Drum Tower

The most famous buildings in Zhaoxing are the five drum towers.

 

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.

 

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.

 

Runtuan Drum-tower
Rentuan drum-tower has 7 stories, locating at the head of Zhaoxing. It covers an area of 104 square kilometers with the height of 18.47 meters. In Dong language, “tou” is called “gao”, and “zhai” is “zai”. So, Runtuan drum-tower is called “Lou Gao Zai” (louc gaos jaih-Dong language) in Dong language. That means the drum-tower of the head of the village. Rentuan Drum Tower is the place where the local Dong ethnic performance of singings and dancings will be held in the evening. You need to reserve a seat in advance. Ask your tour guide for more details.

 

The history of Drum Towers

In ancient times, villagers assembled at the tower with their weapons to await orders from the head of their clan.

 

According to the tradition of the Dong people, each individual drum tower represents one group of local people.  The head of the Dong people in Zhaoxing divided the people into five groups in order to make administration easier. The five towers represent kindness, righteousness, politeness, intellect and creditworthiness.

 

Magnificent art of architecture
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.

 

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.

 

Activities and cultureal events in Drum Towers
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.

 

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.