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Miao residential architecture, in various forms, is quite distinctive. The design and construction both follow the tradition and require comfortable living. Each place according to the geographical environment and the existing material, according to the place (material) construction. Guizhou Miao dwellings are roughly divided into four types: "tree fork" type houses, "dry fence" type houses, "lantern frame" type houses, "Han" type houses and so on. "type of residence, such as four types.

One of the strange architectural forms

The Miao residence is not only a place of daily life, but also a place where the culture of an ethnic group is concentrated. The usual life, production and labor, gathering of relatives and friends, and religious activities, such as weaving, embroidery, rearing, marriage and funeral, and sacrifices, are all carried out here. Due to the long-term influence of these customary activities and natural conditions, the architectural construction is thus unique in form and highly applicable. The Miao dwellings in Guizhou are generally divided into the following types:

1, "tree branch" type of residence

"tree branch" type of residence is a horizontal long building, is one of the oldest forms of housing, which is characterized by its simplicity, easy to build, adapt to the primitive life and production methods, such as slash-and-burn cultivation. It is characterized by simplicity, ease of construction, and adaptability to primitive living and production methods, such as slash-and-burn farming and random relocation. There are no mortise and tenon joints on the pillars and roof beams, which are fixed with bamboo and rattan.

"Forks" of the house using natural growth of mixed wood, leaving the top of the fork when felling; there are also two triangular blocks of wood fixed with nails at the top of the column, tied with gabions or rattan, forming an artificial fork. Forks of three arranged as a column, the middle row of branches higher, frame cross-wood for the beam, the left and right rows of branches lower, frame cross-wood for the eaves, constituting the herringbone roof frame. A number of long, thin strips of wood are tied to the horizontal logs to form the overhanging roof. The roof is covered with cedar bark or thatch, and the walls are made of bamboo and thatch. The "Shuquan" type of housing is arbitrary, a room of three houses can be completed in a day.

Another "tree branch" type of housing is to use specialized wall panels will be tree right sandwiched in the middle, poured into the soil, with a wooden stick will be tamped, tamped full of soil, and then remove the wall panels, layer by layer, until the gable end, this form is commonly known as the "dry barricade".

Miao "tree right" type of housing, small area, about 8 to 10 meters long, about 4 to 6 meters deep, the interior with bamboo and thatch woven into the partition wall, divided into three rooms. In the center is a hall, and in some cases there are ancestral shrines in the main hall; the other two rooms are used as kitchens, with stoves and fire pits, mainly for cooking and heating; the other room is used as a bedroom for adults and children to live together. Livestock pens and toilets are usually built at the back or sides of the house.

The "tree branch" type of housing was popular in the early liberation period in the Miao and Yao regions of Southeast Guizhou and Northwest Guizhou, and few of them remain at present. In the backward remote mountainous areas, it is occasionally seen, generally used as livestock pens or stacking debris.

2, "dry bar" type of housing

"dry bar" type of housing, people are accustomed to call "hanging foot". Guizhou Miao, Dong, Tujia, Shui and other ethnic groups live, there are "dry bar" type of housing, the form of the pattern is similar. It is a favorite form of residential architecture in Guizhou. This kind of building with wood as the main raw material, the roof with green tile, cedar bark or thatched roof.

The Miao's "dry bar" style of residence is unique. In Qiandongnan, Taijiang, Leishan, Jianhe area of the Miao folk dwellings are mostly built on the hillside, selected by the hillside digging and filling, the formation of digging and filling of two layers of pingdi.

"Dry bar" type of residence is characterized by the low-level ping ground erected stakes, so that the suspension, stakes about 2 meters. Higher frame floor beams, are wearing bucket type frame, so that it is a floor with the high-level floor. Through the bucket frame that is the ground floor of the residence, with wooden boards, bamboo fences, tree strips to be spaced, for pestle and mortar, animal pens, toilets and so on.

