The Dong people in Congjiang built Dong drum towers of various shapes and sizes with fir wood. There are 212 Dong villages of various sizes in the county, with 108 drum towers of various styles. According to the traditional geographical division of the folk, the drum towers in Congjiang County can be divided into five groups. There are 29 drum towers in the Jiudong Drum Tower Group, which are distributed in most villages in Wangdong Township. It is one of the most densely populated drum tower groups in Congjiang County. It is characterized by its long history, magnificent building, and beautiful and smooth shape, represented by Zengchong Drum Tower. There are 28 drum towers in the Liudong Drum Tower Group, which are distributed in Guandong, Luoxiang, Qingyun and other towns. The drum tower group has fewer layers of dense eaves and is small and exquisite, represented by Baier Drum Tower. There are 15 drum towers in the Qianqi Drum Tower Group, which are distributed in Guping, Xiajiang and other towns. They are characterized by tall and straight buildings, represented by Gaoqian Drum Tower. There are 15 drum towers in the Erqianjiu Drum Tower Group, which are distributed in Bingmei, Gaozeng and other towns. The characteristics are elegant and beautifully decorated, with the Xiaohuang Xinquan Drum Tower as the representative. There are 24 drum towers in the Duliujiang River Drum Tower Group (also known as the Ronghe Drum Tower Group), distributed in towns such as Xishan and Douli. The characteristics are slender buildings, with the Xishan Douzhai Drum Tower as the representative. According to the "Narrative of the Beginning of Drum Towers" written by Ma Jian in the Five Dynasties, "a village has a tower, and a drum is placed on the tower to prevent thieves." The "Book of Tang" also records the "gathering of Dong drums and horns" in the Dong village. The Dong village raised funds and worked hard to build a public building card room, which the Dong people called "Tangka" or "Tangwa", meaning "the place for Dong people to discuss matters", which is the original form of the Dong drum tower. In the drum towers from Congjiang County to Dongxiang, whenever guests from other villages come to the village "Yueye", the "Arhats" in the village will gather in the drum tower to entertain the foreign girls and sing and have fun with them. In the third year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1575), the "Changmin Ceshi" said: "There may be 70, 80, 30, or 50 households, and they will erect a high building with a drum on top. When something happens, they will beat the drum as a signal, and the crowd will jump up and down." Li Zongfang's "Guizhou Records" in the Qing Dynasty further described this building: "All the villages built a building with several floors on the high flat place, which was called Jutang. A wooden pole several feet long was used, with a hollow inside, and hung on the top, which was called Changgu. Whenever there was something unfair, they would go up to the building and beat it. When the villages heard about it, they all brought long darts and sharp blades and gathered downstairs." It made it clear that the building built at this time was a "Jutang" (a gathering place for Dong villages). The function of "Jutang" is the same as that of "Tangka" or "Tangwa". From the simple Ganlan-style card room to the "Luohan Building", it evolved into a "Jutang", and finally became a modern form of drum tower. It is a transformation from simple to complex, from low-level to beautiful and multifunctional high-level forms. The number of floors of the later-built drum towers gradually increased, and the roofs also evolved from simple to complex, from ordinary gable roofs with water pouring down on both sides to tower-style roofs; the eaves of the building also gradually increased from four-sided (water pouring down on all four sides) to six-sided, eight-sided, and different shapes of upper and lower sides; from no top to a series of gourd-shaped pagoda tops. From the dense eaves of the building facade, there are three, five, seven, nine, eleven, thirteen, fifteen, etc., and very few are even numbers. The top has hanging mountain style, hip-and-gable style, and multi-slope jian jian. Among the jian jian jian, there are double-stacked roofs and single-stacked roofs. From the main supporting columns of the building, it can be divided into: inner four-column and outer octagonal, inner six-column and outer hexagonal, inner eight-column and outer octagonal, inner four-column and outer four-corner, etc. The size, height, and shape of the drum tower are related to the size of the village, the clan, the wealth, and the raw materials of fir wood. They are also related to the order of settlement, the subordination between villages, and the clan subordination (or seniority) in the same village. There is a strict hierarchy. In terms of form, hexagons are generally subordinate to quadrilaterals and octagons; short is subordinate to tall; small is subordinate to large. The most common dense-eaves pagoda-shaped drum tower in Congjiang County has a construction process: from the discussion of the village to the completion of the drum tower, the main processes include site selection, material preparation, ink, column erection, frame installation, beam installation, roof installation, tile installation, material loading and coloring, which took two to three years. Building a drum tower is a major event in the village. It is usually proposed by the village elders. After the elders of the whole village discuss and agree, the site selection, material preparation, labor distribution, wage collection, and hiring of masters are determined. The key point of material preparation is who donates the main pillar and the middle pillar (Leigong pillar) of the drum tower. Generally, the families who settled in the village earlier, have a comfortable living condition and a large population donate. The middle pillar at the top of the drum tower must be donated by the descendants of the village (clan) who donated the middle pillar when the first drum tower was built, and the rest of the materials are shared by the whole village. The wages are shared according to the number of family members. In the past, in addition to silver, the master's remuneration included rice, wine, meat, cloth and other items, and there was no uniform standard for the amount. After the start of work, all households in the village took turns to entertain the master with good wine and food. The drum towers in the villages that were damaged by fire or natural disasters are generally rebuilt on the original site without selecting another site. Most Dong villages set aside the foundation for the construction of the drum tower when they were built. There is an ancient song that goes "Build a building before building a village, and lay stones as an altar to worship the grandmother. The heart of the drum tower is the hub, and the prosperity and prosperity have a reason. The drum tower is a warm nest for the village, and there is no place to be happy without the drum tower." On an auspicious day, the village elder leads the young and