What are the residential houses in China? What are the characteristics of folk houses?

Folk house architecture is a part of the traditional culture of a certain ethnic group in a certain period of social history, and it is also the epitome of traditional culture. The residential buildings of the Dai, Hani, Brown, Jinuo and Lahu in Xishuangbanna have different forms and architectural styles due to the influence of the natural environment such as climate, altitude, topography, building materials and the social environment such as population, economy, religion, science and technology, and ideology.

Ya Sangmudi cover bamboo buildings

In ancient times, the Dai people did not have a house to live in, can only live in caves, is a person called Paya Sangmudi learn to build a house, only to teach people to build Dai bamboo buildings.

Subsequently, it rained heavily, Paya Sangmudi hid under a big tree to avoid the rain. He saw beside a piece of dustpan large taro leaves blocked the rain, taro leaves are dry underneath. He thought that people can also build a taro leaf hut to shelter from the rain, so he built a scaffolding with tree branches, covered with leaves and thatch, and built a flat-roofed hut. He moved out of the cave and lived inside the hut.

Soon, a heavy rain came down, and the leaves and thatch could not keep out the rain, so the rain stopped, but the water kept leaking down inside the house, and there was no dry place. The only way to get to the cave was to move back into the cave.

On one occasion, Paya Samudhi went hunting in the mountains with a dog. It was raining heavily again, so he hid under the roots of a large tree to avoid the rain, while the dog sat on the ground with its front legs propped up, its head held high, and its tail dragging on the ground. The rain was running down the dog's hair in the shape of a slope, but the ground in front of the dog's chest was dry. Payasanmudi thought of building a house with a sloping roof to shelter him from the rain. He chopped two tall and two short four tree branches and planted them on the ground, using leaves and thatch to build a sloping roof, with the front side high and the back side short, so that the rainwater would flow down the slope. Because it is to learn to watch the dog sit on the ground posture of the house, sangmudi called the house "Duma some", that is, the meaning of the dog's head nest store. Sangmudi moved out of the cave and lived in Dumazhuo. When it rained again, the rain ran down the sloping roof and the house was dry. Later, when the wind blew and it rained again, the raindrops were blown by the wind and fell into the house, and the rainwater that flowed down to the ground also flowed into the house, and the house was full of water again. Paya Sangmudi felt that "Duma Some" was still not good, but he could not think of what kind of house he wanted to build.

The King of Heaven, Paya Ying, saw Paya Sammudir building his house and was moved to give him guidance. One day, when it was raining, the heavenly king Paya Ying turned into a beautiful phoenix and flew down to earth, landed in front of Paya Sangmudi, and said to him, "Take a look at my two wings, and see if they can protect you from the wind and rain." The phoenix stood on its two long feet and stretched its wings out slightly to the sides, forming a "mesa" posture. Paya Sangmudi was astonished to hear that the phoenix could speak. He put his palms together and bowed to the phoenix, carefully observing how the rainwater flowed down the wings and neck hairs and tail, and the ground under the phoenix was dry. Paya Samudy thought about it and decided to build a house like the phoenix standing in the rain.

Payasanmudi cut down many trees and split them into pillars, and cut thatched grass to make a grass row. This house stands on the foot of the pillar, divided into two floors, people live on the upper floor, will not be damp. The ridge of the roof is like a phoenix spreading its wings, a building on the left and a building on the right, a building in front and a building in the back, all of them are slope-shaped, which can block the rain on all sides. This tall bamboo building can really shelter from the wind and rain, Sangmudi live in it, very comfortable, he gave this kind of house named "Boom hate" (Dai: Phoenix take-off).

Paya Sangmudi cover into the "Boom hate" after the Dai family members have come to him to learn to build a house. From then on, one family after another, a cottage and a cottage of the Dai family bamboo building cover up, people have moved from the cave into the tall bamboo building.

The Dai people, after living in the bamboo buildings, have never forgotten the founder of the house, Paya Sangmudi. In order to commemorate the achievements of Paya Sangmudi, the Dai people changed the name of the building from "Boom Hate" to "Hate Paya Sangmudi", and this name has been used until now.

