Chinese Dong Village Culture

Author: Wu Hao, Editor-in-Chief
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-11-01
Features: Village settlements are the most fundamental organizational structures in human society. Generally, each village settlement possesses a certain historical and cultural heritage. Especially for ethnic groups that lacked written records historically, understanding and researching their history, as well as related issues in ethnology, sociology, anthropological culture, and other fields, relies heavily on in-depth investigations of village settlements and comprehensive analytical studies of multiple case studies. In the Dong ethnic area, each larger village settlement (with over 300-400 households) typically has a history of several hundred or even a thousand years. By examining the formation and development process of a single village or several village settlements, one can trace the formation and development patterns of the surrounding region and even the entire ethnic group. It can be said that every ancient village settlement is a richly informative encyclopedia of ethnic culture. The first half of this book includes photos of seven village settlements, but only a few can be selected. The theoretical part of the book can only briefly elaborate on a few aspects of village culture. As a result, the structure of this book appears somewhat uneven. The editor believes that if Dong village culture is likened to a Dong drum tower, then the first half of this book resembles the entire shape of the drum tower, while the theoretical part is merely a few decorative birds on the eaves of the drum tower. The weight of the birds cannot be equated with the weight of the drum tower's structure.