Quick Answer: What Is a Qiang Stone Tower?
A Qiang (羌族, Qiāngzú) stone tower, or diaolou (碉楼, diāolóu), is a tall masonry structure found in settlements of western Sichuan. Historical uses included watching over the village and storing goods. The towers often rise above adjacent flat-roofed houses.[1][3]
- Shape: Surviving towers can have square or polygonal plans.[1][6]
- Materials: Local builders worked in stone, earth or a combination of the two.[2]
- Village setting: At Taoping (桃坪, Táopíng), towers stand amid tightly packed homes and lanes.[4]
The towers are one part of the built heritage of Qiang communities. Historical accounts record different uses for the same building type.[1]
Look at a group of buildings from the slope. Roof terraces appear in steps while the narrower towers rise through that pattern. In a lane, the similar masonry can make the transition between the two harder to see.[3][4]
How Towers Differ From Ordinary Houses
In descriptions of Qiang villages, the tower is generally tall in relation to its footprint and has small openings in its upper levels. Nearby stone houses tend to have broader flat roofs. Those roof terraces served for everyday work such as drying grain.[1][3]
Heritage accounts describe watchkeeping and communication among the earlier functions of the towers. Storage and domestic use are also documented.[1]
These Qiang towers are one example within the wider history of Chinese diaolou.
Stone, Earth and Different Tower Plans
The national craft entry for Mao County (茂县, Mào Xiàn) records masonry towers using fitted pieces of stone with clay in the joints. It also describes towers of compacted earth and mixed forms with a stone base beneath earthen upper walls. A stone base can therefore support an upper wall made of a different material.[2]
What Changed at Taoping
In Taoping, lanes wind between closely spaced walls. Some pass under buildings. The towers and lower houses therefore form parts of a single village fabric, within the mountain settlements of western Sichuan.[4]
The 2008 Wenchuan (汶川, Wènchuān) earthquake severely damaged parts of the village. The conservation team documented repairs and restoration at the settlement scale, including attention to the traditional layout. Repairs are part of the village’s architectural history.[5]
FAQs About Qiang Stone Towers
Were All Qiang Towers Made of Stone?
Stone is prominent, and local inventories also describe earth towers and mixed stone-and-earth construction.[2][6]
Do Qiang Towers Have One Standard Shape?
The documented plans include square and several polygonal forms. Their height and relationship to the neighboring houses also vary.[1][6]
What Do the Heritage Listings Recognize?
In 2011, China extended a national intangible heritage entry to include Qiang tower building from Wenchuan and Mao County. A separate proposal for Tibetan and Qiang towers and villages appears on China’s World Heritage Tentative List.[1][2][6]
資料來源
[1] China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network. Qiang Tower Building Techniques in Wenchuan
[2] China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network. Qiang Tower Building Techniques in Mao County
[3] China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network. Qiang Towers and Houses
[4] Aba Prefecture Local Gazetteer Office. Taoping Qiang Village
[5] Wang Lijun and colleagues. Post-Earthquake Conservation of Taoping Qiang Village
[6] UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Diaolou Buildings and Villages for Tibetan and Qiang Ethnic Groups