The second floor of the "dry bar" type house is the main place for the Miao people to live and live. The middle of the second floor for the hall, the hall in front of the concave about 2 meters called "swallow mouth"; outside the edge of the railing and back, known as "beauty leaning", specifically for the girl embroidery, resting place. The hall is a double-door house with a shrine to the ancestors of the family in the main hall. The two ends of the hall are divided into a number of rooms, one end of which is mainly used as bedrooms and guest rooms, while the other end is the kitchen, with a stove, kitchen cabinets, and a pool (tank), etc. The third floor of the house is usually used as the host's home. The third floor of the house is generally used as a storage room for the host family, where food, seeds, sundries and various kinds of waxed goods are piled up. This three-story "dry rail" type of housing, up and down the plank ladder, stairs in the house, and have a cover.

"Dry rail" type of housing construction is characterized by the whole house to tenon, mortise and tenon, through the row, the wooden tip of the completion of the fixing, without a nail. "Dry rail" type house each row of columns according to the size of the depth of the house is divided into "three columns and two melon" and "five columns and four melon", etc., columns and columns are arranged in a fixed square. The highest column to herringbone to both sides of the gable column to reduce the magnitude of the size of the tiles to determine the speed of the flow of water to determine the speed, commonly known as the "water step".

3, "lantern shelf" type of housing

"Lantern shelf" housing may be a remnant of the ancient well-dried houses. Because of the four corners of the house is four slotted columns and parallel eight horizontal wood fixed, shaped like a lantern, so it is called "lantern shelf". The so-called "lantern frame", is a number of sticks split in half, the two ends of the cut out of a flagon mouth and the slots of the columns coincide with the buckle, into a tic-tac-toe frame, sticks stacked on top of each other, that is, into the four walls of the house. In the middle of the two opposite walls, there is a column to support the roof beams. The top of the long, thin sticks built into a hanging roof, covered with cedar bark and thatch, this kind of building is now rare, more for livestock pens.

4, "Han" type of residence (bungalow)

This is the southeast Guizhou Huangping, Kaili, Shibing and other places commonly found in a kind of Miao folk dwellings. These dwellings are all rectangular and curved one-story bungalows, with a layout of three rooms, and a few with five to seven rooms. The center is usually a hall, and the left and right rooms are symmetrical. The main door of the hall is recessed into a column, which is called "Tunkou". There is no railing on the steps under the eaves. Inside the hall, there are two main doors and a shrine for the ancestors in the center of the hall. Inside the hall, there is a high space without a building, and generally only the ceiling is nailed on; there are buildings on the secondary rooms on both sides, but most of them are not inhabited, and only store some dry goods and sundries. The second room is divided into front and back rooms, with a fire pit dug in the left front room and a stove built for heating and cooking. The rest of the room for the bedroom, guest room and stacking tools and sundries.

"Han" style housing livestock pens and toilets, built with a house, but separate from the residence, most of the construction in the courtyard on both sides of the residence and the main house to form a right angle, so that the entire residence into a curved shape.

"Han" type of residential construction materials are not limited, commonly used wood, stone, brick, brick and wood mixed structure.

Second, interesting building customs

Build a house in the life of the Miao people is a very solemn event, choose the base of the house to choose the day is very careful. Miao people are generally villages living together, the house to choose to avoid the yin to the sun, some of the selection in the surroundings are all the rolling peaks, some of the selection in the back of the craggy peaks or mountains surrounded by mountains in the hillside, some of the selection of pines and cypresses, or mountains stacked on the high mountains. The rich family also specially invited to Feng Shui Mr. directed to pick the standard, choose the base of the house.

After choosing a good home base, it is crucial to choose the day, first of all, we must speculate from the previous generation of the eight years Geng: there is no phases, such as no phases, that is, good omen. Generally set in the fall and winter of the year, the Miao family like ugly, Ohio, has been, has not been, You, Mao and other days for the auspicious day and good time. After the auspicious day is set, the master invited the master carpenter of high craftsmanship, with wine, meat, fish, glutinous rice, incense paper and axes, saws, rulers on the mountain to choose a good lush, thick, straight cedar for the new house in the column, known as the "frame horse". Before cutting the tree, the master carpenter to the root of the cedar tree strokes wine, pinch meat to show sacrifice, and read: "Which tree is the largest? Which tree is the tallest? This tree is the biggest! This tree is the tallest! Big nine hold nine, high up to nine clouds, today you cut, build a house ten thousand years in prison." After reciting the auspicious words, the master carpenter uses the axe to chop three times on the tree and hands it to the master to chop three times. Then he gives the axe to the helpers to chop down the tree. The direction in which the tree is to be felled is very particular, and the master must try to fall the tree to the east as a sign of good luck. Then the tree will be cut down according to the size of the center column sawing, peeling, planing, transported to the home. Carpenters also burn incense and candles, kill chickens to honor the Lu Ban master ancestor, in the column seriously popped on a line in the ink, called "hair ink", said the new house construction.

