Dali, China

Where low river valleys meet steep terraced mountainsides in Guizhou province at China’s southwest, ethnic minorities including the Dong people have made their home among villages like Dali for over 1,000 years. The Dong traditionally produce primarily glutinous rice, known locally as Kam, and cultivate cotton for textile production. The Dong are skilled builders. Their distinct architectural style manifests in pagoda-like wooden drum towers and “rain and wind” bridges, often of monumental scale. These unique structures continue to fulfill a longstanding social role in traditional Dong society.

One of China’s most culturally and naturally rich provinces, Guizhou also ranks among its poorest. Since 2012, Global Heritage Fund has worked alongside provincial and local governments, together with academic institutions including Peking University and Shanghai Tongji University, and local NGO such as the China Social Entrepreneur Foundation (You-Cheng) to promote community and economic development in rural Guizhou through heritage conservation within ethnic minority communities like Dali village.

Global Heritage Fund’s efforts in Dali focused first on preserving built elements. Our documentation survey covered 30 historic structures including the drum tower, covered bridges, granaries and houses. Following completion of a master plan for conservation, we advised the government on the preservation of Dali’s drum tower and other pivotal structures, as well as surrounding landscapes.

“Something is askew,” said Dr. Kuanghan Li, Global Heritage Fund’s Director of Global Programs when she saw no women involved in this community based rehabilitation effort. Understanding the prominent role of textiles in Dong heritage, Dr. Li identified traditional craft as a mean to engage the women of Dali in their cultural preservation, who otherwise have very limited say in public affairs. The program was launched with the participation of two Dong women in Beijing Design Week in 2016. These women saw urban China admire their crafts and developed a new appreciation for their own heritage. Covered by domestic and international media including CNN, this marked a first step in our efforts to evolve thinking about Chinese material heritage towards a more inclusive perspective respecting the rich traditions of China’s ethnic minorities.

Global Heritage Fund provided seed funding and teamed up with Beijing’s Atlas Studio who spearheaded product development for Dali Artisans, a cooperative established to adapt the Dong women’s indigo dye cotton into contemporary home wares and clothing, thereby keeping their textile traditions alive. Collaborating with Dong master craftsmen, Atlas architects designed a textile center on Dali’s main plaza, using local river stones and wood in the Dong vernacular. Here, visitors can purchase Dali Artisans’ handcrafted products and learn something of this historic practice requiring extreme skill and time-intensive effort.

The goals of this innovative heritage initiative are two-fold, to provide sustainable economic opportunity for the women of Dali while creating a unique eco-tourism asset that responds to urban China’s growing interest in what was previously written off as “back country.” Our programs in Dali help the entire community to realize the value of their culture far beyond the borders of their village.

Some images courtesy of Zhang Li, Kuanghan Li, Zhang Siding, and ATLAS Studio