Researches On The Characteristic Of Mountain Villages And Towns In West Hunan

West Hunan area is filled with great mountains and canyons. As local people sites, it's a place with 80% for mountain land, 10% for water area, and 10% for agriculture. In the long time getting along with the mountains, people in West Hunan have been built harmony relationship between natural surroundings and human beings, and developed unique culture in the very environment.At the beginning of the article, we look into the appearance of spaces in mountain villages and towns in West Hunan, most of which are located and growing along the hillsides, some of which are on the mountaintops or besides main communication lines. In overall arrangement, the villages and towns are like points, lines, and areas. Some of them are consisted by separated houses, while some have lines of houses parallel or perpendicular to contour lines, and some have groups of houses with more complicated structures. Streets are veins of villages and towns. Traditional villages were mostly started from houses and commercial towns were mostly from streets. Some large immigrant villages and towns had their houses and streets built on the same time. Mountain streets are usually divided in short passages, using windings and slopes to offer specific direction senses and abundant spaces. Besides the pleasant scales, scenes in streets are continuous and unified, creating rhythmic spaces. In mountain villages and towns, there are special nodes, such as gateways, wells, street crossings, squares, etc, which often draw people together and become the place for communications.The ecosystem is the basis for human beings'livings and development. In mountain villages and towns in West Hunan, people build houses to fit with local environment. Houses are built on complicated landforms, with adjusting shapes and appearances. Villages and towns share an ecological and harmony relationship with mountain environment. The culture in West Hunan are growing in arms of mountain lands, showing its special association with mountains. Houses in West Hunan are mainly in Ganlan-style with tenon through structure, trying to fully use spaces beyond hillsides, rather than to change the original surfaces of mountains.The unique characteristic of mountain villages and towns in West Hunan demonstrate adaptabilities to their special environment, reveal their sustainable development concept with harmony relationship to the nature, provide great reference and guide to mountain villages and towns in modern times.