The role of Danba s ancient towers in ancient times

The ancient watchtower of Danba is a masterpiece of Jiarong Tibetan architecture, which has a history of thousands of years. The building age of the ancient watchtower is from the Tang Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, the scale is large, the type is diverse, the ancient watchtower building is divided into stone watchtowers from the building materials, such as the Suopo stone towers of Danba; Stone rammed watchtower, stone masonry and rammed earth combined watchtower, etc. From the appearance of the watchtower, there are triangular towers, four-cornered towers, pentagonal towers, hexagonal towers, octagonal towers, twelve-cornered towers, sixteen-cornered towers, thirteen-cornered towers, among which four-cornered towers are the most common, and others are less.

The height of the ancient towers gradually developed from 10 meters and 20 meters to 30 meters and 35 meters. In ancient times, the watchtower had many functions, and the legend was originally used to subdue demons, but later the watchtower was mostly closely related to the war. Therefore, from the function of the watchtower, it is mainly divided into four types:

There are war towers (military defense towers, key passes), communication and early warning towers (lookout towers, whistle towers, beacon fire towers), Tusi official Zhai Towers, Zhai Towers, family Towers (brothers, sons and mothers, Lianzhu Towers, mutual looks, Lian Lian Chain), here, there are also police Towers, boundary Towers, Houses in the Tower, Feng Shui Towers, etc. Built next to the main road of the village, the traffic passes, checkpoints and other places are called "military defense towers"; Specially built for the Tusi garrison, it is called "Guanzhai Tower"; In the center of the village, the octagonal towers used to suppress demons are called "feng shui towers", among which the family towers and the village towers are the majority. These watchtowers have short watchtowers, thick door panels, and wooden shelves in the watchtowers.

The battle blockhouse is built high and large, it can not only accommodate the guards and a large number of stones, arrows, etc., but also grain, firewood, grass, water, etc. should also be stored in it, and the old and weak women and children and livestock in the village can also hide in it, so that they can resist for a long time.

I'm from Danba!

It has the role of joining the army to fight a war to defend, it has the effect of letting animals live, and it can also let people live!

Danba watchtowers, mainly concentrated in Sichuan Province Danba County on both sides of the river valley, with a group of three or five echoing each other, there are also like the Suopo thirteen corners of the tower. In the place where the watchtowers are concentrated, dozens of watchtowers are undulating, forming a magnificent watchtower group. Each of the Danba watchtowers has withstood a hundred years of wind and rain, and the edges and corners stand majestically.

The most watchtowers in Suopo Township are also the most famous, there are the world's most concentrated ancient towers group, a total of 84, can be called the towers museum, have the reputation of "the hometown of a thousand towers".

According to historical records, the history of human activities in Danba can be traced back to 5,000 years ago, and a multi-tribal ethnic group has lived and multiplied here for a long time. The ancient towers scattered throughout the territory of Danba are the witnesses of the historical development of the ethnic groups living here.

The watchtower began to develop and prevail in the Qiang area as far as the Han Dynasty, and was built by the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing Dynasty when he pacified the large and small Jinchuan. In the period of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Danba has been towers to five generations later, towers construction technology has been mature. There are 260 Diaolou in Danba, and it is said that there are nearly 10,000 in the heyday, which can not be completed without a lot of manpower and financial resources.

The Qiang architecture is most famous for watchtowers, stone houses, rope bridges, plank roads and water conservancy weirs.

The Qiang language calls the watchtower "Deng cage". As early as 2000 years ago, the Book of the Later Han Dynasty'There is a record of the Qiang people "living in the mountains, building stones for houses, and the high ones are more than ten zhang". Towers are mostly built next to village houses, with a height of between 10 and 30 meters, to defend against enemies and store grain, firewood and grass.

The watchtower has four corners, hexagonal and octagonal forms. Some are as high as thirteen or fourteen floors. The building materials are stone flakes and yellow clay.

The base of the wall is 135 meters deep and is made of stone flakes. The inside of the stone wall is perpendicular to the ground, and the outside is slightly inclined from bottom to top. The construction is not drawn, hanging wire, and column support, all relying on superb skills and experience.

The building is solid and durable. In 1988, the ruins of an ancient castle of the Ming Dynasty "Yongping Fort" found in Yong'an Village, Qiang Township, Beichuan County, Sichuan Province, are still well preserved after hundreds of years of ups and downs.

The Qiang are an ancient people. According to research, the ancestors of the Qiang people were in Gansu and Qinghai. Many important figures in Chinese history are Qiang people, such as Emperor Yan, Dayu, Xia Qi, King Wen of Zhou, King Wu of Zhou, Jiang Ziya, etc.

The Qiang people seen today moved to the upper reaches of the Min River during the Qin and Han dynasties, and changed from nomadic life to farming and settlement, and have multiplied from generation to generation. The Qiang people have a language but few written languages, and their national culture is mostly passed down from generation to generation through oral transmission.

Qiang people are good to assemble and live, several families are connected as a piece, form a Qiang village, each village must have more than ten meters high Qiang style watchtower, can not only climb to look, but also can defend against the enemy, there is the tendency of easy to defend and difficult to attack.

Legend has it that in the past Jiarong Tibetan area, all families with boys had to build a watchtower, and this wind continued, gradually forming the "country of a thousand towers". In fact, in ancient times, in order to protect the village from invasion, the Tibetans dealt with the war between the tribes that was the real reason for the formation of the ancient carving group.

The ancient watchtower is a masterpiece of Jiarong Tibetan architecture, which has a history of thousands of years. The building age of Gujie is from Tang Dynasty to Qing Dynasty, the scale is large, the types are diverse, the architectural skills are superb, and it has extremely high aesthetic, sociological, historical, and national cultural values. The watchtowers are mainly concentrated on both sides of the river valley, especially the towers in the two townships of Suopo and the middle road are the most dense and magnificent, the ancient towers are preserved intact, and are compatible with the village dwellings.

The watchtower is beautiful in appearance, the base is solid, generally four corners, six corners, and even thirteen corners of the high square column, built with mud and stones. For thousands of years, the ancient towers have withstood the erosion of war and wind and rain, the test of **, still standing majestically, some have been biased but do not fall, some are bent into a bow, claiming to be a landscape.

The watchtower has many functions, and the legend is that it was originally used to subdue demons, but later most of the watchtowers were closely related to the war. The high towers of Danba are mainly divided into four kinds: the key blocks, the beacon towers, the walled towers and the home towers, among which the home towers and the walled towers are the majority.

These watchtowers are short and the door is thick, and the blockhouse is separated by a wooden wrench, and some are as high as ten or twenty layers, which are easy to defend and difficult to attack.