Gudong Gaoding Village

Gudong Gaoding Village

Gaoding Village: With over 500 households and a population of more than 2,400, it is located at the foot of Sanxingpo Mountain, about 60 kilometers northwest of Sanjiang County. Five hundred stilted houses are nestled against the mountains and by the water, standing in close rows, each with its own unique style and arranged in distinct layers. Seven drum towers built along clan lines feature upturned eaves and lush green hues, vying in beauty and elegance. These seven drum towers are evenly distributed, each with its own characteristics, standing prominently in the village to form a cohesive drum tower complex. The Gaoding Drum Tower Cluster gets its name from the fact that one single village has as many as seven drum towers.

Among them, the most famous is the single-pillar drum tower with eleven tiers of tiled eaves. It was rebuilt in 1988 by the Wu clan, known locally as the “Wutong,” who are the main lineage in Gaoding Village. Constructed with a post-and-lintel wooden structure, it features thirteen tiers of double-eaved roofs and a pyramidal top, standing 19 meters tall with a base area of 130 square meters. Originally built in 1921 and reconstructed in 1988, it is a county-level key cultural relics protection unit. This tower has only one main supporting pillar, connected to the surrounding pillars via horizontal beams—an extremely rare design that showcases exceptional craftsmanship, grandeur, and ingenuity, reflecting the extraordinary wisdom of the Dong people. It is hailed as the “finest in Sanjiang.” Its distinction lies not in its height or size, but in its unique architectural features. On January 10, 2001, the county government designated it as a county-level key cultural relics protection unit. The village is surrounded by ancient camphor trees, making it one of the main attractions of the Guangxi Sanjiang Dong Ethnic Eco-Museum.

Source: People's Government of Liucheng County