Watchtower Building Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
The yellow-earth watchtower is rammed earth, with only 3 such towers in the Buwa Qiang stockaded village of Wenchuan County (listed among the Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level in 2006), built by the same method as the stone watchtowers. The Qiang watchtowers, hundreds to over a thousand years old and containing not a scrap of steel-reinforced concrete, withstood the 1933 Diexi magnitude-7.4 earthquake and the 2008 Wenchuan magnitude-8.0 catastrophic earthquake; though damaged to varying degrees, most remain firm and solid, proving the scientific character of their construction.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Qiang people of the northwestern Sichuan plateau, against their historical background, created a special spatial form—the watchtower—and so this place enjoys the reputation of being the "land of a thousand watchtowers." The watchtower is called "qionglong" in the Qiang language; the Book of the Later Han, Account of the Southwestern Yi, records that the Qiang "dwelt by the mountains, piled stone into rooms, the tallest reaching over ten zhang." The exterior of Qiang watchtowers comes in quadrangular, hexagonal, octagonal, and multi-angled forms. Each tower is fully sealed at the bottom level, with a single small door on the second level; from the second level up, countless rectangular windows small on the outside and large on the inside are opened on all sides, for ventilation, lookout, and shooting. The levels are connected by a single-log ladder that can be drawn up at any time. The building materials of the Wenchuan Qiang watchtowers are mainly flagstone and yellow earth. Among surviving watchtowers, the stone watchtower predominates. Before construction, a "shibi" (ritual master) must choose the site, perform rites, and design according to the terrain. Before building, the craftsman slightly works the flagstone with a hammer, then, according to the tower's shape and size, first cuts a corresponding foundation pit at the building site down to hard rock, then uses a trowel-board to coat the prepared flagstone with mixed yellow earth, laying and pressing course upon course so that stone and earth bond. The stone wall tapers inward and gradually thins from bottom to top; its inner face remains perpendicular to the ground while the outer face slopes slightly, its center of gravity turning inward to form a centripetal force that makes the tower firm and stable. Each level is fitted with wooden crossbeams about twenty centimeters in diameter, with plank flooring laid above, the same at every level. The building tools of Qiang watchtowers are very simple, mainly a hammer and a trowel-board. Whether built of stone or of yellow earth, all watchtowers share one point: throughout the entire construction process there are no drawings, no plumb lines, and no post-and-frame supports—everything relies solely on the craftsman's experienced eye and intuition—which fully reveals the superb building technique of the Qiang.
Site selection and rites by the shibi
Before construction a shibi selects the site, performs the rites and settles the design to suit the terrain.
Digging the foundation to hard rock
The foundation is chiselled down to bedrock so the tower does not settle on loose soil.
Dressing stone and bonding it with clay
Dressed slabs are laid with clay applied by a shovel so that stone and earth bond course by course.
Tapering the wall for inward thrust
The wall thins as it rises and leans slightly inward, so its weight and thrust both work to hold it upright.
Beams and floors laid at every level
Round beams some twenty centimetres across carry timber floors at every storey, with removable single-log ladders between levels.
Working with a hammer and a shovel-board
Only a hammer and a shovel-board are needed; proportions are judged by eye rather than measured.
Building without drawings or plumb lines
No drawings, plumb lines or scaffolding are used, yet the towers withstood major earthquakes in 1933 and 2008.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Wenchuan is among the counties with the densest distribution of Qiang watchtowers; the towers stand together with the mountain stockades, set against the mountains at village entrances or high points, hence the reputation of the land of a thousand watchtowers. In form they divide into quadrangular, hexagonal, octagonal, and multi-angled types, the bottom level fully sealed, with rectangular windows small outside and large inside opened on all sides from the second level up, serving for ventilation, lookout, and shooting, the levels connected by a single-log ladder that can be drawn up at any time. The materials follow two lines, stone and earth: among surviving towers the stone watchtower predominates, while there are also yellow-earth rammed towers, of which only three remain in the Buwa Qiang stockaded village, listed among the Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level in 2006, built by a method akin to the stone towers. The watchtower, called qionglong in Qiang, is already recorded before the Song and Yuan as dwelling by the mountains, piling stone into rooms, the tallest reaching over ten zhang. Its practicality is testified by two major earthquakes: the watchtowers, containing not a single strand of steel-reinforced concrete, withstood both the 1933 Diexi magnitude-7.4 earthquake and the 2008 Wenchuan magnitude-8.0 earthquake, and most remain firm and solid.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Tibetan Watchtower Building Craftsmanship · Watchtower Building Craftsmanship · Watchtower Building Craftsmanship.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
In the past, the main function of Qiang watchtowers was for lookout, defense, and transmitting information, and they also signified identity and status; now they are mainly used for dwelling and storage.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Guoluozheqiu 04-1916
- Qimibadan
- Wang Guoyue
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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