There are probably three of the most beautiful terraces in China: the Hani Rice Terraces in the south of Ailao Mountain in Yuanyang County, Yunnan, the Longji Rice Terraces in Longsheng Autonomous County in Guilin City, Guangxi, and the Jiabang Rice Terraces in Congjiang County, Guizhou.
Longji Terrace refers to the terraces developed on Longji Mountain, distributed in Longsheng Autonomous County, founded in the Yuan Dynasty and completed in the early Qing Dynasty, with a history of about 700 years. The ancestors of Longji's pioneering mountains and fields reclaimed layers of terraces in the mountains for their living needs. In addition to feeding the descendants of generations, this achievement has become a beautiful landscape today many years later, attracting countless tourists.
Longji Rice Terrace Scenic Area covers an area of about 70 square kilometers, the terraces are distributed between 300 meters and 1100 meters above sea level, and the slope of the terraces is mostly between 26 and 35 degrees, with the largest reaching 50 degrees. The terraces are coiled from the foot of the mountain to the top of the mountain, the hills are like snails, the mountains are like towers, the layers are stacked, the heights are staggered, and the landscape of the four seasons is different, like a huge abstract painting between heaven and earth.
The Longji Rice Terraces are known for their majestic momentum, flowing lines, changing charm and unique folk customs. In fact, Longji Rice Terraces is only a general term, which specifically includes the terraces of several villages such as Longji Village, Ping'an Village, Dazhai, Xiaozhai, Tiantou Village, and ZhongliuZhai.
The two most beautiful seasons of the Longji Rice Terraces are the silver terraces during the irrigation period from mid-to-late May to early June, and the golden terraces when the rice is ripe from late September to mid-October. The Longji Rice Terrace Scenic Area is mainly inhabited by two ethnic groups: the Zhuang and the Hongyao (a branch of the Yao ethnic group, named after the red clothes that their women often wear).
The Longji Rice Terrace Scenic Area tour is roughly divided into four viewing areas: Longji Ancient Zhuangzhai Terrace, Ping'an Zhuang Rice Terrace, Dazhai Jinkeng Hongyao Terrace and Xiaozhai Hongyao Terrace. Among them, the most classic and touristic are the Ping'an Zhuangzhai Terraces and the Dazhai Jinkeng Hongyao Terraces, while the Longji Ancient Zhuangzhai Terraces and the newly developed Xiaozhai Hongyao Terraces are relatively small.
1 Ping'an Zhuang Rice Terraces
There are currently 170 households in Ping'an Zhuangzhai with a population of more than 700 people, all of whom are Zhuang people. Ping'an Zhuang Rice Terraces is one of the earliest developed viewing areas, the terrace area is about 4 square kilometers, the highest sea dial is 880 meters, the lowest sea dial is 380 meters, the largest piece is only one acre, most of them are only a few rows of grass seedlings of broken field.
The Ping'an Zhuang Rice Terrace Scenic Area has two unique landscapes, "Nine Dragons and Five Tigers" and "Seven Stars with the Moon". The Nine Dragons refer to the nine small mountain beams that are separated from the main vein of the Dragon's Backbone here; the Five Tigers refer to the five slightly raised hills here, crouching on the ground like five tigers to guard this side of the water and soil.
Seven Stars and Moon is seven small hilltop terraces and one large summit terrace. The whole mountain is a narrow terrace, and the field is like a contour line, and the seven small hills look like seven twinkling stars in the distance, guarding the crooked moon field of the Dragon's Back.
2 Jinkeng Hongyao Rice Terraces
Jinkeng Hongyao Rice Terrace is located in Dazhai Village, where the Hongyi Yao people live, so it is also called Dazhai Hongyao Rice Terrace. Jinkeng Rice Terraces are surrounded by mountains on all sides, the terrain resembles a huge "sinkhole", standing at the bottom of the pit and looking around, the thousand-meter-high "pit along" is connected to a slope on the upper slope, overlapping and overlapping straight to the terraces of the cloudy sky, which is very spectacular.
Different from the small and exquisite Ping'an Beizhuang Rice Terraces, the Jinkeng Rice Terraces are steeper, the layers of the terraces are more complex, and the terraced landscape is more vast and magnificent, which presents a kind of original and rough beauty, which is shocking. And here you can climb to a higher observation deck for panoramic views.
The development time of Jinkeng Terraces is relatively late, the scale is very large, and the scenery is magnificent. In addition to the two old landscapes of "Double Dragon Treasure Grabbing" and "Double Lion Jumping Bar", there are also three newly named scenic spots of Xishan Shaole, Thousand Layer Ladder and Golden Buddha Peak.
Xishan Shaole (Viewpoint No. 1) is the highest viewpoint at the highest altitude, with a wide view, which is very suitable for watching the sunrise, and is a must-visit for photography enthusiasts. The view of the Mille-feuille Ladder (Viewpoint 2) is also very good, the terraces here are like a long staircase to the sky, layered and winding, and the sunset is also very spectacular.
Golden Buddha Peak (Viewpoint No. 3) can be reached on foot or by cable car at your own expense, which not only offers a panoramic view of the Jinkeng Rice Terraces, but is also the best place to photograph the sunset. There is a commercial street above the Golden Buddha Roof, selling a variety of local specialties.
Travel tips: Jinkeng Dazhai Terraces are much larger than Ping'an Zhai Terraces. Viewpoints 1 and 2 are relatively close and can be reached on foot. Viewpoint 3 can be reached on foot or by cable car.
3 Longji Ancient Zhuangzhai
The Longji Rice Terrace Scenic Area is inhabited by two ethnic groups, Zhuang and Yao, mainly Zhuang. The Zhuang people of Longji are the representatives of Beizhuang, where you can see the quaint Zhuangxiang houses, unique style of Zhuang costumes, you can hear the original Zhuang mountain songs, Longji copper encouragement, Shigong dance, flattening also makes tourists refreshed. In addition, you can also taste Longji tea, Longji pepper, Longji water wine.
4 Huangluo Yao village
Huangluo Yao Village is located in the territory of Longji Scenic Area, where there is a pure red Yao, since ancient times, Hong Yao women have the traditional habit of growing long hair, their long hair, song and dance, Hong Yao costumes have become a beautiful folk scenery here.
The villagers of Huangluo Yao Village can sing and dance and are hospitable. Tourists come to Huangluo Yao Village, and Yao girls dressed in colorful ethnic costumes sing sweet mountain songs to welcome them, offering their unique dances and traditional sports competitions, as well as fragrant oil tea. You can enjoy song and dance programs such as long-hair performances, red stick dances, umbrella dances, etc.
In the hearts of Hongyao women, long hair has the meaning of "long, long and prosperous", and it is said that they only cut their hair twice in their lives, once when they were in infancy for 100 days, and once when they were eighteen years old. Every sunny day, the scene of their meeting to wash their hair in the Jinjiang River is a unique Hongyao custom painting.
The Sixth Sunshine Festival of the Sixth Month of the Lunar Calendar is a traditional festival of Longji Hongyao, when every household will take out the flower clothes, ornaments, and flower skirts to dry, and the strings of red, red, green and green clothes on the sundries and corridors of each family are bright and dazzling, and the "Sunshine Festival" should also be named after this.