Ancient Chinese people believed in the saying, "Living without bamboo is much worse than a meal without meat." From this point of view, the Dai people who live in the Xishuangbanna region of Southwest China's Yunnan Province can be counted as the happiest among Chinese people, as they not only live in bamboo house s, but also eat rice in bamboo pots and drink wine in bamboo tubes.

In Xishuangbanna, where most of the residents belong to the Dai ethnic minority , the most fascinating attractions are the vast stretches of bamboo forest and the unique and exquisite bamboo houses, which are half concealed and half revealed in the green bamboo forest.

  Bamboo House Tales

Long ago, as the legend concerning the bamboo houses goes, there was a brave and handsome man called Payasangmudi, who dreamed of building a house with bamboos for Dai people so they would not have to live in the wild. Unfortunately, he failed after many experiments.

One day, as it was raining hard, he saw a dog lying on the ground, with the rainwater rolling down its hair. Much enlightened, the young man built a shed with a slope-shaped roof . Later, a phoenix flew over and spread its wings time and again before him, instructing him to build an "A-Shaped" roof. After that, the phoenix stood on one foot, inspiring him to built a two-story house supported by stakes.

Finally, Payasangmudi was able to build an ideal and beautiful bamboo house, both waterproof and beast-proof, which especially suited Xishuangbannan's humid and hot climate. Since the first bamboo house was built according to the phoenix's body movements, Payasangmudi named this kind of bamboo house "Hongheng," which means a phoenix spreading its wings. In order to remember Payasangmudi as the inventor, people changed  Hongheng into "Hen Payasangmudi", which means Payasangmudi's house. Afterwards, housing styles experienced great changes, and people called the various styles of bamboo houses "Hen".

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