Diaolou building skills (Qiang Diaolou building skills)

The name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Diaolou building techniques (Qiang Diaolou building techniques)

Applicant: Mao County, Sichuan Province

Item No.: 969

Project No.: VIII - 186

Time of publication: 2011 (the third batch)

Category: traditional art

Region: Sichuan Province

Type: Extension Project

Applicant: Mao County, Sichuan Province

Protection unit: Maoxian Cultural Center

Brief introduction of Diaolou construction technology (Qiang Diaolou construction technology)

Applicant: Mao County, Sichuan Province

The existing Qiang watchtowers in Maoxian county are mainly distributed in Shaba, Jiaochang, Fengyi, Nanxin and other areas. Most of them were established in Ming and Qing Dynasties. The Qiang blockhouses in Maoxian county are built with exquisite techniques. They are built without drawing, hanging lines or scaffolding. They are all built with the vision and experience of the bricklayer.

According to the characteristics of building materials and construction techniques, Qiang blockhouses can be divided into the following three types: 1. Stone Qiang blockhouses: the wall is built with materials, the flat side of the stones is upward and outward, the left and right stones are wedged together, the gap is wedged with small stones, and then bonded with clay, and the second stone is placed after leveling. The corner stones are carefully selected, and most of them are medium and small stones with high quality and regular geometric patterns, which make the building have clear edges, compact structure and flat wall, giving people a natural feeling. In the process of construction, the craftsman appropriately used many principles of architectural mechanics, which can be called the best of the same kind of buildings in the world. 2. Clay Qiang blockhouse: the clay is exquisite in soil quality and moderate in humidity, which is fully mixed and then compacted into a wall. In areas with poor soil quality and lack of stone materials, when building clay Qiang blockhouses, a certain proportion of wheat (highland barley) straw, cattle wool, salt and other additives should be added to the clay to improve its bonding strength and enhance the building's ability to resist natural disasters. During the construction of clay Qiang blockhouse, it is necessary to avoid high temperature and hot weather to prevent the rammed earth from cracking due to the uneven temperature difference between inside and outside and the uneven evaporation of water. Therefore, in sunny or rainy days, it is necessary to cover with sunscreen and rainproof articles. 3. Stone and clay mixed Qiang blockhouse: this kind of building is a perfect combination of stone building and clay building in terms of appearance and architectural skills. The bottom layer of the Qiang blockhouse is mostly 1.2-2m stone structure, which mainly plays the role of waterproof, anti-collision and bearing the whole building, while the top layer is rammed with clay. Most of them are distributed in villages where stone resources are scarce.