How to Plan an International Trip: Travel Tales and Tips : China Trip Report Day 11: Longji (Dragon's Back) Rice Terraces

Day 11, March 26, 2018, Monday:

The Longji Rice Terraces offer some of the most fantastic scenery in China . Beautiful when the sun reflects in the water of the paddy fields and glowing with yellow ears when the harvest is ripe, Longji (Dragon's Back) is a feast for the eyes...

The rice terraces are built into the hillsides, and look like great amphi theaters or ribbons as they wind round the contours in tiered bands.

This ingenious irrigation method makes the best use of the scarce arable land and water resources in this mountainous area.

There are about 66 square kilometers (25 sq mi) of terraced fields.

Longsheng’s Terraces, also called the Longji Terraces, are smaller than the Yuanyang Terraces of Yunnan Province in scale, but the scenery is relatively concentrated.

Located in Longsheng County, Guilin Prefecture, Guangxi Province; about 95 km north of Guilin City, 2½ hour’s drive.

Started in the Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368), they were completed in the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911).

Best time: spring and autumn, especially May and October for watery or rice-filled terraces.

Longji Rice Terraces refer to several village areas in Longsheng County.

There are two major scenic sites: Jinkeng Hong yao Terraces (Golden Hole Red Yao’s Terraces) and Ping’an Zhuang Terraces (Peace Zhuang Terraces).

Compared with the Ping’an Zhuang Terraces (平安), a commercial site favored by tour groups and foreign travelers, Jinkeng Hongyao (金坑红瑶) Terraces have developed relatively late because of their situation at the top of the mountain and the long distance to get there.

The most popular terraced field areas are around Ping'an Village, where Zhuang minority people live, and in the Jinkeng area, home to the Red Yao.

Entry Cost:

The 90-yuan-per-person ticket includes entrance fees to Ping'an and Dazhai/Jinkeng scenic areas. The ticket is valid for two days.

The Jinkeng Terraced Fields — Less Touristy and More Spectacular.

Jinkeng Red Yao Terraced Fields (金坑红瑶梯田) are farther than the Ping’an Terraced Fields from the tourist entrance.

The Jinkeng Terraces hold several Yao villages: Dazhai, Tiantouzhai, Xinzhai, and Xiaozhai. The main attractions and accommodation are located in and around Dazhai ('Big Village') and Tiantouzhai ('Field Head Village').

Taxi to Longji rice terraces was at 650 CNY, picking us at 8 am,

It was a scenic ride as the car rode up hairpin bends, the driver drove on toward Jinkeng terraces ignoring the fork at Ping'an.

he asked for 200 CNY for our tickets, we let it slide though we knew it was 90 CNY pp.

we got the tickets for the cable car ride up and down,

This is the cable car station, our driver with our red car nearby

Easy ride up with spectacular scenery. There is a long observation platform to walk around, then we can take cable car ride down.

Ladies requesting a pic with the "foreigner"

Ping'an Zhuang Village Terraced Fields (平安壮寨梯田)

These are the earliest and most developed terraced fields in Longsheng, and the most touristy area.

These terraced fields are around Ping'an Village and two smaller hamlets, inhabited by the Zhuang minority. The villagers live in traditional wooden three-story stilted houses.

Driver was ready to drive us back to Guilin after Jingkeng, but we insisted on Pingan also.

Then we drove to Pingan terraces where we went up to Seven stars with the moon lookout.

Ping'an Highlights:

Seven Stars Accompany the Moon (七星伴月) is comprised of seven small piles of rocks, left when the area was developed, in the middle of a moon-like field. We did only this. We did try to reach the next one but the signs were bad and the path very rickety

Nine Dragons and Five Tigers (九龙五虎) or just Nine Dragons refers to nine ridges, branching off from the main ridge, which look like nine dragons bending over to drink from the Jinsha River. Alongside, there are five tiger-like rocks.

Saw water filled fields too, GREAT

A guy being carried down...

There are a considerable number of small paths, which may easily lead to getting lost, so a tour guide may be necessary to help us find the right way.

The uncut stone paths have many twists and turns, and some sections are steep, so we need to mind our step.

Longji Terrace Hiking

. The most popular two options are:

Ping'an to Longji Ancient Zhuang Village: about 2 hours

Dazhai to Ping'an: 4-5 hours.

Huangluo Red Yao Village (黄洛红瑶寨), 1 km south of Ping'an, is where over 60 Yao households of over 400 people live harmoniously. It is known as the ‘World's Top Long Hair Village'.

It is a tradition for girls to wear long hair in Huangluo, and over 60 girls have over one-meter long black hair. The longest is 2.1 meters. It is said that this village holds the Guinness World Record for the group of people with the longest hair.

We can tell a woman's marriage status from her hair. An unmarried woman should pack all of her hair in a cloth. A married woman will also pack her hair, but will leave a bun outside.

The 'long-hair show', 'red-stick dancing', and 'umbrella dancing' are performed in the village. It is very touristy. We skipped it.

Ethnic village was also included in the ticket, but we let it go after the passive aggressive pressure tactics from the driver.

We returned back to our lovely village at 5 pm happy with the day's work