Drum towers
Lit in the evening.
ogwen — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Chensiyuan — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Rutger van der Maar — CC BY 2.0 · ogwen — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Rutger van der Maar — CC BY 2.0 · MDRX — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Rutger van der Maar — CC BY 2.0 · yuen yan — CC BY-SA 2.0
China's largest village of the Dong people, called by the Chinese «the No. 1 Dong Village», set in a green valley among terraced fields and home to more than four thousand people in about eight hundred households; its oral history says the villagers' ancestors founded it in 1160 under the Southern Song. A small river runs through it, crossed by covered «wind and rain» bridges and lined with old wooden houses, and it is famous for its five drum towers, tall tiered wooden towers where villagers gathered for their occasions. The village stages the «Grand Song» of the Dong, a many-voiced choral tradition sung without instruments, which UNESCO added to its intangible heritage list in 2009. It looks loveliest from the surrounding hills in the morning mist, and in the evening when the drum towers are lit. Tickets cost CNY 80 with the area bus, valid three days, and are free for under-6s and over-65s, per visitor guides.
Lit in the evening.
Over the river.
Around the valley.
Zhaoxing town, Liping County, south-eastern Guizhou
The fastest way is by high-speed train to the nearest station, then a short drive; from Kaili it is a long bus ride, so many visitors pair it with the Sanjiang villages in Guangxi.