What is the building known as the Wonder of the Tujia Family ?

The stilted building is the most complex and a typical architectural form that can show the richness in the Tujia area of western Hubei Province. With the development of economic machine and cultural progress, the stilted building has become a common building in the Tujia area, as far as its structure is concerned, the stilted building in each region is similar, their most basic feature is that the main house is built on the ground, the wing house is connected with the main house except one side by leaning on the ground and the main house, the remaining three sides are suspended, supported by the pillar, the main house and the wing room (i.e. the stilt part) live on the top, the lower part of the wing house has a column without a wall, used to feed livestock, pile up chores. In general, the stilted building should still belong to the dry column building, but it is different from the general dry bar.

The dry bar should be all suspended, so the stilted building is called a semi-dry bar building.

Single-hoist, which is the most common form, is called "one-head crane" or "key head". It is characterized by the fact that only the wing room on one side of the main house sticks out and hangs into the air, and the bottom is supported by wooden pillars.

Double-hanging type, also known as "double-head crane" or "pinching mouth", it is the development of single-hanging type, that is, there are hanging out of the wing room at both ends of the main house. Single-hanging and double-hanging are not formed by regional differences, mainly depending on economic conditions and family needs, and single-hanging and double-hanging often coexist.

Sihe water type, this form of stilted building is developed on the basis of double hanging type, it is characterized by the upper part of the stilted building part of the two wings of the main house is connected into a whole, forming a quadrangle. The downstairs of the two-chamber house is the gate, and this kind of courtyard house must go up a few stone steps to enter the main house after entering the gate.

Two-house crane type, this form is developed on the basis of single crane and double crane, that is, another layer is added to the general stilted building. Both single and double cranes are applicable.

Flat hoisting type, this form of stilted building is also developed on the basis of single crane, single crane, double crane are available. Its main feature is that it was built in a flat dam, and according to the terrain, there was no need for hanging feet, but the wing house was lifted and supported by wooden columns. The ground floor of the wooden pillar is flush with the floor of the main house, so that the wing room is higher than the main house.

The stilted building has a rich cultural connotation, in addition to the deification phenomenon of Tujia residential architecture focusing on the dragon vein, building according to the situation and coexisting with people and gods, there is also a very prominent concept of space cosmosization. The stilted buildings of the Tujia family are not only unilaterally in the embrace of cosmic nature, but also in the bosom of cosmic nature. This concept of space that accommodates the universe is very evident in the Tujia Shangliang ritual song:

In the last step, Wangbaoliang, a round of Tai Chi is in **, and the beginning of the Yuan line is Ruixiang. On the second step, beaming, the word 'Qiankun' is on both sides, and the sun and the moon are in pairs to enjoy forever. The "Qiankun" and "Sun and Moon" here represent the universe.

In a sense, the Tujia stilted building has become closer and more intimate to the universe in its subjective sense, so that the house, people and the universe are one and inseparable.

Another reason is that the weather in the south is humid, and the stilted building can be separated from the ground by some distance. Some put firewood downstairs, and some raise pigs downstairs.

We used to have a few stilted houses there, but now there are very few left, after all, wooden houses are not easy to live in.

The Tujia people love to live in groups and live in wooden buildings on stilts. The houses are built in one village, one village, and few single households. Most of the houses built are wooden structures, small green tiles, lattice windows, eaves hanging in the air, wooden railings, horse corners, antique and antique.

Generally, there is a small courtyard in the home, there is a fence in front of the courtyard, there is a bamboo forest behind the courtyard, the bluestone slab paves the road, the planed wood board is decorated with the wall, the pine is illuminated, and the family lives a quiet life in the countryside of sunrise and sunset.

Tujia stilted buildings are mostly wooden structures, earlier Tusi King strictly forbade the people to send tiles, only allowed to benefit cedar bark, thatch, called "only allowed to buy horses, not allowed to send tiles". It was not until the thirteenth year of Yongzheng in the Qing Dynasty that the Gaiwa was built after the "land was changed and returned to the stream". Generally, it is a horizontal row of four doors and three rooms, three pillars and six horses or five pillars and six horses, and the middle is a hall house, which is used for the ancestral shrines of the past dynasties, which is the core of the family sacrifice.

According to the topography, the building is divided into half section hanging, half side hanging, two-handed cart two-wing crane, hanging key head, curved ruler hanging, waterfront hanging, crossing the gorge through the hole hanging, the rich people carve beams and paint the building, the eaves angle is high, the stone steps are coiled, there is the poetic and picturesque artistic conception of the pavilion in the air.

1. Tujia stilted buildings are generally oriented east-west, with a free and flexible layout, or by the mountain or along the valley, fully considering the local natural environment. The form is also diverse, there are a variety of forms, such as single hanging type, double hanging type, two-house hanging type, even if it is the same form of stilted building, because the internal space treatment is different, it also seems to have its own characteristics.

