Decoding Dong
Discover the rich built heritage of the indigenous Dong people and society through 3D LiDAR scanning and modelling, aerial and terrestrial photogrammetry, documentary film-making and architectural drawings.
About Decoding Dong
“Decoding Dong: Documentation of Dong Minority Villages’ Drum Tower and Wooden Heritage” is a two year project from November 2023 to October 2025, which is funded by Arcadia, a UK charity to preserve endangered culture and nature, via its Endangered Wooden Architecture Programme Large Grant.
The Dong people are a marginalised ethnic minority group who have lived in peripheral southwestern mountains of China for around 600 years. Unusually with no written language until the 1950s, they have carried on distinctive orally-based culture. To date, the wooden architecture and lifeworld of Dong have been very little documented, though they are under increasing pressure by the natural disaster, modern infrastructure and rural tourism.
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Our project launches a first ever digital documentation of the Dong minority’s wooden architectural heritage at risk with a focus on its most important public building – the drum tower – together with its immediate historic environment, across a dozen of Dong remote villages.
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Our documentation adopts the latest 3D reality capture technologies, mapping and drawing on extensive oral histories from the memories and stories of Dong people and their world.
In our research, we are guided by the CARE and FAIR principles, ensuring that data is managed responsibly, ethically, and in ways that respect both community rights and global standards for openness and accessibility. We are committed to Open Research practices that foster transparency, collaboration, and knowledge sharing. In our project, we consider the cultural and environmental context, value the community and their traditions, and prioritise respectful, reciprocal relationships.
Our Team
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Partners & Consultants
Testimonials
“Great contribution to our Prefecture’s Dong settlements and architectural heritage conservation…from the most dedicated and diligent academic research team I have met so far…”
-- Ms Chen, Head of Department of Rural and Urban Regeneration and Housing, Qiandongnan Miao & Dong Autonomous Prefecture Bureau of Rural and Urban Regeneration and Housing, January 2025.
“A unique project documenting the architectural, social and cultural identity of these disappearing structures. To date the project has provided EWAP with beautiful examples of twelve drum towers that give a flavour of their architectural ingenuity and cultural significance…This project covers a gap as we didn’t have anything in China…”
-- Dr Kelly Reed, EWAP funding programme coordinator, January 2025.