Longsheng Rice Terraces

Over six hundred years ago, in mountainous southwest China, farmers needed more land to cultivate rice. Their solution? Carve terraces into the mountainsides, naturally!

Actually, one might wonder why farmers of southwest China didn’t just move where there is better land...and China has plenty of land. The reason is that many people in this region are ethnic minorities, who were persecuted by the Han majority. The minorities fled to the faraway, mountainous countryside. The rice terraces truly provided a way for them to survive.

We visited the Longsheng Rice terraces, a three hour drive from Yangshuo. When we arrived it seemed that we hadn’t just driven a long distance, but that we’d also traveled back in time. In fact, how rice is planted, grown, and harvested hasn’t changed over the centuries. The terraces are too narrow and for tractors, so they are tended to by hand, rudimentary hoes or occasionally with an ox and plow. Most of the farmers worked barefoot. Supplies and water were carried across a person’s back. It looked like a very hard life.


The terraces themselves were amazing.

We spent a couple of hours hiking up the mountain and through villages.






The people of the village we visited were ethnic minorities that have, because of their history of isolation from the rest of China and the world, maintained their language (a dialect that is mostly unrecognizable to Mandarin and Cantonese speakers) and many of their customs…and have learned to capitalize on them with the relatively recent boom in the tourist trade. For instance, one of the customs is for women to only get one haircut in their entire lives. Women tied their hair up, which is reported to be 12 feet or more in length, in elaborate buns. We were approached by many women who offered to unroll their hair and have their picture taken with us – for a fee, of course. We politely declined!

Old women made handicrafts to sell.

Men with sedan chairs were ready for business. (Men - one in front, one in back - place the bamboo sticks on their shoulders and carry the passenger up and down the mountain.)

We actually felt a bit sorry for the sedan “drivers” as the only people who seemed interested in taking a ride up the steep mountain were very, very large women. We couldn't blame them for napping between customers!

There were lots of small shops, restaurants, hotels atop the mountain. We had lunch at the Country Village Inn, which was made of timber both inside and out. For being in such a remote place, the menu was huge and offered a wide variety of dishes. Dave decided to see what they considered a “Mexican burrito.”

He said it was actually quite good. Again, who would have guessed we’d get decent Mexican food and excellent Italian food in rural China?!

Lest you believe that the modern world hasn’t reached the hinterlands of China, I must assure that it has. When we peered in ramshackle huts, we saw flat screen TVs and computers in nearly every one. Some of the women who were hauling supplies across their backs on the terraces were doing so while chatting away on their cell phones!

It was a very interesting and fun day!