Mon, Apr 6, 2009
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Image: MPUP
Upon seeing these stunning images of rice terraces in Southeast Asia and China, one could think that rice is actually only the byproduct of a bigger project: landscape art. The technique of rice farming and the work today is done pretty much the way it was millennia ago – one reason why most of the amazing rice terraces are still intact.
The rice terraces in Banaue, a mountain village in the central Cordilleras in the north of Luzon Island, are located about 330 km north of Manila. Their construction was started more than 2,000 years ago by the local communities, ancestors of the Batad indigenous people, and with only primitive tools.
Banaue’s rice terraces are 1,500 meters (5,000 ft) above sea level and cover more than 10,000 square kilometers (4,000 square miles) of mountainside. It is said that if the plots were laid out next to each other, they would cover a distance of about 25,000 km (10,000 ft) – in comparison, the Great Wall of China is “only” 6,000 km (2,800 ft) long! No wonder then that Banaue’s rice terraces are frequently referred to as the “Eighth Wonder of the World.”
1. Window to the “Eighth Wonder of the World,” the rice terraces in Banaue:
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Image: Romeo Remalante
The ancient irrigation system is fed by the rainforests above the terraces through an intricate combination of collecting the water of mountain springs and transporting it via bamboo pipes, dams and sluices to the upper rice terraces, from where it flows through selected openings to lower paddies.
The whole of the rice terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985, just to put them on the Red List of World Heritage Sites in Danger in 2001. Almost 30% of the terraces are not managed any more and are therefore threatened by decay.
2. Rows and rows of intricately carved rice terraces in Banaue, Philippines:![]()
Image: Terre Sans Frontiere
Rice farming is also backbreaking work, as most of the narrow paddies can only be farmed by hand, like they were millennia ago. No wonder then that the younger generation is more drawn to jobs in the hospitality industry, or moves away to Manila to make their fortune there. Pollution and an increasing number of tourists visiting the site are gnawing further on the famous “Stairways to the Sky.”
3. A village nestled in the rice terraces in Batad, 12 km away from Banaue:
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Image: wmy
4. The rice terraces in Batad look pretty and dramatic on a gloomy day: ![]()
Image: wmy
5. Rice terraces in Banaue (right) and the Dragon Backbones in China:
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Images: Literary Bridge and Huangshan Tour
What has saved the rice terraces built by the Hani people in China’s Yuangyang County so far is their relative remoteness. They are located in Yunnan province in southwest China, a region not easily accessible and therefore not exploited for tourism but rich in natural beauty and untouched scenery. The spectacular rice terraces drop from almost the summits of the nearby, 2,500-m-tall Ailao Mountains to the bed of the Red River.
6. The rice terraces in Yuangyang, China, look like an artwork:
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Image: China.org
The rice farmers who built the terraces almost by hand more than 1,000 years ago had to know about ecology and land preservation long before those concepts had names. Otherwise, without the hard work of maintaining the terrace walls as well as the ancient irrigation system, the precious top soil would have washed down the hillsides into the rivers.
Even today, the Yuangyang rice terraces are a self-sustaining eco system, perfectly in sync with nature like it was a thousand years ago. Just like the Banaue rice terraces, the Yuangyang rice terraces are irrigated with spring water from the rainforest above. The water then evaporates from the rice terraces and forms clouds whose rain water is collected and trapped by the rainforest, from where it is used for the irrigation of the rice fields again.
7. The clouds burst open over the rice terraces:
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Image: Magic China
There is only one harvest per year but the landscape changes throughout with the many flooded paddies creating reflecting pools that are a photographer’s delight. In fact, the Yuangyang rice terraces remind one more of a painting than a real landscape.
8. Stained glass or impressionist painting?
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Image via Skyscrapercity
The Dragons Backbone rice terraces in Longji, about 80 km north of Guilin or 27 km southeast of Longsheng County, in comparison, have been well-documented and attract a steady stream of visitors every day. Each terrace has been carved out of the mountainside during the Yuan and Qing Dynasties from the late 1200s to the early 1600s.
9. Rice terraces in Longsheng, perfectly in sync not only with nature:
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Image: Ian and Wendy
The terraces cover an area of 66 square km (about 16,308 acres) and span an altitude from 300 m (984 ft) to 1,100 m (3,608 ft). They are still being farmed today.
10. Flooded rice terrace fields in Douyishu on the way to Yuangyang:
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Image: Alpha
11. A house’s reflection in flooded rice paddies in Yangshuo County in southeast China:
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Image: China Discover
Not a rice terrace, but definitely rice art:![]()
Image: Beautiful Feet Toronto
Ubud, with a population of only 8,000, is a small town in the southeast of the Indonesian island of Bali. Because of its scenic rice terraces and steep ravines, Ubud has become a popular tourist destination and major arts and cultural hub.
