Photo: Zzvet

These are the most striking and colorful sights found in the natural world.

Source: Blue, Red and Green Planet: The World’s Most Colorful Places

Photo: Zhang Hongke

Holding Mother Nature in reverence, the Hani people in Southwest China have been leveraging their water-saving wisdom on the unique wonder of terraced fields for over 1,300 years.

Source: Ancient water-saving wisdom in UNESCO world heritage

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For over 1,300 years, the Hani people in Southwest China have plowed rice terraces that appear to cascade down the lush hillsides and form a spectacular view. The terraced fields in Yuanyang county, Yunnan province, made it onto the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2013.

Source: Hope springs from ancient terraced paddies

For over 1,300 years, the Hani people in Southwest China have been plowing their rice terraces that cascade down the lush hillsides and shape a spectacular rice-paddy terracing view.

Source: Millennium-old rice terraces survived in China

Source: Best time to see the magical Hani terraces in SW China’s Yunnan

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China – Cultural Landscape of Honghe Hani Rice Terraces

The Honghe Hani Rice Terraces in Yunnan, China, covers an immense 16,603-hectares. These spectacular terraces cascade down the slopes of the towering Ailao Mountains to the banks of the Hong River.

The terraces rise by 3,000 steps at varying angles from a shallow 15 degrees to a steep 75 degrees, forming a magnificent landscape that is rare both at home and abroad.

Over the past 1,300 years, the Hani people have developed a complex system of channels to bring water from the forested mountaintops to these terraces. They have also created an integrated farming system that involves buffalos, cattle, ducks, fish and eel and supports the production of red rice, the area’s primary crop. The terraced fields were officially acknowledged by UNESCO as a World Cultural and Natural Heritage site in 2013.

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