Duona Slate Houses

The Duona Slate Houses are located in Duona Village, Maolin District. In the early days, the ancestors of the tribe sourced local materials from the Wenquan Stream, using dark grey slate as building material. Dark grey slate is categorized into "male" and "female" slabs. Female slabs weather over time, while male slabs are darker, heavier, and thicker, and were almost always used for slate roofs or beds. Residents of the Duona tribe, with a spirit of mutual cooperation, helped each other stack the slate to build houses. Some slate houses also feature patterns of hundred-pacer snakes on their lintels or doorposts, symbolizing the status of chiefs or nobles. Living inside a slate house, it is warm in winter and cool in summer.