Zanha singing exorcism congratulate the new house

In the Dai village, no matter which new house is completed, to be organized to congratulate the new house activities, which is not rare to ask Zanha (singer) to sing congratulations on the new house. Do you know the origin of this custom? It comes from an old legend.

Anciently, there was a dragon living in the river, and this dragon had to travel to the heavenly palace once a year. The dragon used a straight and tall Burying Bo Na tree to reach the sky. The tree grows on a large mound of earth on the river bank, the dragon sent the snake devil Ushara two couples to guard the tree for him.

One summer noon, the sun is hot and steamy baking the earth, Mr. and Mrs. Ushara C. to hide in the earth cave is also hot like a big fire. Thinking that no one would come to cut down the trees in such hot weather, the couple climbed out of the cave and went to bathe in the river.

At that very moment, a man named Paya Sangmudi braved the heat and went up into the hills to cut down the poles for a new house. When he saw the tall, straight Buri Poona tree on the mound of earth, it was really the best wood available, so he cut it down and carried it back to make the pillars for the new house.

The Snake Devil, Mr. and Mrs. Usha Lapin, took a half-day bath in the river water before returning to the earth cave where they lived. They realized that the scaly dragon tree on the mound had been cut away, and froze in fear, half speechless. After a while, they decided that they must go and get the tree back. The male snake devil said to the female snake devil, "You look to the east, I'll look to the west, and say whatever it takes to get the Dragon King's Ascending Tree back!"

The male snake demon crawled to the west for about a hundred kilometers, and the female snake demon crawled to the east for about a hundred kilometers, and they searched for three days, but they did not find the tree where the dragon ascended to heaven.

The two snake devils met, and did not dare to stay at home for a moment, and hurriedly split to the south and north to find. After the female snake demon climbed about two hundred meters to the south, she saw a village. She saw that the village was noisy, and was building a new house. Seeing that there were many people in the village, the snake-witch went into the bushes and observed the new house being built, scrutinizing every piece of wood in the new house. She suddenly realized that the central pillar in the middle of the new house was the very tree she and her husband had been looking for. The mother rushed home to tell her husband of her discovery. Upon hearing this, the male Snake Devil said happily, "Good, have a good rest in the afternoon, and when it is dark, the two of us will go and pull out that pillar and plant it on top of the mound of earth."

As darkness fell, the mother snake devil took the male snake devil and crawled toward the village. When they found the new house, they wrapped themselves one on top of the other around the center pillar and tried to pull it out with all their might and drag it away. However, the root end of the pillar was buried deep in a hole in the earth, and the holes in its body were pierced with a lot of horizontal logs, which made it very solid. The two of them were unable to pull the pillar out until dawn.

At dawn, the Payasanmudi family moved their belongings out of the old house and into the new one. When they entered the new house, they found two large snakes wrapped around the center pillar. The snakes were not afraid to see the people coming and remained tightly wrapped around the wooden post. Paya Samudhi picked up a bamboo stick and tried to hit the two snakes, but the snakes did not run away, but climbed up the pillar and wrapped themselves around the top of the pillar and never came down.

Payasanmudi was at his wit's end when the townspeople came to congratulate him on the completion of his new house, surrounded by the two Zangha. Zanha walked up the bamboo building, sang a few blessing song, happy folks "water water water" cheered up. Cheers shake the heavens and earth, scared to wrap in the top of the center column that the two big snakes fell to the ground, lifelessly climbed out of the house, hid in the bushes. The family moved into the new house.

From then on, the Dai people's homes whenever the new house is completed, the owner of the house must organize a banquet to invite the townspeople to congratulate the new house, and must ask Zanha to sing in order to use the song to the room to drive away the evil demons, so that the owner of the new house a family of peace and happiness.

Animals help Paya Sangmudi cover the bamboo building

The Dai family bamboo building on the house frame, there are a lot of parts is the name of the animal limbs, what "dog spine", "egret wings," what " Elephant tongue", "cat chin" ...... to ask the origin of these names, but also have to listen to this ancient legend.

