People of ethnic minority groups inhabit areas in China's deep south and southwest, mostly in rainy, hot mountains areas in Guangxi, Hunan, Guizhou and Yunnan. For ventilation and for protection from animals and harmful insects, they prefer to live in houses on raised platforms built with locally available materials. In southeast Guizhou where people of the Dong and Miao ethnic groups live in rugged mountains, houses have to be built on slopes and with timber. A typical house is usually built on a raised platform without walls. The part below the platform is used as the family's animal shed or storeroom. Rooms for the family and guests, however, are on the platform. For more space round the rooms, the platform may be enlarged.

    Almost every Dong village has a drum tower in its center. It is a pyramid-like multi-story structure of timber, and is square, hexagonal or octagonal in shape with colorful human and animal figures painted on the eaves. Villagers gather in front of the tower for gala parties on

festival occasions, and for gossiping and information sharing after supper every day. The drum atop the tower will be beaten to call villagers for impromptu meetings. Tea is provided in the tower for free. In winter, the tower is heated inside with charcoal fire.

   The Dais in Yunnan Province lives in areas where bamboo groves thrive, hence their "bamboo huts" built on platforms of bamboo tilts. Bedrooms and guestrooms are on the platform, while the space under the platform is used as animal sheds or storerooms. Thick bamboo trunks are used to construct the roof trusses. A typical "bamboo" hut has a straw roof, and its walls are in fact bamboo mats. It is rectangular in shape, its superstructure consisting of several rooms. The principal room is in the middle which, with a fire pan in the center, is the family's kitchen and meeting place. The family has meals outside the principal room, under its eave. Laundry is done on the flat roof, which is also the place for airing grain.