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In the south-east of Longsheng County in Guangxi province and within the land of Ping Xiang, there is a group of large-scaled rice terraces built into the hillside. Some of the terraces look like great chains, other look like ribbons. They wind from the foot to the top of the hill. The smaller ones are like snails and the bigger ones like towers. There are layers on layers of terraces, high and low. The outline is very smooth. Its scale is enormous. It is called "The champion of the terrace world". It is the Dragon's Backbone Rice Terraces. By the way, Long Sheng is also the gathering land for the minorities, such as Yao, Dong, Zhuang and Miao. The stockaded villages' backs face the hills and their fronts face the river.
The Dragon's Backbone Rice Terraces is 27 kilometers from Longsheng County, and it is 80 kilometers from Guilin city. The total area of this scenic spot is 66 square kilometers. The altitudes of the terraces vary between 300 meters & 1100 meters with sloping grades between 26 degrees and 35 degrees. The steepest slope is 50 degrees. Although there are terraces everywhere in the mountain areas of South China, it is extremely rare to see a terrace as big as the dragon ridge terrace.
Longji Mountain (the Dragon's Backbone Mountain) is a high mountain and its peak, Mao Er peak, is the highest in South China. With its foundation such a high mountain, how can the Dragon's Backbone Rice Terraces not be winding and boundless! The total area of the Dragon's Backbone Rice Terraces is 1014 hectares, and the whole terrace is built on the hillside with attitude from 300 meters to 1100 meters. Layers of terraces swirl and climb up from the river valley of torrent to the top of the hills where there are a lot of clouds. If you look toward the horizon, you would see that blocks of terraces are found to hand in hand, from the steep cliff to the end of the lush trees. Everywhere there is mud, there are cultivated terraces. Specifically speaking, the core of the terraces is a big land with area of two or three square kilometers.
The Dragon's Backbone Rice Terraces was built from Yuan Dynasty to the beginning of Qing Dynasty. It has already been more than 650 years in history.
The four seasons in the terraces have different features. The lands of each season present us a miracle. It is funny that in this big terrace world, the biggest block is not more than one Mu (Chinese acre. One Mu equals to 670 square meters.).
Zhuang and Yao people live in this Dragon's Backbone Rice Terraces scenic spot, and mainly are Zhuang people. Their dress is unique. Here you can feel the original Zhuang people's feelings. You can enjoy some dancing arts, such as pole dancing and lion dancing from Zhuang and reedpipe dancing from Yao. Also, you may come across the local customs of long hair combing (It is a way women comb their hair). Besides, you can also enjoy the simple living rooms in the zhuang villages, pure Longji(the dragon's backbone) tea and Longji wine.
(Source: gxtravel.com / Photo: baidu.com)
Back to "Travel Express Vol.97: Longsheng Terraces"
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