Paya Sangmudi original hunting for a living, usually on the dog, cat, finch, beast is very favorite. Later, he caught the birds and animals are kept, in his housing near, everywhere is the bird's nest, animal nests.

One year, it rained heavily for several months in Mongba Nasi, turning the flat land into an ocean, and the bamboo building of Paya Sangmudi was flooded. He hastily built a bamboo raft and propped up a bamboo pole to escape in the flood. Many animals were struggling desperately in the flood, and the birds in the sky were also knocked down by the torrential rain. Paya Sangmudi pity those birds and animals, from the flood water to save them on the raft, transported to the flood water can not be released on the high slopes.

After many days and nights, the wind stopped, the rain stopped, the floodwaters receded, and the earth reappeared. When Paya Samudy returned to his original home, the bamboo building had been swept away by the floodwaters. He had to build a new house, so he began to cut wood, split poles, and cut thatch. The animals that were rescued from the flood knew that their savior was building a new house, so they came from all directions to help him. After consulting together, all the animals were willing to take out one thing from their own bodies and put it on the frame of Sangmudi's house to help him build the new house quickly in return for saving their lives. The monkeys offered their necks and heads as "ring stacks" (wooden hammers), the elephants offered their tongues as "ning palms" (bamboo floor parts), the locusts offered their bodies as gabions for hitching grass rows, and the tortoises were willing to lie down at the foot of the stairs as "ding pian" (a wooden hammer), and the tortoises were willing to lie down at the foot of the stairs as "ding pian" (a wooden hammer). The turtle would like to lie at the foot of the stairs to make a "Ding Pian" (a part of a bamboo building), the old dragon would like to use his body as a staircase, the group of fish would like to offer their turtle nails to make a fence for the Paya Sangmudi, the egret would like to offer his wings to make a grass row, the dog would like to offer his back, the kitten would like to offer his chin, and the mouse would like to offer his tail; and the swallows and the sparrows would fly up to the mountains and carry thatched grasses for the Paya Sangmudi to build the roof... ...All the animals gave a part of their bodies for the construction of a new bamboo building for Paya Sammudit. Thanks to the animals' help, Paya Sammudit was able to build the bamboo building in no time at all.

From then on, Payasamudit wrote down all the things that the animals contributed on the drawing of the bamboo building and passed it on to his descendants. Therefore, the bamboo building's roof frame appeared on the "dog's back", "cat's chin", "elephant's tongue", "egret's wings" and other names. and "egret's wings" appeared on the roof frames of the bamboo buildings. People also tend to carve the dragon head pattern on the stairs of the bamboo building to commemorate the dedication of the old dragon.

Why is the center column of the Dai family's bamboo building called "Sao Long"

The Dai chief Paya Sangmudi intended to build a tall bamboo building. He worked for thirty-three days, chopping rafters, flutes, beams, wooden pillars, and cutting a large pile of thatch. When he put up the roof frame, a gust of wind blew, the roof frame scraped side to side, the tall center column was broken. He had to take down the frame and go back up the mountain to cut down a center post.

Payasanmudi saw trees that were either too big, too small, or too crooked, and for three days he couldn't find any that were suitable for a center post. At night he lay in his nest and sighed. Toward dawn he heard a loud bang in the air, and it seemed as if something had clattered down outside. He rolled over and got up and stepped outside, only to see a large, straight tree standing in the clearing next to the nest. The tree was not too tall, not too short, not too thick, not too thin, just right for a center column. Seeing this tree that fell from the sky, Paya Sangmudi knew that this was the God of Heaven Paya Ying descending blessings to help, so he hastened to kneel in front of the tree to thank the Heavenly King for his grace.

After dawn, Paya Samudhi cut down the tree, split it into pillars, and started building again. The pillar is not too big, but it is very heavy, just straight up, under the pillar of the soil will gradually sink into a hole in the earth, the center of the pillar actually fell into the ground along the hole in the earth disappeared.

The center column fell into the ground after the rumble into the dragon palace. The dragon king took a look and knew that this wooden pillar was something on earth, so he ordered the dragon son and grandson, crab king, turtle king, shrimp king and all the water tribe to exert themselves together to carry the wooden pillar out of the dragon palace and hold it out of the ground to return it to the bottom of the Palyasangmu.

