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PROLOGUE 1. According to Joseph Rykwert’s recollection, the panel had twenty-one jurors including architectural historians,Rykwert himself,Françoise Choay,architectsVittorio Gregotti, Renzo Piano, and Arata Isozaki, composer Luigi Nona, abstract painter Gottfried Honnegger, and scientist Henri Laborit (Joseph Rykwert, pers. comm.). 2. Generally speaking, these six Tai linguistic groups include Zhuang, Buyi, Dai, Dong, Shui, and Li.According to contemporary linguistic usage, there are four language a/iliations in southern China:  The Tibeto-Burman group of the Sino-Tibetan family includes Hani, Li, Lahu, Tibetan, Bai, Naxi, Lisu, Primi, Jinpo, Achang, and Qiang.  The Zhuang-Dai group of the Sino-Tibetan family includes Zhuang, Dai, Dong, Shui, Buyi, and Maonan.  The Miao-Yao group of the Sino-Tibetan family includes Miao and Dong.  The Austro-Asiatic family includes Blang, Wa, Benglong (also called Deang), and Kemu. Most of these groups share common architectural features, such as pile-built structures, and have ties with Austronesian culture. Linguistically, however, these groups do not belong to the Austronesian family. CHAPTER 1. ARCHITECTONIC FABRICATIONS OF MINORITIES 1. The lusheng is a mouth organ made of bamboo pipes. It is one the most popular musical instruments among many minority groups in southern China. Probably in reference to the Han, Eberhard (, ) has this to say about its symbolism: “The word sheng is phonetically identical with the word sheng meaning ‘to rise in rank,’ so the 183 Notes mouth organ symbolizes preferment. Another way of expressing this is to show a child holding a lotus seed capsule (lian). This symbolizes the wish that one may ‘rise further and further (lian)’.” 2. For a di,erent hypothesis of Dong ethnic origins, see Dongzu jianshi bianxie zu and various articles by Zhang Min. 3. During my  fieldwork in the Congjiang region of Guizhou province, I discovered that a few villages with Dong language and Dong architecture, such as drum towers, have been classified as Miao. For unknown reasons, these villages either did not choose to be identified as Dong when the reclassification of “minority nationalities” was conducted by the central government in the s or they were arbitrarily or purposefully designated as such by the government. 4. Legend has it that Zhou Enlai,the premier at that time,made the decision.Similar situations happened with other minority nationalities, such as the Dai, a Tai linguistic group in southern China that was given a character “ഢ,” with the ren as the radical. 5. See “ National Population Census,” China Statistical Yearbook (, ). 6. See “ National Population Census,” China Statistical Yearbook (, f). 7. If a case is not covered by the customary law, the“gods’ arbitration”is applied. The most popular form is “chicken killing.” The procedure is this: a line is drawn to separate two parties; a chicken is slaughtered right on the line by the executive; the party on whose side the chicken finally dies loses; the arbitration becomes reconciled if the chicken dies exactly on the line. 8. As a real person, his name was Guanyu. He was one of those who helped Liu Bei to become emperor of western China and to found a short-lived dynasty there in the third century AD. Guanyu was subsequently given the honorific name Guan-gong. He fell from power after the death of Liu Bei but was gradually elevated to divine status in the centuries that followed. Today temples to Guandi (his name as a god) are to be found in almost all of China’s towns and counties. In the Han Chinese theater, he was a protagonist in the many plays based on the“Romance of the Three Kingdoms,”where he is portrayed in the uniform of a general on horseback. He is instantly recognizable by his red face. 9. In spare moments a few more inches are added to embroidered edgings and squares used to decorate bags (worn at the waist), baby carriers, apron yokes, and jacket sleeves. As with their architecture, the Dong as an ethnic group are identified through the type, making, and wearing of such textiles. The styles of these textiles vary from place to place, however. Each group, sometimes each village, produces its own distinctive style of dress and architecture. Rituals, festivals, and market days reveal this richness of dress. Much can be gleaned from a glance at a woman’s costume: not only does it illustrate how diligent she is as a worker and how creative she is as craftswoman, but also more importantly where she comes from...

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