middle-aged people to the tree to hold a ceremony to worship the tree god and the mountain god. After the ceremony, the village elder will chop three times with an axe, and then the young and middle-aged people will take turns to chop down the tree. The tree must fall along the mountain. It is taboo for family members who died a violent death, died young, or have no descendants to participate in the felling. After the wood is ready, the ink master (the chief designer of the drum tower) will choose an auspicious day to make the first ink. The first ink is very important and sacred. The ink master who is in his zodiac year cannot make the first ink (another ink master must be invited). The first ink master wears new clothes, chants mantras, burns incense paper, and places the wood (a melon column about 2 meters long) on the newly made wooden horse. Plane the surface, take out the ink fountain and start to make ink. After the ceremony is completed, the various parts of the drum tower begin to be processed and made. After the first ink is completed, the master painter carries a bamboo ruler and ink fountain to measure and draw ink lines between the columns and beams. Other assistants complete the processing of the main components of the drum tower according to their respective division of labor. Other auxiliary components such as beams, wave-shaped beams, purlins, rafters, and brackets are made after the frame of the building is erected. Before erecting the drum tower, the frame is first raised. The frame is erected on the inside of the main supporting column of the drum tower. The height of the distribution form is basically consistent with the height of the main supporting column of the drum tower, so that the main supporting column can lean on the frame after being erected. The erection of the building is the most important part of the construction of the entire drum tower. The auspicious day is selected (in some places, on the day of erecting the building, the master painter sets up two wooden horses in a line, and the residents in these two directions must avoid it for one hour). The people facing the drum tower hang self-woven cloth and grapefruit leaves to cover up the evil spirits. Raising the beam is an important procedure in the construction of traditional drum towers and folk houses of the Dong ethnic group. After the main structure of the drum tower is completed, on an auspicious day, the main beam (Taiping beam) of the drum tower is raised to the top and suspended between the two main supporting columns, which is called the upper beam. After chanting the spell, a chicken is killed, and the chicken blood is sprinkled on the first beam to be pulled up, and a small red cloth and ears of grain are tied. Two people standing on the top of the drum tower hold a rope at each end to slowly pull up the beam, and firecrackers are set off at the same time. After the beam is pulled to the top, it is set on the basilica between the two main supporting columns, and then candies, glutinous rice cakes, red envelopes and other things are scattered from the top of the drum tower, and people under the drum tower laugh and scramble for them. After the drum tower is completed, the village holds a grand ceremony to send off the masters. In addition to red envelopes, the village also gives pig heads, cloth and other things. The reed pipe is blown and firecrackers are set off to send the masters to the village head. An auspicious day is chosen for the "entering the building" ceremony and "hanging the drum" (placing the signal drum on the top floor). The old people in the village play finger-guessing games and drink in the building, and young men and women play reed pipes and sing Dong songs. After the ceremony is completed, it indicates that the drum tower will be open to the public from now on, and other villages can play reed pipes and sing Dong songs in the building. Finally, an auspicious day is chosen to hold a ceremony to celebrate the completion of the drum tower. On that day, all the men, women, old and young in the village are dressed in their best clothes. Neighboring villages, relatives and friends come to celebrate, some give plaques, some give red envelopes, and give auspicious words. The villages sing operas, sing songs, play reed pipes, and step on the singing hall. At night, the drum tower is brightly lit, and the sound of finger-guessing games, singing, and laughter is heard all night long. In the Dong village, the drum tower is not only a symbol of auspiciousness, but also a symbol and embodiment of the national image. Its status is sacred and lofty. The skilled craftsmen of the Dong ethnic group built the drum tower, which is the embodiment of the national spirit, with both the sacred beauty of inner awe and the majestic and spectacular beauty of great ornamental value. The whole drum tower is made of fir wood, with chiseled mortise and tenon joints, and cross-cutting sleeves, crisscrossing, and a rigorous and solid structure, without a single nail or rivet. Dong craftsmen used the principle of "wet swelling and dry shrinkage" of fir wood to process the columns and beams (the columns are not dry but the beams are dry), making the combination of the two more solid. The ancestors of the Dong people, on the basis of widely absorbing the essence of other ethnic buildings, integrated the cultural characteristics and concepts of their own ethnic group, and infiltrated and integrated with their own style, forming a perfect architectural art and mature architectural technology, as well as a strong national flavor. It not only reflects the superb craftsmanship, but also connects the drum tower with the fir tree (in the ancient songs and legends of the Dong people, there are many legendary descriptions of the fir tree), which is the "ethnic memory" and cultural roots of a nation. In fact, it establishes a relationship of origin and inheritance between the drum tower and the oldest religious belief of its own nation, and also has the symbolic meaning of its vigorous vitality. The architectural complex of the Dong village is a cultural area centered on the drum tower. It is a unique culture of the Dong village. The drum tower is the center of the village. Near the drum tower are the singing platform, the stage, and the sadang. These four parts constitute the cultural core of the Dong village. The Dong culture is also called "drum tower culture", not only because the drum tower is an outstanding representative of the Dong architecture, but more importantly, it is the crystallization of the entire spiritual culture of the Dong people. From historical memory, religious beliefs, art and entertainment, cultural heritage to laws, customs, festivals, exchanges and many other aspects, the drum tower is inseparable. The drum tower is the most symbolic cultural symbol for the Dong culture. It accumulates and contains the most important cultural elements of the Dong people. With the drum tower as the center, you can almost see the entire Dong culture. Information source: Provincial Intangible Cultural Heritage Center Information source: Provincial Intangible Cultural Heritage Center