Paya Sangmudi was surprised and delighted to see the Dragon King leading the water tribe to lift the wooden pillar out of the ground. He asked the Dragon King why the wooden pillar had fallen. The Dragon King told him that it was a falling pillar called "Sao Lang", which would fall as long as it stood straight up on the ground. In order to prevent it from falling, must use two kinds of trees know island, know the leaves of the mango pad in the foot of the pillar, because know island has the upper support, can be up to hold the wooden pillar; know the mang has the function of the cushion firm, can be blocked by the sinking of the soil.

Paya Sangmudi went up the mountain to find two kinds of leaves, know the island and know the mango, spread on the ground in preparation for the center column of the small piece of ground, and then the center column erected on the leaves. Sure enough, the center column erected, no longer sinking, the house cover up. Since then, the Dai people have been called the center column for the "Sao Lang", and generations have inherited the building of the house in the center column "Sao Lang" under the pad understand the island, understand the custom of the Mang.

The Dai Dry-rail Bamboo Building

Dry-rail building is one of the most important features of the Dai ancestors of the Baiyue ethnic group. Since ancient times, the Dai people living in Xishuangbanna have been using dry-rail bamboo buildings as their traditional residences. In the flowery Dai villages in Xishuangbanna, a unique form of bamboo buildings are hidden in the bamboo and banana forests, countless winding paths linked to the bamboo buildings, often a symbol of peace and friendship between the water's edge of the forest peacocks spreading their wings to open the screen, painted a picture of the intoxicating scene.

The bamboo buildings of the Dai family have a unique style, which is comfortable, hygienic, moisture-proof, insect-proof and other advantages. The Dai family's bamboo building is square, divided into the upper and lower levels, the upper floor to live, from the ground about 2 meters or so, to several wood (or with a large green bamboo) for the column. The lower floor without walls, used to raise livestock and stacking of goods. The roof of the bamboo floor is modeled as a hiatus, and the level is covered with grass rows. There is a staircase for climbing up, a corridor and a balcony for drying things and keeping cool. The interior is divided into two rooms by a bamboo fence, with the inner room being the master's bedroom and the outer room being the guest room. Inside the entrance of the guest room, there is a fire pit four or five inches above the ground for cooking, heating and lighting. The outer room is a place to receive guests, but also the center of indoor activities. Bedroom is a large room, men and women of several generations in the same room, the floor and lie down, only the use of black cloth mosquito nets, as the interval. The interior furnishings are simple, most of the utensils are bamboo products, except for pots, pans and jars. The rest of the tables, stools, buckets, baskets, lunch boxes, etc. are made of bamboo gabions. The walls were mostly windowless, and the sunlight and wind penetrated through the cracks of these bamboo pieces. Outside the building, bamboo is used as a fence, and inside the mansion, there are strong and sturdy coconuts, tall pomelo trees, fruitful bananas, sweet and delicious papayas, and green and verdant bamboo bushes. A poetic and picturesque, embellished with a rich subtropical scenery.

The bamboo buildings of the Dai people have two major advantages. First, the bamboo building can prevent mosquitoes and insects, moisture and wild animals. The second is that the materials for building bamboo buildings come from convenient sources, which are locally sourced and more economical. The materials used by the Dai people to build bamboo buildings are mainly big green bamboo and a small amount of wood. Bamboo is a specialty of the Dai area, and the roof of the bamboo building is covered with grass rows of locally grown thatch compilation, the grass rows of this system of thatch from a wide range of sources, but also very economical. In addition, when the Dai people build new houses, they have the habit of helping each other in the whole village, and a house is built, the whole village is mobilized to send grass rows and bamboo, and laborers are sent out. Therefore, the speed of the Dai people in building new houses is also quite fast, and a bamboo building can be completed in just one day. When a new house is completed, the whole village, young and old, goes to congratulate them. The favorite folk singer of the Dai people, "Zanha", even sang to congratulate the owner for moving into the new house.

