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Dominating the landscape of a Dong village is the drum tower with its superb formation of multi-storied pagoda-like roofs, constructed to the unique architecture of the Dong Ethnic.

The lower pavilion of each tower is where villagers congregate during festivals and special meetings. People often gather there in the evenings, to listen to traditional folk songs. After harvests, young people hold festive dances on the grounds surrounding the drum tower.

The drum tower is the highest and most revered structure in the village. A giant drum within the tower served in the past as a warning device against invasions. In ancient times, villagers assembled at the tower with their weapons to await orders from the head of their clan.

Drum towers are a specialty and symbol of the Dong nationality. They first appeared in villages along the Yellow River during the Northern Dynasties (386-581 A.D). the oldest standing drum towers date from the Shunzhi period (1644-1661 A.D) of the Qing Dynasty.

A typical large village consists of from 500 to 600 families, and a small one, of about 50 families. As a rule, one village is said to contain families of one or two surnames. Each drum tower signifies one surname; some villages have two or three drum towers, therefore indicating that two or three surnames dominate the village.

The outline of a Dong drum tower resembles a fir tree, a sacred tree in Dong culture. Some anthropologists have suggested that the Dong people used to be treedwellers, since they are believed to be a branch of the ancient Yue people, a treedwelling tribe.

Dong people visit neighboring villages during festivals to admire their towers. At such times, the villages sing in praise of the tower's grandeur, pray for rich harvests, and wish their elderly longevity. Next to the elegant lines of the drum tower, they sing, dance and hold "lusheng" competitions.

The insides and outer caves of drum towers and covered bridges are often colorfully painted with scenes from Dong folk tales, legendary heroes, landscapes, animals and of activities such as ox-fighting and festive dancing. Aspects of daily life are likewise portrayed, such as playing musical instruments, hunting, spinning, weaving and dyeing, and the making of foods such as "baba". Carvings of dragons, snakes, tigers, geese, and occasionally even airplanes, ornament the roofs.

About 20 meters high, Dong towers are made of fir, and secured with mortises and tenons instead of nails. The upper storeys feature a building technique called "dougong" where brackets are inserted at the intersections of columns and crossbeams. Each bracket consists of a double bow-shaped arm called a "gong" which supports a block of wood called a "dou". The roofs are square, hexagonal or octagonal.

Wood is cut from nearby forests, and is then hand sawn into lumber by the men od the village. As a rule, old trees in and near villages are considered inhabited by protective spirits. Such sacred trees must never be cut down. If this ever occurs, the one responsible must sacrifice an ox, and the wood can then only be used to construct a drum tower. Any remaining wood scrapes must be used as fuel for inside the drum tower, not by an individual in his home.

Believing that the music of the lusheng if played during the rice-planting season leads to poor harvests, the Dong people block the holes of their lushengs and tie them to a pillar of the drum tower during this period.

Traditions are passed down orally and the drum towers become an important link in the process. All summer the drum towers offer the villages cool water; in winter, a warm fire. After a day's work, people young and old gather there to reiterate ancestral legends, to narrate episodes of Dong history, or to teach traditionary folk songs and operas.

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