After the new house is set up on the beam, in the house building, on the beam is regarded as a grand event. Beam wood selection is also very delicate, generally choose cedar, tsubaki, catalpa, etc. These trees are very regenerative. This type of tree regeneration is very strong, the main tree was cut down, the next year and from the roots of many new branches, said prosperous. The local custom is to send the beam by the uncle, on the day of the beam, the uncle's family will beam cut, made of blanks, wrapped in red cloth, please carry to the master's home, the master should be prepared to firecrackers to the side of the cottage to meet the beam.

Liang lifted to the master's home, the master carpenter and then according to the size of the fine processing. Set a good time, set up a good staircase on the beam, ready to go on the beam. On the beam also sing on the beam song, on the beam to start, master carpenter in the new house hall sang: "a four-square into the hall, the master of the house, please I come to the beam, footsteps on the ladder step-by-step high, climbed the new room brightly, peaches in the hall of tired hanging, the master of the house rich and noble ten thousand years long. One step on the beam will make you popular, two steps on the beam will make your children and grandchildren strong, three steps on the beam will make your family rich, four steps on the beam will make you a scholar, five steps on the beam will make you a scholar, and six steps on the beam will make your six animals prosperous." After the beam, the host family will be a few baskets of colorful beam made of glutinous rice poi, from the beam down, adults, children flocked into, coaxed to grab the beam poi, the sound of joy, full of celebration.

The new house is also a very serious event, the installation of shrines to pay attention to the requirements of higher than the main door frame, as the saying goes, "the shrine is higher than the door of the hall, the children and grandchildren in the door of their own hair. Shrine below the mouth of the house, glory and wealth to go out."

The new house is also very careful to install the door, choose an auspicious day, the carpenter will be installed on the door, friends and relatives to congratulate. The village of respected clan elders to wear new clothes, wear new shoes, wrapped in a new bandana. They also prepare a plate with rice on which coins, silverware and colorful threads are placed, as well as a set of new clothes for adults and children, locally known as the "Fortune Plate". The most distinctive feature of the Miao residential buildings is the "hanging footstool", which is generally divided into the curved rail corridor type hanging footstool and the half side type hanging footstool. This wooden building has moisture-proof, clean, cool, ventilated features, generally three layers, the lower pile of debris off livestock; the middle layer of balconies, railings, corridors, for living; the upper layer of storage of cereals, supplies and dry goods. Summer into the Miao wooden building, cool and refreshing, relaxed and happy, coupled with the host's hospitality, so that guests have a sense of home.

The living of the Miao is related to the structure of the house. The center is a little wider than the two sides of the second room, usually partitioned into two rooms before and after the front room, the front room is wide, for the hall, is the family food, warmth, hospitality, and set up a shrine. In the past, a four-square bucket-shaped fire pit was usually set up in the center of the hall, with three feet of iron inside the pit, so that the fire would not be extinguished all year round. Above the fire pit, there was a bracket or a hook to put food and hang things. The left side of the hall house in the foot of the pillar put guliao worship, some also in the pillar side firm standing a small bamboo for "long life tree". When sacrificing to the ancestors, pour a few drops of wine and pinch a little bit of meat on the side of the kang or outside the door. The small room at the back of the hall is exclusively for elderly men, and no married sons or daughters-in-law are allowed to live there. The left and right rooms are divided into the front and back rooms, with the left front room being the son's bedroom or guest room and the back room being the parents' bedroom or kang. The pig and cow pens and toilets are at the foot of the building or near the house.

The above dwellings can still be seen in the areas of Taijiang, Jianhe, Leishan and Huangping.

(Pan Guohua, Associate Researcher, Huangping Cultural Bureau, Guizhou Province)