The amount of Dai bamboo buildings has changed with the progress and development of society. The most important change is in the building materials, from the dry-rail type bamboo buildings gradually to wooden buildings, brick and wood structure, as well as the development of steel mixed structure changes. However, due to the Dai people's love for their own traditional building forms, in addition to a small part of the Dai people's homes to modernize the building changes, while most of the Dai people's homes still maintain the dry-rail type of building structures and shapes.

The Hani people's "embracing simmering" and "embracing ge"

The Hani people in Xishuangbanna are distributed in mountainous and semi-mountainous areas, and most of their houses are "dry-rail" style bamboo buildings. Basically, they can be divided into two categories: one is called "embracing simmering", and the other is called "embracing the God".

The housing of the Hani ethnic group is a kind of "embracing simmering", which is a kind of primitive and ancient residential construction. This kind of housing is mostly built on the slope. Covering the house to dig out a square on the slope, and then planted on the outside of the slope in the ground on the fork, in the tree fork-shaped ground between the earth platform frame wood, with a bamboo fence paved into the ground from the ground about two, three feet high platform, and then in the earth platform and bamboo fence paved "platform" on top of the frame, cover the grass roof. This forms half of the floor surface, half of the paved bamboo fence floor of the inner room. This kind of bamboo floor is suitable for the climate and environmental conditions of mountainous areas, i.e., warm in winter and cool in summer. It is convenient to cook on the floor, and the whole family can lie on the floor of the bamboo fence, which can keep warm in winter and cool in summer.

So, "embracing simmering" in the 20th century before the 50th generation, is the Xishuangbanna Hani people of a more common residential construction. The "embracing of the brotherhood" is also a kind of "dry bar" type of building, its architectural form and the Dai bamboo building is basically similar to a floor and a bottom. The floor room is for living, and the bottom room is for keeping animals and poultry and piling up sundries. Floor room all with wooden boards or bamboo fence partitioned into two sides of three rooms, in the room called "embracing horse misty", is a female member of the living room, and also do kitchen, set up a fire for cooking, heating. The outer room, called "Polo Nyunt", is the male members' living room and doubles as a hall, with a fire pit for lighting and warmth. The male and female rooms each have a fire pit, and when guests visit, they go up the stairs from the male and female rooms respectively according to their gender. In addition to the two architectural forms of the Hani ethnic group's housing, namely, the "embracing ordeal" and the "embracing of God", there are also the mother's room and the child's room. The mother room is the parent or the head of the elder brother living in the house, this mother room Hani language called it "embrace the horse". "embrace the horse" some people call it big room, it is bigger than the child room, both is the parent's room, but also is the family dining, entertaining guests and other activities in the center. In the "embrace the horse" near the construction of a shorter "dry fence" type building or cottage, that is the sub-house, the Hani language called "embrace". "This is a house for young men to find a spouse and establish a small family. When the son grows up, he builds a new house, one for each person, without exception. When the parents are alive, the son and daughter-in-law are living in the sub-house, until the time of their own head of the family, only from the sub-house moved into the mother's house. Since ancient times, the Hani people have the custom of helping each other to build a house, a house, the whole village to help. The completion of the new house to host banquets, singers singing, held a lively congratulations on the new house activities.

Lahu's "bottom page"

The Lahu, who live in the remote mountainous areas of Menghai County, at the beginning of the 50th generation in the 20th century, along with matrilineal clans or matrilineal and patrilineal ****existing clans, specifically reflected in the matrilineal or matrilineal and patrilineal ****existing clans. The "bottom page" of the large house on the living life. A family of several dozens of generations living together, forming a unique, typical residential form.

The so-called "bottom page" is composed of matrilineal or patrilineal blood relatives of the group composed of the extended family, the big "bottom page" under the husband and wife composed of small families, called "bottom of each". The "bottom" of the family is called the "bottom each". Therefore, the village, which is composed of several "bottom pages", is the basic unit of Lahu society.

The Lahu are divided into two clans: Lahuna (Black Lahu) and Lahusi (Yellow Lahu). The housing of the two clans is somewhat different. The Lahusi live in earthen walled bungalows with overhanging roofs or slatted bungalows with 3 rooms, divided into bedrooms, halls, and kitchens, mostly with thatched roofs. Lahuna live in dry-fence buildings, similar to the Dai bamboo buildings, but more simple.

