Yunhe Rice Terraces

 The Yunhe Rice terraces are part of a very old water catchment and distribution area near Songyang but in the hills on the opposite of the valley from where we were staying. It has been turned into rather a theme park because that is what brings in the tourists and the money for conservation, so I had to get past that aspect. 

Needless to say that although the others hiked down (and back up) to the bottom of the system, I did not! It took them a good 40mins, the paths and steps were one person wide, and several times they had to perch precariously on the banks of the terraces to allow others to pass... I would have fallen into the water for sure!

(There were straw sculptures dotted around if you are wondering what the odd yellow things are.)

They are built down (or up?) the sides of a valley with the top terraces at 805m. The vista is beautiful on a sunny day, but they say that on a cloudy day the top of the terraces are above the clouds and the view is more ethereal.

The terraces themselves seemed to be constructed from earth banks, clad on the outside by drystone walls, and on the inside by split bamboo. That is my observation. Some of the signs were in English and Chinese characters but the information was of a different nature. As the original terraces are several hundred years old they have been repaired and maintained in the traditional manner, no cement in evidence although some of the paths and steps were of stone.

Planting had not begun and not all the terraces had water in them, but it was very interesting to see such an old yet still functional part of agriculture.