Each of the eight villages in Chengyang has a drum tower at its centre — multi-storey wooden structures with tiered eaves that taper to a point, built without plans or nails using traditional Dong carpentry techniques passed down through generations. The towers in Ma'an and Yingzhai are among the best preserved and most accessible. They are typically 10 to 15 storeys high despite having no floors — the interior is a single open space rising to the apex.
The towers are not tourist attractions in the usual sense. They are still used. Villagers gather under them in the evenings to talk and rest, and during festivals the space around the base becomes a performance area for singing and antiphonal choral music. If you are visiting during the rice harvest or the Dong New Year celebrations, you may find the drum tower at the centre of events rather than standing empty.