The stilt-house architecture visible throughout Furong Ancient Town is characteristic of the Tujia people — the indigenous inhabitants of northwestern Hunan and adjacent Chongqing municipality. Tujia stilt buildings (diaojiaolou) are constructed on wooden posts driven into the slope or riverbed, allowing the building to be level while the terrain beneath it drops away steeply. The upper floors overhang the lower in a series of corbelled balconies; the whole structure is held together without nails by a mortise-and-tenon timber frame.
The Furong buildings are among the best examples of functional Tujia architecture still in daily use. Several buildings date from the Ming dynasty, though most have been rebuilt and repaired across their centuries of occupation. The craft of Tujia timber framing — a master carpenter can join heavy roof beams with hand-cut joints that lock under load — is visible in any building under repair, and the workshops where craftspeople maintain the structures are worth observing. The broader countryside around Yongshun County contains additional Tujia villages without tourism infrastructure.