A Dong woman prays in front of a bonfire lit near their gulou, Jan 13, 2016. (Photo by Yang Jie/chinadaily.com.cn)

Most gulou are more than 20 meters high and built by skillful craftsmen without a blueprint and with wooden materials donated by residents in each village, held together without a single nail.

Yang, 42, runs a restaurant with her husband in a 62-household Dong village at the foot of Mount Fanjing in Jiangkou county, Guizhou province. She says fellow villagers practice Dong dances and songs and rehearse Dong drama at the square surrounding the gulou.

Yang's village has a 40-member Dong dance troupe after it became an ecotourism destination for its unique ethnic culture and picturesque views in recent years.