Banma Tibetan Residence, located in Dengta Township, Banma County, Guoluo Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, has a long history and has gone through 200 years of wind and rain. Like the guardians of history, they stand on the hillside and live in harmony with nature. These dwellings, with their own courtyards, are built against the mountains, like pearls in the mountains. Their courtyards have different layouts, including single courtyards, double courtyards (inner and outer courtyards), upper and lower courtyards, and three courtyards. These courtyards have various forms, including rectangles, squares, and the word "one"."L" word, "mouth" glyph, etc., show ingenuity. And those irregularly shaped courtyards are even more unique, giving people endless reverie. Walking into the inner courtyard of the double-courtyard building, it is like entering a small world of life. The upper courtyard is the living area, and the lower courtyard is the auxiliary area, which is specially used for the breeding of cattle and sheep. The staircase acts as a vertically connected bridge, connecting the living spaces on each floor. 
Most of these dwellings are two- or three-storey, with people living on the upper floors and livestock living on the lower floors. Their three-dimensional shape is unique, like a castle standing in the mountains, so it is named "watchtower". The stone and wood structure of the building, with stone walls, is particularly strong. The roof is a flat-roofed design, and the ceiling height is generally two storeys. There is no stone in the room, and no wood is in sight. The exterior stone wall is wrapped in a wooden pillar frame, and the wooden doors and windows, single-plank bridge ladders, and wooden ceilings are all plain and unpainted, maintaining the original simplicity. The small column network structure is adopted, the spacing of the wooden columns is 2-3 meters, and the column network is mostly square. The interior space is flexibly organized according to actual needs, mainly including living rooms, halls, prayer halls, warehouses and cows, sheep and horse pens on the ground floor. 
The staircase is a part of the verandah, which is generally a single-run staircase with a steep slope (up to 45 degrees to 60 degrees). The width of the treads of the single-plank staircase is 18-22 cm, and the treads of the double-timber staircase are not baffled, and the handrails are also made of single-plank. This design cleverly prevents dust from falling on pedestrians on the lower staircases, each of which is located at a different floor plan. Overall, the Banma Tibetan dwelling is a unique and historically rich architectural form. They coexist in harmony with nature and demonstrate the perfect combination of human ingenuity and craftsmanship. Each dwelling is a testimony to a piece of history and a treasure of Tibetan culture in the Goluo area. Search Topic Full Time Challenge in February