castle in the air.

Yaozu diaojiaolou

In the depths of Nanling Mountain, such a unique landscape can be seen everywhere: between the blue sky and clear water, among the mountains, unique wooden buildings inhabit the mountains, creating a flat human living space in the steep Shan Ye. This is the diaojiao building of Yao people's houses.

Yao nationality is a mountainous nationality, and its dwellings are often built by mountains and rivers. Its masterpiece is the diaojiao building where man and nature live in harmony. Most Yao people live in mountainous areas, and there is almost no flat land to build houses, so they choose a place with a relatively gentle slope, half of which is flat, and the other half is supported by Chinese fir stigmas with different lengths according to the mountain situation, and the wooden boards and the flat homestead are combined into a flat whole, and then they build houses on this whole. The climate in mountainous areas is humid, rainy and hot, in order to ventilate and avoid the tide and prevent wild animals.

There are also diaojiao buildings of other nationalities that are also very distinctive.

& lt Tujia Architecture-Diaojiaolou >

Diaojiaolou architecture is the embodiment of Tujia wisdom.

Diaojiaolou is the place where Tujia people live and live. It's built on the mountain, and it's a sitting tiger, three into the courtyard. Pay attention to the direction, or sit west to east, or sit east to west There are three long rooms, five long rooms and seven long rooms in the main room. Most large and medium-sized households are five or seven rooms long, and small households are generally three rooms long. The structure is 3 columns, 2 melons, 5 columns, 4 melons, 7 columns and 6 melons. The L room in the middle is called the "main room", which is used for ancestor worship, welcoming guests and arranging weddings and funerals. The left and right rooms on both sides of the hall are "people's living rooms", which are divided into two small rooms, with a fire room with two or three eyes in front. There is a fire shop in front of the stove, a fire pit 3 feet square, surrounded by 3 to 5 inches of bluestone. In the middle of the fire pit is "three feet" for cooking and frying. The height of 1 person above the fire pit is a wooden kang frame suspended from the upstairs, which is used to roast bacon and dried tofu. The small intercropping bedroom in the back has a moisture-proof floor. My parents live in Dalitou (left) and my daughter-in-law lives in Xiaolitou (right). The brothers are separated, the elder brother lives in Dalitou, the younger brother lives in Xiaolitou, and the parents live in the "rob room" behind the shrine in the main room.

No matter the size of the house, there are sky buildings, which are divided into plate buildings and strip buildings. Above the bedroom is a banlou, a floor paved with wooden boards, cabinets for putting all kinds of objects and food, and bedrooms can also be arranged; Above the fire is a building, which is paved with bamboo strips with gaps. It is specially used to put corn cobs and melons, and the smoke from the fire can be discharged smoothly through the gaps. In front of the main building, there is a diaojiao building in the wing, and a pigsty and toilet are built behind the building. Building a diaojiao building pays attention to bright feet (that is, the pillars should be straight and long), and the roof pays attention to cornices and angles. Diaojiao building is often three stories, with firewood, grinding and stacking downstairs; In the middle building, grain and farm tools are piled up, and upstairs is the girl building, where Tujia girls embroider, cut paper, make shoes, read and write. There are wooden fence corridors outside the middle building, upstairs and around the building for viewing and drying clothes. In the harvest season, corn cobs are often worn in long strings, or soybeans and peanuts pulled out of the ground are tied up and hung in the corridor to cool. In order to prevent thieves, the house is surrounded by stones and dirt. In front of the main house is the courtyard dam, and there is a splayed gate on the left side of the courtyard dam. Most houses are planted with bamboo, fruit trees and landscape trees. But it is unlucky not to plant mulberry before planting peach, because it is homophonic with "mourning" and "fleeing"

The carving art of window grillage in Tujia Diaojiao Building is an important symbol to measure the level of architectural technology. There are many carving techniques such as relief and hollow carving, and the carving skills are exquisite and rich in connotation. Some symbolize status, some pray for good luck, some show farming, some reflect life, some educate future generations, and some record customs. Birds, animals, flowers, birds, insects and fish, singing and dancing competitions, myths and legends are vivid.

Diaojiaolou has many advantages. Hanging on the ground is ventilated and dry, which can prevent poisonous snakes and wild animals, and sundries can be placed under the floor. Diaolou has distinctive national characteristics, and the elegant "silk eaves" and wide "rows of columns" make Diaojiaolou unique. Compared with "Gan Lan", this diaojiao building successfully got rid of the primitive and has a higher cultural level, so it is called the "living fossil" of Bachu culture. The Yinjiang River is now well-preserved, and there are representative Tujia diaojiao buildings in langxi and Heshui.