Honghe Hani Rice Terraces 红河哈尼梯田

About Honghe Hani Rice Terraces

Water channels connect these elements, making the scenery inseparable from the farming system. Duoyishu and Bada offer different views of the tightly layered fields. Their appearance changes with the agricultural season: water-filled terraces reflect the sky, while growing rice creates a more textured green surface. Look from managed viewpoints and village routes without entering cultivated plots.

The Hani have maintained this farming system for more than 1,300 years. The terraces became a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level (全国重点文物保护单位) on 5 March 2013. Their cultural landscape was inscribed on the World Heritage List on 22 June that year, with a heritage area of 16,603 hectares.

The protected landscape includes 82 villages, whose buildings are generally made from adobe and stone. Households typically cultivate one or two terrace plots and combine red-rice farming with cattle breeding. Conserved forests above 2,000 metres collect rainfall, while canals, ditches and sandstone water-storage features distribute it to the fields below.

What to look for

• Duoyishu reveals closely layered rice terraces that can reflect the sky when flooded.
• Bada provides another broad view of the terraces beneath villages and forest.

Location & getting there

Getting to Honghe Hani Rice Terraces

Use Xinjie Town in Yuanyang as the highland access base, then arrange the road connection to Duoyishu or Bada. Yuanyang’s lower county seat, Nansha, is a different place; confirm whether your transport reaches Xinjie or requires an onward transfer.