Dimen Dong Village

Dimen Dong Village is located in the north of the Maogong Township, and about 4 km away from the town seat and 45 km away from the county town Liping. It owns 528 households with a population of more than 2,300, is the second largest Dong village in China.

Dimen means "the origin of the village and the place has a flourishing population". The legend has it that the ancestors of the Dong people built their village here, and they developed 1,300 households after several centuries. 700 households moved to Maogong, 200 household to Ladong, 100 household to Luoda... the rest stayed in Dimen and develop to 528 now, the village hence named. Today, the village consists of five clans. They belong to Mang Zhai, Zhai Mu, Wei Zhai, Mo Zhai and Yin Zhai respectively (Zhai: small village). The village featured artistic flower bridges (wind and rain bridges), drum towers, barns, the big straw piles, ancient post road, stilted wooden houses, time-honored wells...

Dimen Village is also famous for its folk arts and is named the birthplace of Dong ethnic arts. Today, the village still keeps 3 ancient opera stages. In the great event or important festivals, the villagers usually perform the local operas. All the villagers excel in singing Dage (the grand song of Dong people). They sing songs in antiphonal style when wooing love, in the festivals or the wedding ceremonies. Thanks to the Dong people always keeping their traditions, some primitive technologies, such as embroidering, papermaking, old printing and dyeing textile still can be found in the village.

The Sama Festival is considered as the Dong cultural shop window. From 11th to 15th in the first month in lunar calendar of each year, people in Dimen and from villages around will gather in Dimen to sacrifice their Goddess Sama. During these days, people singing in antiphonal style, drinking, dancing, watch water buffalo fighting, worship ancestor, perform Dong opera, and serving wine or tea to the guests by blocking the roads...This festival is also called the Festival of 1,300 Households.

In addition, the natural surroundings of the Dimen Dong Village are so quiet and beautiful that Hu Yinmen, a famous literary woman from Taiwan built her workshop here. The village now enjoys the reputation of "the place that recovers the simple and come to the nature". It is the heaven for the explorers of the world ethnic culture.