Duona Village’s Stone Slab Houses By:JIANG, HAO-TIAN
Duona Village’s Development
Duona used to be called “tunzi” a name which was transliterated from its
Japanese name. In earlier times there was a swamp near the village and every
time the dog passed the swamp it was unwilling to leave. The hunters returned to
their village and came back with the chief and they found that, with ample water
supply and protection from mountains, the area near the swamp was a good place
to live. After discussing the matter the villagers decided to move to the site
of today’s village.They were soon followed by a second village, then a third,
forming the large village that became today’s Duona..
Slate slab houses
The early residents of Duona extracted the building material-black gray slate-
from Wenquan Stream. The slate is divided into mother and father slate. Mother
slate will weather after a long period of time while the father slate is darker,
more solid, heavier and used as the roof of a slate slab house or a bed.
The people of Duona join forces when a house is built. When one of the third
generation of slate slab houses is built today, the stone is first cut into
shape using a stone cutting machine and the roof beams have been raised to give
them a modern feel. In some stone slab houses there are 100-step viper totems
carved above the door or on the door posts, showing that it is the house of a
chief of person of status.
The slate slab houses are warm in winter and cool in summer. Up to the present
there have been no reports of slate slab houses collapsing due to an earthquake
or a typhoon.