Viewing from outside, the houses are L-shaped, saucer-shaped or square-shaped. Eaves and doors are colored with homemade dyestuff. The earth part of walls is painted white, the wooden part in maroon, and windows in polychrome drawing. The parapet is covered with shrubs and flowers, and fruit trees line the courtyard. You’ll be impressed by the color.
And what may impress you more is inside the house. Dawu Houses may look similar outside, but inside is a different story. The airing platform, typical rural houses, is located in different places according to the size of house, daylight conditions and owner preferences , as well as furniture and room-design. The ground floor of a house is generally used for storage or hoggery, and upstairs is where the whole family stays. There is a drawing room and worshipping hall in every house, the former for receiving guests and family gathering, and the latter for worshipping Buddha.
The drawing room has a circle of cushions aside the walls and a Tibetan-pattern table at the center. Guests and the family spent their time having tea and chatting here. To the west of the room is a pair of trunk beds resembling a put-you-up. A rich family may even have a chair-bed in their drawing room, which is large and has three sides of balustrade around it, all garishly sculpted to exhibit the greatness of the owner. Only a respected guest will be led to the chair-bed. And the worshipping hall is always lightened with gheelamp, keeping the Buddha figure inside and from time to time, some small religious activities will be held here.
What makes the Dawu House a palace is the sculpture and drawings on nearly the every interior surface of the house. Beginning in the 1980s, Dawu House ornaments have become more and more brightly colored and image-plentiful. Local craftsmen show their exquisite skills, and guests find themselves in a museum of Tibetan-painting. Traditional Buddhist figures and Chinese propitious images fly across the roof, entwine the pillars, hop onto windowsills and hide under corners. Even the furniture is covered with flower patterns and inwrought fabric. All of the figures and images have legendary origins or historical stories. Since the sculptures and paintings resemble those in Buddha temples, regarded as representing the best Tibetan arts and crafts, they are the center of the 'palace' in the everyday lives of ordinary Tibetan people.
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