12. A building’s reflection in the rice fields of Ubud, Bali:
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Image: Brian Michelsen
13. Rice terraces with palm trees in Ubud:
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Image: Sam Sherratt
14. Flooded rice fields glinting in the sun in Pupuan, Bali:
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Image: Tropical Island
15. On the way to Amed in Bali – rice terraces everywhere:
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Image: Julia Gross
16. A stunning view of rice terraces near the Annapurna Base Camp in Nepal:
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Image: Judith
17. Lush green rice terraces in Mae Rim, Thailand:
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Image: garycycles2
Sapa in the northwest of Vietnam, near the Chinese border, is about 380 km away from Hanoi. It is a popular trekking destination because of the spectacular scenery of the Tonkinese Alps, home of the Montagnard hill tribes for centuries.
18. Browns, greens and symmetry in Sapa, Vietnam:
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Image: Paolo Bosonin
19. Like a stairway to the sky, a rice terrace in Sapa:
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Image: Maurice Koop
20. View of the Muong Hoa river and valley from Tavan, a 13-km hike from Sapa:![]()
Image: inottawa
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April 6th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
Those photos are so absolutely gorgeous. I never knew how beautiful rice terraces were.
April 6th, 2009 at 10:29 pm
Amazing display of a nature friendly crop system.
April 7th, 2009 at 4:15 am
The beauty of the rice fields, terraces is incredible. It is not surprising as to the use of ecological construction the is hundreds of years old. Makes me feel there is still hope for our wonderous big blue marble we call home. Thanks so much for sharing. Blessings.
April 7th, 2009 at 8:18 am
Stunning – makes me want to go back to Asia – such a beautiful part of the world.
April 7th, 2009 at 9:42 am
There are some beautiful photographs in this collection. It’s amazing just how old some of these structures are. To think that people have been working on the same terraces for so long blows your mind.
April 7th, 2009 at 9:43 am
Such brilliance that our Asian friends have had for ever. GOING GREEN? I believe 97% of them are greener than you will ever believe.
Have you ever walked into a chicken coop? Picked up a chicken to get the egg from under her, shoveled poo,planted a seed? Have you ever shot an animal in order to utilize all of it in order to eat and be warm?
I brought a dozen eggs to a friend of mine one day ;(fresh outta the chicken), and her husband told me that he would never eat them because they came out of a chickens behind. Imagine that. I asked him what he thought about FRESH eggs and he said to me……”They come from the grocery store because they are pasteurized and homogenized.” I laughed so hard because this would be…wait for it…scrambled and hard boiled eggs at the same time. This was 25 years ago.
Rice paddies are essential to life, chickens , pigs, deer, beef, all creatures great and small. aLL PLANTS, VEGGIES, everything is provided by our maker. WE are also, everything that ALL people do. If you have a patio, a deck, a little spot or city provides a growing area; do a little something. If not to feed yourself when it is grown…..just give it to some one who will like it because they need it. Go to Wal~MART and buy a box of seed for 7.00 and cast in in the air. it is pretty cool you see flowers grow when you least expect it.
BONUS…ALL GREEN PLANTS CLEAN THE AIR!!!!
Anyway –way way off track.
April 7th, 2009 at 10:31 am
I really admire the beauty of the Banaue Rice Terraces here in our country. But the last time that I was able to visit the place was when I was still a child. Can’t remember the visit at all.
April 7th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
PowerballStates: More like an amazingly inefficient and costly way of producing crops that are supposed to be grown on large plains. But it sure is beautiful.
This is how to grow rice without being sentenced to life in poverty: http://pro.corbis.com/images/YM002716.jpg?size=67&uid={FD776F00-D4D3-44EC-ABD9-2BFA86944C4E}
April 7th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
WOw, stunning images!
RT
http://www.anon-tools.cz.tc
April 7th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
interesting pictures about the rice, but the one that is rice artfield is not in China but Japan…
I wonder about your sources…. just by checking on google you can find out where everything is…
April 7th, 2009 at 10:18 pm
I want to live in one of these places :(
April 8th, 2009 at 12:24 am
Wow this is beautiful, if you take time to look and feel the scenery, it’s worth the memories of a real trip!
Thanks for bringing this to our attention and for sharing!
Marcomé
April 11th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
Wow! All the photos are stunning.I am from Nepal and I thank you for presenting such a wonderful picture of it.
April 12th, 2009 at 5:21 pm
wow,the nature is the best artist
June 10th, 2009 at 3:49 pm
I believe than this tech it is like the Incas at sudamerica.
June 24th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
Heh.. Not Really!
August 12th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
gorgeous. yes they are. going green. yes, absolutely.
but, we still have works to do.
earth won’t suvive if we only depends on the farmers..
for information, indonesia is not just Bali. Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, Maluku, Nusa Tenggara, Irian Jaya(Papua), etc.
August 13th, 2009 at 11:45 am
I really like the rice art one :) amazing picture !
September 10th, 2009 at 5:13 pm
wow! thank you for sharing these.
September 29th, 2009 at 8:43 am
China’s longsheng rice terraces is very popular among tourists. Making the trip to longsheng is half day from Guilin, Guangxi province. It’s, i personally think, one of the best grand scenes i’ve ever seen, thanks for giving me the opportunity to see the other 19 rice terraces. It’s not easy to plant the rice at such fields. Farmmers are making very good use of every piece of land.