Lahuna's bamboo buildings are mostly made of chestnut wood, bamboo rafters, grass roofs, and bamboo fences instead of walls. The bottom of the room without walls, used to close the livestock and poultry, pile of firewood, sundries, floor room to live. Bamboo building is a large house in the shape of a long, 7 to 8 meters high, about 10 meters wide, more than 10 meters long to 20 meters ranging from the number of people in each "bottom page" depending on the floor area of about 100 square meters. The door of the building is opened on the left and right sides of the beam, with a wide wooden ladder, and there is a corridor inside the building. On one side of the corridor is a living room, one for a "bottom page" (small family), and each room has a fire pit for small families to cook and heat. Such as Bakanai Zhai that period of the family, the hostess that period and her husband Xieka as the center, including their married daughters, sons and their children *** 101 people to form a "bottom page" of the extended family. The whole family *** with living in the dry-rail type of public **** building, up and down two floors, 23 meters long, 10 meters wide. The house was divided into nine compartments and nine fire pits were set up in the room. This clearly shows that in this large house of a "bottom page" (clan family), is a small family ("valley") consisting of 9 fire pit units of the matrilineal line. The patriarchal **** exists as a clan family.

The Lahu have a good custom of helping each other to build houses. In the old days, when the house was built, all the men and women of the village were mobilized, the men erected columns on the rafters, and the women went up to the mountains to cut grass, and the work started on the same day and was completed on the same day. At night, a banquet was held to congratulate the new house ceremony, the whole village men and women drink sprinkles, while jumping Lusheng to show congratulations.

Kinuo big house

Because of the social form of the Jinuo people, until the 1950s is still in the transition from the end of primitive society to class society. Therefore, reflecting the Kino primitive social form of patriarchal clan patriarchal traces, still remains in the Kino residential form, the big house is a unique form. Such as kino mountain baja baira car family, several generations **** 70 people live in a building more than 30 meters long and 10 meters wide in the bamboo building. House in addition to the total fire pit, there are three small fire pit, the family cooking, eating, resting, holding family meetings are here. On both sides of the fire pit are the living rooms, which are arranged in order of seniority and marital status. Parents can only be transferred after the death of the family, the implementation of *** with labor, *** with consumption.

The other is the same patriarchal clan of several generations living in a large bamboo building, there is also an oldest male head of the family, but the various small families already have their own family economy, have *** farming habits, but has been according to the small family independent consumption. For example, in the 1940s there were still more than 10 large suites in Arnold. One of the largest block of long house is the wood La standard home, room **** 28 small families, more than 140 people. Each small family not only has its own separate room, but also have their own fire pit, to small family units engaged in production and consumption. The large families only hold traditional collective activities during festivals and important agricultural seasons, as well as at times of weddings and funerals. From the point of view of the form of residence is a primitive *** residence customs, but from the point of view of the production and consumption of life, has been gradually from the collective *** ownership to the family private ownership development.

Kinuo big house is a dry-rail type of construction, low floor, about one meter from the ground, the plane of the big house is rectangular, the beams of the house, columns are wood structure, four walls with bamboo fence for the wall, roof with thatched grass rows covered. There are no windows in the house, and the light is dark during the day. Each beam and post is fastened with a mother-and-child fastener, and the whole house does not need nails; the rafters of the frame and the grass rows are wrapped and fastened with rattan and bamboo gimlet strips. It's easy to build a house with materials, and when a family builds a house, all the men and women in the village will help each other to build a big house in a shorter period of time.

Now the Jinuo patriarchal clan patriarchal system big house has disappeared forever from the life of the Jinuo people. At present, the relevant departments of the province and the state are establishing ethnic folklore tourism attractions and the Kino folklore eco-village in Bapo Zhai and Baka Xiaozhai of Kino Township, and they are working intensely in the spirit of the requirement of restoring the original historical appearance. In the near future, you will be able to witness the big house and the original flavor and customs of the Keno people in Xishuangbanna.