Editor's Note: This article is produced in collaboration with the Chongqing Institute of Foreign Studies as part of a series of ongoing reports exploring the city's abundant resources in intangible cultural heritages.

The stilted buildings.

The stilted building, also called the "Diao Building," is the traditional dwelling of the Miao (in Chongqing, Guizhou, etc.), Zhuang, Buyi, Dong, Shui, Tujia, and other ethnic minorities. It exists in the southeast of Chongqing, the north of Guangxi, the west of Hunan, the west of Hubei, and the southeast of Guizhou regions.

The stilted buildings are usually built by the mountain and the river, shaping a sitting tiger, with a "green dragon on the left, white tiger on the right, purple pheasant in front, and a black tiger behind." Over time, attention was paid to orientation, facing either west to east or east to west. Although categorized as dry-railing architecture, the stilted buildings differ from conventional dry railings by having only the lower portion suspended, earning them the moniker of semi-stilted houses.

The house is ventilated and moisture-proof, warm in winter and cool in summer. Constructing a stilted building requires hundreds of wooden columns, brackets, and various components; all joined without nails or rivets but solely through tenons and mortises. When building stilted houses, artisans never use blueprints, relying instead on ink pots, axes, chisels, and saws to apply advanced mechanical and geometric principles, seamlessly connecting columns, brackets, and beams to stand majestically on steep slopes.

In 2009, the construction skills of the Chongqing Diao building were selected into the municipal intangible cultural heritage list of Chongqing.

Distinctive national characteristics, the crystallization of ancient wisdom

The decoration of the stilted building by the Tujia people is meticulous, with wood carving being the primary technique due to the structure's wooden composition. Windows, often featuring auspicious symbols like double phoenixes or climbing magpies, are adorned with intricate patterns, enhancing the building's distinctiveness. In terms of decorative colors, most stilted buildings do not use bright colors on a large scale but focus on highlighting the color and texture of the wooden materials themselves. Small scales are decorated with diamond blue, sky blue, earth red, and earth yellow, fresh and refined so that the whole building can also integrate with the surrounding natural environment in color without being abrupt.

The stilted buildings' internal structure also shows the Tujia ancestors' superb wisdom in resisting natural disasters and external threats. Generally speaking, the overhead part is located in the low-lying area, which is damp and dark. The ancestors used the overhead part for sundries and cattle-raising storage, while the main house was used for people's daily lives. The stilted buildings can prevent moisture as well as insects and snakes, but there are hidden dangers in terms of fire prevention. Once there is a fire, it is difficult to put out. Therefore, people generally do not set fire pits on it, hang brown sandbags on the wall, or set up stone peace tanks downstairs for fire prevention. In this way, it can not only overcome the disadvantages of living in a mountainous environment and improve the ability to resist natural disasters but also enhance the function of the room and the quality of life so that people's life and property safety can be guaranteed.

The "living fossil" of Bayu culture, the rebirth of modern stilted building

 The stilted building is doomed to gradually die out in the development process of modern society because it was a temporary measure. With the development and maturity of Chongqing, poor living conditions and inadequate living facilities have led to the disappearance of many stilted buildings. However, the emergence of Hongya Cave has made people re-examine the significance of the cultural heritage of the stilted buildings. In November 2007, the Hongya Cave Folk Style Area in Chongqing was rated as a national AAAA-level tourist attraction. On November 18, 202November, 18 Ave was listed as one of the "Ten New Cultural and Tourism Landmarks in Chongqing." In December 2021, Hongya Cave was listed as one of the "Second Batch of Historical Place Names in Chongqing". The Diao buildings in Hongya Cave belong to the columnar architecture, built along the river and along the mountain. The housing structure is simple, the opening is flexible, and the shape is not fixed, allowing Jiefangbei to go directly to the riverside. Along the slope, these buildings form a linear road space, with the lower part of the Diao buildings being empty and the upper part being surrounded by solid bodies. The Hongya Cave Folk Style Area is mainly characterized by the "Diao buildings" with traditional architectural features of Bayu. Through mountainous architectural techniques such as layered platforms, stilted structures, overlapping designs, and cliff-side constructions, it seamlessly integrates six major industries, including dining, entertainment, leisure, health care, hotels, and specialty cultural shopping, forming a unique "three-dimensional aerial pedestrian street," which has become an urban scenic spot and commercial center with hierarchy and texture.

This photo shows a view of Hongyadong's scenic area, southwest China's Chongqing, on August 3, 2023. (PAugust 3iu Chan, Xinhua)

The stilted buildings in Chongqing are an excellent cultural heritage of the Bayu region. They fully demonstrate the wisdom of the Chongqing people, enabling the unique ancient architecture, historical culture, and local customs of Bayu to thrive in modern social life and continue to be passed down in the future.

Chinese script: Xu Zirui  Liang Zhiwei

Tutored by: Tan Ruye

Translation: Su Yi

Tutored by: Tu Qingqing  Wei Jingjun

Voice-over: Wang Hao

Tutored by: Lei Yu