Longsheng Rice Terraces
The Longsheng Rice Terraces, is also known as the Longji rice terraces, and located in Longsheng various nationalities autonomous county, 80 kilometers away from Guilin. The Longsheng Rice Terraces crystallizes agriculture farming in hill areas, and it consists of two parts, Jinkeng Hong Yao terrace, and Ping'an Zhuang terrace. The terrace fields are built on slopes at an elevation from 300 meters to 1100 meters. Those slopes are from the riverside all the way to the top of hills, the steepest slope is with a grade of 50°. There are winding roads to those terrace fields.
Terrace is a way of rice cultivation, and it is usually in the south of China, due to the terrain and lack of cultivatable and flat lands. Longsheng rice terraces is first built in the Qin dynasty, and such a large area of terrace fields are formed in the Qin Dynasty, and it has more than two thousand years. In the ancient time, farmers made terraces from barren lands and planted crops for their survival. Every layers of those terraces witness their great efforts, strong spirit, and fighting against nature.
Ping'an Zhuang terrace has two observation places where you could see the essence of Longsheng rice terraces, named Qian xing ban yue which consist of seven small terraces and one big terrace. It has another special scenery, nine dragons and five lions, which is named from the appearance of the terraces. Jinkeng Hong Yao terrace is surrounding by mountains in four sides, and has a look like a hole. The ethnic group, Hong Yao live in this terrace, who came to here from Hunan province, and this terrace made by them is a masterpiece and has great humanistic value. In this area, you can go to villages to experience ethnic life and culture, and taste local food. In those villages, there are the old houses of the Dong and Yao of ethnic features- stilted building and Gulou, and you may hear local songs and see ethnic clothes, and watches performances in the festivals.
A huge area of rice terraces is magnificent and amazing, and it not only has agriculture and economic value, but also has aesthetics value and culture. People plant rice crops on the terraces to support their life, and now those terraces become tourism resources and would bring incomes to the local people. Those terraces are surrounded by mountains, with green trees everywhere and have a beautiful natural scenery. Viewing from a long distance, the layers of terraces look like winding steps. When you walking on those terraces, you would be shocked by human labor. Those terraces, houses, and mountains are in complete harmony and they form a breathtaking picture. This picture would change, but remains amazing according to season, weather, and crops, therefore every time, you go to see the terraces, you would have a different feeling and see a different picture. In spring, the terraces have layers of water, in summer, the terraces have layers of green rice crops, in autumn, the crops in the layers turns to yellow, and in winter, you may see layers of frost in the early morning. Those beautiful pictures attract tourist from the world. Those terraces are the carrier of people's living and culture, and become a symbol of their culture. They reflects people's hard working, and strong spirits.
The best way of sightseeing is hiking, which may be a little tired, but you would have a realistic and touching experience. There are many terraces, and thus you may plan your tour time and tour course and observation place in order to capture the most beautiful moment.
