Standing in front of Yuanyang’s terrace field is like sitting in a symphony hall. If nature is the stage, thousands of contour lines would be musical scores. The Hani people who create the field wound be the virtuosi, and the ever changing light and shadow would be the baton of the conductor which directs this magnificent tone poem.
No word can depict the grandeur of these terrace fields, which cover the slopes of the southern part of Ailao Mountains, extending themselves to the entire southern side of the red river. In some areas, not an inch of space is left uncultivated. There can be as many as 3000 escalations on a mountain slope. On rolling hills, the plots spread over to a few areas. At nearly vertical gradient, they are squeezed into square-foot crescents.
It is generally believed that some 1,200 years ago the ancestors of the modern Hani migrated to the south of the Red River from further north (today’s Sichuan). They settled themselves at 1,500-2,000 meters above the sea level, above which was the dense virgin forests. At such level the Ailao Mountain is ideal for rice agriculture, owing to the mild climate, abundant rainfalls (up to 55 inches per annum) and long-lasting sunlight.
Even before their early migration, the Hani had a mature experience in rich agriculture. They are believed to be one of the first people who cultivated wild rice into agricultural crop. Once they arrived in the new homeland, they wasted no time to take advantage of the environment, and started cultivating terrace fields from day one.