Dan's Adventure

The Longsheng rice terraces were constructed around 500 years ago during the Ming Dynasty. When there wasn’t enough space on the ground to grow rice, the people of Longsheng County started to look upwards. Starting at 380m and rising to 880m the rice terraces cover the side of the surrounding mountains, a real feat of engineering. Rice is still grown and harvested from the terraces every year by the hardworking locals who work the rice paddies year round. An intricate series of bamboo piping provides water to the terraces from the springs above. Ping An is one of the most popular places to visit the Longsheng terraces, a small village resembling the chalets of a ski resort that sits high in the hills. On a clear day the view from the highest point is supposed to be spectacular. The Longsheng rice terraces are also known as the dragon’s backbone of China because the terraces resemble scales and the ridges of the mountain peaks look like a dragon’s back. On the day I visited however it was once again extremely hazy! Reaching Ping An was a bit of a mission, but it was still worth it as the terraces are impressive to see even without the visiblity to see them stretch out for miles. From Yangshuo it took 6 hours and 3 buses to get to Ping An, fortunately I was spending the night in Guilin so the return journey wasn’t quite as long.