Walking into the mountains and rivers of Guizhou, whether you are on a lush hillside or by a crystal clear river, there will be stilted buildings everywhere you look. Diaojiaolou is like the shining stars in the starry sky covering the vast mountains. Diaojiaolou is a traditional residential building in Guizhou culture and a very distinctive architectural style. Let’s take a look at the Diaojiaolou in Guizhou.
Diaojiaolou, also called "diaolou", is a traditional residence of the Miao (Chongqing, Guizhou, etc.), Zhuang, Buyi, Dong, Shui, Tujia and other ethnic groups. It is located in southeastern Chongqing, northern Guangxi, western Hunan, There are particularly many stilted buildings in western Hubei and southeastern Guizhou. Most of the stilt houses were built according to the situation of the mountains and rivers, in the shape of a tiger sitting on the floor, with "green dragon on the left, white tiger on the right, red bird in the front, and Xuanwu in the back" as the best place for the house. Later, they paid attention to the orientation, either sitting west to east, or sitting east to west. Diaojiaolou is a stilt-style building, but it is different from the stilts generally referred to. The stilts should all be suspended, so the stilt building is called a semi-stilt building.
The most basic feature is that the main house is built on the ground. Except for one side of the side room, which is connected to the ground and is connected to the main house, the other three sides are suspended and supported by pillars. There are many advantages to building on stilts. The elevated floor is ventilated and dry, and can protect against poisonous snakes and wild beasts. Debris can also be stored under the floor. Diaojiaolou also has distinctive national characteristics. The elegant "silk eaves" and wide "walking rails" make the Diaojiaolou unique. This type of stilted building is more successful in getting rid of primitiveness than "railings" and has a higher cultural level. It is called the "living fossil" of Bachu culture.
The stilted building on the mountain is built on flat ground with wooden pillars and has two floors, which saves land and is cheaper to build. The upper floor is ventilated, dry and moisture-proof, and is used as a living room; the lower floor is used to house livestock or stack miscellaneous materials. things. The average house size is a house with 4 rows of fans and 3 rooms or a house with 6 rows of fans and 5 rooms. A medium-sized house has 5 pillars and 2 bays, or 5 pillars and 4 bays. A large family has 7 pillars, 4 bays and a courtyard with a courtyard. For a 3-room structure with 4 rows of fans, the main room is in the middle, and the left and right rooms are called rooms, which are used for living and cooking. The room is divided into two halves with the central pillar as the boundary, with a fire kang in the front and a bedroom in the back. There is a curved corridor on the stilted building that goes around the building, and the curved corridor is also equipped with railings.
Diaojiaolou is an ancient building in southwest China. Its most primitive form is a stilt-style dwelling. When human memory was still in the vague primitive era, the stilted building created by Youchao entered the stage of history as the oldest residential building. It stands near the water and is built against the mountains. It captures the aura of green mountains and green waters and is integrated with nature. Diaojiaolou is Xiaojiabiyu among the buildings. It is small and exquisite, elegant and dignified. It shows the beauty of nature in its simplicity. It is an unworldly place that exudes the purity of life without any noise or glitz.
When you are there, the worries of the world will disappear, and your troubled mind will be relieved. If you are disgusted with the luxury and impetuousness of big cities, you should personally experience the wonderful realm of "harmony between man and nature" presented by stilted buildings.
Legend
It is said that the ancestors of the Tujia people moved to western Hubei because their hometown was hit by floods. At that time, the ancient trees in western Hubei were towering, thorns were thick, and jackals, tigers and leopards could be seen everywhere. The "dog paw tents" first built by the Tujia people were often attacked by wild beasts. For the sake of safety, people burn twig fires and bury bamboo knots inside. The light of the fire and the sound of firecrackers scare away the attacking beasts, but they are still often threatened by venomous snakes and centipedes.
Later, a Tujia old man came up with a way: he asked the young men to use the ready-made big trees as a frame, bundle the wood, then lay the wild bamboo strips, build a frame on the top and cover it with a canopy. Large and small houses were built in the air, and people ate and slept on them. From then on, they were no longer afraid of attacks by poisonous snakes and beasts. This method of building "houses in the air" spread to more people, and they all built according to this method. "Housing in the Sky" was launched. Later, this kind of "housing in the sky" evolved into today's stilted buildings.