Hani man feels attached to terraced fields

The Hani terraced rice fields in south Yunnan’s Yuanyang County is listed by the UNESCO as a World Cultural Heritage site. Like a gigantic sculpture out of the Ailao mountain ridges, the 3,700-cascade rice fields begin to rise at the mountain foot, extending all the way to the mountain top with an elevation well above 2,000 meters.

“My life is destined to be attached to the terraced rice fields,” said Zhu Wenzhen, a 43-year-pld Hani man who has long been engaged in protecting the heritage site. At the age of three, Zhu began to follow his grandfather in singing the Hani ancient songs, and at ten he learned how to till the rice fields from the grandmother.

Zhu noted that the terraced rice fields present the harmonious coexistence between man and nature, conveying the message of perseverance and man-nature unity. Citing the water-cycling system of the fields, Zhu explained the rice fields are water saving, and the current Hani tilling method largely remains the same as that over 1,300 years ago.

When it was listed as a world heritage in 2013, the 461-square-km site under protection consisted of over 4,666 hectares of rice fields, around 8,466 hectares of forest, 174 irrigation canals and 82 pristine villages. Now the world heritage has grown to be a famed tourist attaction.  

Source: Xinhua; Trans-editing by Wang Shixue