The Dong people in China are an indigenous ethnic group known to have lived in the mountainous regions of southwestern China for about 600 years. They do not have a written language – instead, their cultural knowledge is shared orally. This means that the outside world does not know much about them.
But an ambitious research project led by the university to document the distinctive architecture of the Dong people is revealing a LOT regarding this marginalized indigenous groups lifestyle.
About 3 million Dong people live in the provinces of Guizhou, Hunan and Guangxi. They are known for their polyphonic choral songs, which have been registered by UNESCO since 2009 as an example of world-class intangible cultural heritage. Their architecture, landscape and refined agricultural terraces are also distinct, but less well-known and never digitally recorded.
Dong buildings and settlements are usually hidden in fir forests with direct access to waterways at the bottom of valleys or halfway up hills. A Dong settlement usually has about 200 families of four to five people – although some larger villages can have as many as 500 families.
These villages tend to have a gate that marks their boundary, defining their territory in relation to neighboring settlements. Many have a special “wind and rain bridge” – a mix of village gate and covered bridge – used for communal gatherings and lock ceremonies. Ponds, wells and barns are scattered throughout the landscape.
In the heart of most villages, surrounded by two or three-story wooden houses, there is one “Tower of Drums” and a “Sa-Sui Shrine”. The former represents the association of the people’s sacred belief in clan kinship and the fir tree, while the latter represents the center of Dong’s worship of “Sa” or grandmother.
They are the most important buildings in a village – for security, social and spiritual reasons.
Culture at risk
Nowadays, Dong’s built and cultural heritage are increasingly at risk. This is due to a combination of climate change, natural disasters, urban infrastructure development and the expansion of rural tourism.
Climate warming is causing more and more wildfires and causing mountain floods. We are also seeing the encroachment of urbanism on Dong’s rural surroundings. While it brings improvements in quality of life, it often presents home fire hazards due to poor quality electrical infrastructure.
And in recent years, the growth of tourism and the encroachment of roads, railways and bridges risks turning these villages into decorated scenes. This may bring in money, but it threatens the unique architecture and landscape of the Dong people.
It is a pressing challenge for this indigenous people and for those of us committed to preserving their historic environment, their culture and their highly ritualized way of life.
Tragically, a lack of resources means that schemes for repair, restoration and regeneration work, as well as inadequate conservation policies and frameworks, have been slow to help preserve these precious villages.
The remote mountain setting doesn’t help. Both local communities and government authorities have extremely limited resources to manage almost any change in their historic environment.
Despite the remote location of many of these villages, they are now being affected by modern development. We are seeing the rise of contemporary housing developments using modern structures and materials.
It’s part of China’s rapid urbanization over the past few decades – but, like everywhere else, it’s irreversibly changing the image and identity of Dong settlements and their architecture.
The problem of modern tourism development can be seen in the way traditional style drum towers are being built as theme park attractions. IN Danzhai Wanda Villagea newly developed theme park near Kaili in Guizhou, the closest city to the indigenous Dong areas, has five newly built drum towers, described as “iconic”, which are presented as free-standing monuments with no sense of their relationship to the surrounding houses and forests.
Deciphering the legacy built by the Dong
The need to document and protect the authentic Indigenous Dong culture is what has driven it Decoding Dong the project.
This was launched in 2023 and completed in 2025 and set out to digitally document the physical and cultural heritage of the Dong.
This interdisciplinary project draws on humanities and social science disciplines, ranging from architecture, anthropology, heritage sciences, sociology and digital humanities.
It brought together a range of innovative and complementary research methods. This has included 3D LiDAR scanningair and terrestrial photogrammetry (the science of applying mathematics to photography to derive accurate 3D measurements), 3D reality capture modeling, measured drawing, documentary filmmaking and drafting. This is supplemented by oral histories from the Dong people.
The project has been completed, the first of its kind digital documentation of Dong architectural heritage, digital construction and audio-visual documentaries of about 100 historic buildings across a dozen remote Dong villages.
A key part of the research process was consultation with key stakeholders, including clan leaders, elderly villagers and provincial policy makers wherever possible.
The Dong’s indigenous heritage is still under threat, due to the lack of resources faced by both the local authority and the communities themselves.
But this project represents a step change. By building a repository of mutually beneficial information, supported by the latest digital technologies, we hope to draw more attention to this special people without threatening what makes them unique.
Xiang Ren is an associate professor of architecture, University of Sheffield
This article was reprinted from Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read on original article.
