肇兴，旧称“肇洞”，位于黎平县城南70公里，是肇兴乡人民政府所在地。海拔410米，现有住户近800户，占地180960平方米，是侗族南部方言地区最大的侗族村寨。
肇兴寨全为陆姓侗族，分为五大房族，分居五个自然片区。当地把这种自然片区叫作“团”，分称仁、义、礼、智、信五个团（寨）。片区之间没有明显的分界线。
寨子里杆栏式吊脚楼房，鳞次栉比，疏密有致，全用杉木建造。房子一般“五柱七瓜”，歇山顶盖小青瓦。还有戏楼、歌坪、禾晾、谷仓、瓢井等建筑，布局紧凑。乡政府建的民族宾馆，别具一格。
肇兴平均气温18℃，无霜期长，以农为主，盛产杉木，善种棉花、管理茶山，木器、铁器、竹器、藤编、织机、刺绣等技艺颇负盛名。
鼓楼、花桥，更是肇兴侗寨的一大特色。寨中五个宗族各自建有鼓楼、花桥，大小不一高低不等，风格各异，别具匠心。仁寨鼓楼七重檐八角攒尖顶，高21.7米，占地面积60平方米；义寨鼓楼十一重檐八角攒尖顶，高25.8米，占地81.6平方米；礼寨鼓楼十三重檐八角攒尖顶，高23.1米，占地70.3平方米；智寨鼓楼九重檐八角歇山顶，高14.9米，占地77.3平方米；信寨鼓楼十一重檐八角攒尖顶，高25.9米，占地面积78.3平方米，该鼓楼有一副永久性对联：“鼓乐声声京城震动雄证当今盛世，楼阁巍巍侗寨欢呼讴歌天下太平”，表达了侗乡人民对鼓楼、文化和新生活的接受。1984年9月，县政府公布肇兴鼓楼，花桥为文物保护单位。1985年6月，在北京举办《侗族建筑及展览》，有从肇兴征集的一部分文物参展，受到国内外有关专家学者的高度赞赏。
肇兴不仅是鼓楼之乡，而且是歌舞之乡。乡有文化站，寨上有侗歌队、侗戏班。每逢节日，肇兴乡及毗邻侗寨群众，欢聚鼓楼、歌坪，举行热情洋溢的“踩歌堂”、“抬官人”等文化娱乐活动。歌类尤其出名。歌类大致有“蝉歌、踩堂歌、拦路歌、琵琶歌、牛腿琴歌、酒歌、山歌、情歌、河歌、叙事歌、童声歌等等。侗歌歌声娓婉，旋律悠美动听，尤以多声部混声合唱扣人心弦，早在六十年代就轰动国内声乐界。每隔一年举行一次芦笙会，主、客吹奏比赛，人山人海，热闹非凡，笙声阵阵，甚为壮观。
Zhaoxing, The Largest Dong Village In China
Zhaoxing was called “Zhaodong” in the past. It lies 70 kilometres south of Liping Town. It is a mountain village at an elevation of 410 metres. About 800 families live here. It is the largest Dong village in china, covering 1,809,60 square metres.
The family name in Zhaoxing is almost Lu. The families are divided into five branches, named Ren, Yi, Li, Zhi, Xin. They are separated in five parts in the village. These parts are called “Tuans”, but there are no demarcations between them.
Row upon row of wooden houses are scattered in the village. Most of the houses are “hanging building”. “Hang”here means the ground storey isn’t fitted up. People live in the second and third storey. The houses are of the “five poles and seven extra poles” model. The roofs are covered with clay tiles. There are also stage buildings. Singing squares, rice stands, granaries and dipperlike springs dotted here and there in the village. The National Hotel in Zhaoxing is in a unique style.
It is warm in Zhaoxing. The temperature is 18℃ on average. The period without frost is long. People here mainly go in for farming. They are good at growing cotton and oil tea trees. Besides cotton and oil, the famous products are wood, wooden furniture, ironware, bamboo work, cane work, spinning and weaving tools, especially the Dong embroidery.
Zhaoxing is famous for its distinctive drum towers and gallery bridges. The five family branches have their own tower and bridge. They are in different size, height and style. The Ren Branch’s drum tower is seven-storeyed and eight-sided, 21.7 metres tall, covering 60 square metres. The Yi Branch’s is eleven-storeyed, eight-sided, 25.8 metres tall, covering 81.6 square metres. The Li’s is thirteen-storeyed, eight-sided, 23.1 metres tall, covering 70.3 square metres. The Zhi’s is nine-storeyed, eight-sided, 14.9 metres tall, covering 77.3 square metres. The Xin’s is eleven-storeyed, eight-sided, 25.9 metres tall, covering 78.3 square metres. There’s a pair of antithetical couplets written on the poles like this:
The drum music excites the capital, telling the flourishing age’s coming;
The towers built so high, the Dong villages are cheering and singing of the peaceful world.
The couplet is a reflection of the Dong people’s new life.
The government of Liping county announced the drum towers and gallery bridges in Zhaoxing to be the protective cultural relics in September, 1984. In June, 1985, the Exhibition of Dong Architecture was held in Beijing. The cultural relics from Zhaoxing were highly praised by experts at home and abroad.
Zhaoxing is the home of singing and dancing. The village has its cultura station, the Dong chorus and the Dong opera troupe. On festivals Dong people in Zhaoxing and the nearby villages get together in the drum towers and singing squares. They perform such warm programmers as “Cai Getang” (step to the songs ), “Carry the official”. The Dong songs are flourishing. They can be classified into Cicada Songs, Step Songs, Blocking-the –way Songs (to quiz the visitors or guests), the Pipa Songs, the Cowleg violin Songs, Wine Songs, Folk Songs, Love Songs, River Songs, Narrative Songs and children’s Songs. The Dong songs are very beautiful in melody, especially the multiple-parts chorus named Dage, which created a furore at home and abroad early in the 1960s.
The Lusheng Festival is held in Zhaoxing every other year. Thousands of people from different parts of the world gather here. The competition of playing the lusheng is held between the guests and hosts. The impassioned tone is sent far away. The spectacle looks most maganificent.
