Zhaoxing Dong Village

One Of The Largest Dong Villages In China, Known For Its Five Drum Towers · Liping, Guizhou

One of the largest Dong villages in China, filling a narrow valley in southeastern Guizhou with several hundred wooden houses, rice terraces on the slopes above and streams running between the lanes. The Dong are known as builders in timber, working without nails, and Zhaoxing holds five drum towers - tall pagoda-like structures of stacked eaves that serve as the meeting place and heart of each clan quarter, named for the Confucian virtues of benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom and faith. Beside them stand roofed wind-and-rain bridges, the covered crossings the Dong build over their streams, and a stage where villagers perform the Grand Song, a form of polyphonic choral singing passed down without notation and recognised by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage. Women still weave and dye indigo cloth on their porches, beating it to a metallic sheen. The village has a hotel quarter and can feel busy by day, but stays working rather than staged, and a high-speed station five kilometres away has made it far easier to reach than the surrounding hill villages.

Zhaoxing Dong Village, Liping County, Qiandongnan, Liping, Guizhou, China

Village open at all hours; the ticket is valid about 3 days with re-entry, and performances run in the evening (check times locally).

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