Convergence and Divergence: A Comparative Study of the Residential Cultures of Traditional Tujia and Miao Villages in Western Hunan

Convergence and Divergence: A Comparative Study of the Residential Cultures of Traditional Tujia and Miao Villages in Western Hunan | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Convergence and Divergence: A Comparative Study of the Residential Cultures of Traditional Tujia and Miao Villages in Western Hunan Chen Gong, He Shaoyao, Xie Min, Li Guangyu This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7191044/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 15 Dec, 2025 Read the published version in Buildings → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract This paper takes the traditional villages of Tujia and Miao in Xiangxi Prefecture as the research object, and utilizes the ArcGis software to clarify the geographic scope of the distribution of Tujia and Miao in Western Hunan. On the basis of field research, the similarities and differences in the distribution pattern of the villages, the architectural forms of the houses and the ethnic folk beliefs and other living cultures are compared and analyzed. The results of the study found that: 1) in terms of spatial distribution, the traditional villages of the Miao and the Tujia are located on the north and south sides of the Wuling Mountains, with the tributaries of the Wuling Mountains in Baojing and Guzhang counties in Xiangxi Prefecture as the dividing line; 2) in terms of village pattern, the construction of the Miao villages follows the principle of “relying on the mountains and surrounding the water,” while the Tujia villages emphasize the principle of “sitting on the mountains and rejecting the water” and “sitting on the mountains and rejecting the water. The Tujia villages emphasize the concept of “sitting on the mountain and rejecting the water”. The layout of Tujia villages is looser and more varied than that of Miao villages.3) In terms of architectural form, the plan form of traditional Tujia-Miao dwellings is more similar, but the building materials of Miao dwellings are richer than that of the Tujia.4) Folklore beliefs followed by the Tujia and Miao are distinctive in their own ways, and these concepts also have a side effect on the spatial characteristics of the villages of the respective ethnic groups. The study points out that through the comparative study of ethnic minorities' living cultures, we can better understand the differences between the traditional cultures of the ethnic minorities in western Hunan, recognize the characteristics of their villages, and at the same time, provide theoretical guidance for the protection of the authenticity of the traditional villages in the ethnic minority areas in western Hunan. Social science/Anthropology Social science/Environmental studies Scientific community and society/Geography Social science/Geography Humanities/History Social science/History Social science/Sociology Western Hunan Tujia ethnic group Miao ethnic group traditional village residential culture Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 15 Dec, 2025 Read the published version in Buildings → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7191044","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":501429051,"identity":"c7e50c1b-fe88-4f01-bbfa-6c11d82c7ff4","order_by":0,"name":"Chen Gong","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAs0lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYFCC5APMf35IyJGiJS2BgbfHxpgULTkGDDxsaYkNRGvgZ88x/CDBczi973gC44ePOURokex5VixhYHE4d+aZB8ySM7cRocXgRvI2hgSew7kbbiSwMfMSo8X+RoIZwwG2w+kGRGsxkEgxY2xgS0sgXovEmWfJ0ow9NoYzzzxsJs4v/O3JBz8z/JCQ5zuefPDDR2K0IMABEqIGpiWBVB2jYBSMglEwUgAASzQ4q/Vn++4AAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"Hunan University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Chen","middleName":"","lastName":"Gong","suffix":""},{"id":501429055,"identity":"9a91ab87-e32b-4d7f-b216-0a46568ae38d","order_by":1,"name":"He Shaoyao","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Hunan University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"He","middleName":"","lastName":"Shaoyao","suffix":""},{"id":501429059,"identity":"5883243f-ff88-4da2-a7f5-b44cdc4bfe07","order_by":2,"name":"Xie Min","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Hunan University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Xie","middleName":"","lastName":"Min","suffix":""},{"id":501429061,"identity":"0ab197e4-d4b7-4dc1-aeaa-7e76549de0fe","order_by":3,"name":"Li Guangyu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Hunan University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Li","middleName":"","lastName":"Guangyu","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-07-23 01:38:09","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7191044/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7191044/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[{"content":"https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings15244539","type":"published","date":"2025-12-16T00:00:00+00:00"}],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":102223790,"identity":"9b2a51e2-fadb-41cc-b16f-887a5f32bf90","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-02-09 14:15:43","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1308544,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"250804Manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7191044/v1_covered_e40690b6-9853-4a96-9a23-9be10ef5663e.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Convergence and Divergence: A Comparative Study of the Residential Cultures of Traditional Tujia and Miao Villages in Western Hunan","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Western Hunan, Tujia ethnic group, Miao ethnic group, traditional village, residential culture","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7191044/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7191044/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"This paper takes the traditional villages of Tujia and Miao in Xiangxi Prefecture as the research object, and utilizes the ArcGis software to clarify the geographic scope of the distribution of Tujia and Miao in Western Hunan. On the basis of field research, the similarities and differences in the distribution pattern of the villages, the architectural forms of the houses and the ethnic folk beliefs and other living cultures are compared and analyzed. The results of the study found that: 1) in terms of spatial distribution, the traditional villages of the Miao and the Tujia are located on the north and south sides of the Wuling Mountains, with the tributaries of the Wuling Mountains in Baojing and Guzhang counties in Xiangxi Prefecture as the dividing line; 2) in terms of village pattern, the construction of the Miao villages follows the principle of “relying on the mountains and surrounding the water,” while the Tujia villages emphasize the principle of “sitting on the mountains and rejecting the water” and “sitting on the mountains and rejecting the water. The Tujia villages emphasize the concept of “sitting on the mountain and rejecting the water”. 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