About this place

Taoping Qiang Village is located in Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture,220km away from Chengdu.

Qiang people is one of the lodest people of 56 Peoples of China.

with the hills at its back and a river in front of it, facing the south, has a systematic and intricate layout. it is a

typical example of the Qiang architectural art. the stockaded village is known as "a mysterious ancient castle in the

East". Among all the buildings, the blockhouse is the landmark of the Qiang village. it is the tallest building, a

stronghold which was contrusted to fight against invaders.

The Qiang blockhouses are contrusted in shapes of different kinds, such as the tetragonal, hexagonal or octagonal shapes;

some of them have thirteen or even fourteen storey, more than 30 meters in height. Most of them are made of flagstones

stuck with clay mud. The edges of the blockhouse look sharp and straight as if they were cut with a knife, and the surface

of the walls are smooth, solid and durable. They have stood aloft there for thousands of years.

Qiang Village is like a maze
When you stand on the house roof, you will find the village presents a layout of houses adjoinhing houses which are

accessible to one another. Entering the village lanes, you may think that each house is seperated, but when you wanl on the flat roofs, you will find that all the houses are connected by the roofs. with such an effective dfense system the villagers could help each other in case that someone is in trouble. The whole village is built just like a maze, where the villagers might set up ambushes and the intruders were likely to lose their way and therefore dared not dash about. Below the village, is hidden a great water network.
underground ditch that leads to every household. The ditch is lined and covered with greenish stones slabs. Spring water flows through the ditch to every household from the mountaintop so that the people can fetch water indoors. In time of war they were not afraid of being surrounded by enemy forces, as the water supply system  might help them hold fast to their post for a long time. Beside, this water network serves as a perfect fire-fighting facility and a safe underground passageway.

Looking at such plain and solid blockhouses, you can imagine how this old ethnic group has managed to survive with great tenacity and willpower in this narrow space enclosed by ranges of mountains.