2, the whole wooden frame of the Tujia stilted building is connected by mortise and tenon joints, no nails and no bolts, the doors and windows are carved and decorated with rich themes, the shape is vivid and changeable, and the green tile wooden wall sets off each other, elegant and clean, the Tujia craftsmen pay attention to practical functions, and also attach importance to the concept of auspicious auspiciousness, which makes the stilted building in addition to beautiful and practical, but also accumulates a rich cultural connotation, and also highlights the exquisite building technology and ingenuity of the Tujia craftsmen.

3.The Tujia people call the entire construction process of the stilted building "Zaohuatang". The owner of the house chooses an auspicious day, and asks the chief designer "Ink Master" to go into the mountain to choose wood. The wood is generally made of Tsubaki tree or purple tree, which is the homonym of "spring" and "child", which means "spring is always there" and "descendants are prosperous".

4. The Tujia stilted building is half land and half water. Built on the situation of the mountain, it is in the shape of a tiger sitting, with "the left green dragon, the right white tiger" in the middle for the hall house, the left and right sides are called Rao room, for living, cooking. The room is divided into two halves by the middle pillar, the front is a fire kang, and the back is a bedroom.

There is a curved corridor around the building on stilts, and the curved corridor is also equipped with a railing. "The front Suzaku, the back Xuanwu" is the best house, and later pays attention to the orientation, or sits west to east, or sits east to west.

5. The scale of the general house is a 4-row fan 3-room house or 6-row fan 5-room house, the medium family is 5 pillars and 2 rides, 5 pillars and 4 rides, and the large family is 7 pillars and 4 rides, and the courtyard courtyard is 4 horses. The structure of the 4-row fan and 3-room house is as follows: the middle is a hall house, and the left and right sides are called rao rooms, which are used for living and cooking.

The room is divided into two halves by the middle pillar, the front is a fire kang, and the back is a bedroom. There is a curved corridor around the building on stilts, and the curved corridor is also equipped with a railing.

6. The bottom floor is not suitable for people, and is used to raise poultry and place farm tools and heavy objects. The second floor is a place to eat and live, with bedrooms, which are generally not accessible to outsiders. Outside the bedroom is a hall with a fire pit around which the family eats, which is spacious and convenient.

Because there are windows, it is bright, well-lit and ventilated, and it is also a place where families do manual work and rest, and it is also a place to receive guests. On the other side of the hall is a wide corridor with a half-height balustrade and a large row of benches, where families often rest, and where mothers dress their daughters during festivals. The third floor is ventilated and dry, very spacious, in addition to the living room, there is also a small room for grain storage and storage.

7. The stilted buildings all reflect a simple and feminine atmosphere, and are a representative traditional residential architecture of the Tujia family. The construction of the stilted building conforms to the natural environment, erects the house by the mountain, pays attention to the high unity of practicality and aesthetics, emphasizes the beauty of space and layer, and the whole construction process also fully demonstrates the unique and strong folk customs of the Tujia family. Tujia stilted buildings have various forms and are a pearl in the field of Chinese residential architecture.

The corridor type stilted building is named because of the outward protrusion of a corridor on the second floor, which is the earliest form and main construction method of the Tujia stilted building. Generally, the building has two or three floors, respectively.

One, two, three sides of the corridor type section overhang, the width of the corridor step is about the foot, the corridor hanging column is supported by the fang, the eaves depth is generally two steps or three two steps is the most common. This kind of stilted building is airy and light, quiet and elegant, with high warped corners, fine decoration, and light shape are its main characteristics. From the topographical point of view, the stilted buildings often occupy unfavorable places in the terrain, such as slopes, steep ridges, ravines, etc., while the main part is located on the flat ground of the Kihu Hall.

If you look at the combination of the stilted building and the main body, there are three kinds of stilted buildings, left and right asymmetrical stilted buildings, and left and right symmetrical stilted buildings, among which one side of the stilted building is the most common. In addition, the Tujia family also has a kind of stilted building that does not make a corridor, and the main part of the main house is connected with the wing room stilted building at right angles, which seems to have become a conventional "rule" for trouser rent. The transparent pillars and light warped corners have become the focus of vision, such as Yongshun Laosicheng, Zejia, and some stilted buildings on the stone embankment have similar characteristics.

The so-called "dry-bar" stilted building is a form of building in which the ground floor is overhead and the upper floor is inhabited. This kind of architectural form is generally on both sides of the stream and river, with the mountains as the back of the draft scene, the river beach as the backdrop, the group is contiguous, the mighty and mighty along the river bank, and the houses are often separated by the horse head wall.

However, the commercial towns of the Tujia family also have this form of living in the form of filial piety, such as Wangcun is the ancient commercial town inhabited by the Tujia people. It is characterized by the horizontal lines formed by the cornice, waist eaves, and waist corridors, which contrast strongly with the vertical supports crisscrossing below. This kind of slender pillars of different sizes, arranged in an irregular manner, staggered from side to side, embodies the primitive beauty of ruins and broken walls, and has a strong impact on people's visual and aesthetic aesthetics.

The architectural art of Tujia houses in Xiangxi is undoubtedly a treasure in Chinese architecture. It is hoped that more aspiring architects and environmental art designers can conduct in-depth research, scientifically and skillfully combine traditional residential architecture with modern residential buildings, and make due contributions to the sustainable development of traditional residential architecture in western Hunan. <>