The Dai is an ancient ethnic minority that mainly resides in Yunnan's Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture and Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture. It is a flat area with an abundance of rain and bamboos.

In the village, every household has its individual house, which is surrounded by bamboo fences and within which fruit trees and other plants are cultivated. The houses are generally constructed from bamboo. Hence they are called "bamboo houses." The houses generally take on a rectangular shape and are raised on stilts above the ground to create a space underneath the house for keeping livestock and for storage, as well as for ventilation and moisture prevention. After climbing the wood staircase to the front porch, one enters the transitional indoor space. The roofed front porch surrounded by railings and "beauty chairs" is a ventilated and well lit place for the host to receive guests, enjoy the cool and conduct daily activities. The outdoor roof terrace is used to store jugs and dry clothes. 

The main hall and bedrooms are inside. There is a fireplace in the main hall for the whole family to cook food and make tea together.

Most bamboo houses have gable and hip roofs with short and steep ridges and extruding eaves. Side rooms are built around them to form double eaves, which keep out the scorching sun and make the whole house's indoor space covered by thick shade, lowering the indoor temperature. 

The flexible and changeable architectural forms, the gable and hip roofs with diversified contours, the side rooms keeping out the scorching sun and the open suspended level and front porch form a sharp contrast between imagination and reality, between lightness and heaviness while achieving good effect of ventilation and shading, and the architectural style is graceful, open and delicate.

About the book 

Chinese Architecture Written by Cai Yanxin Published by China Intercontinental Press, Beijing, 2018