Wednesday 31 October – Today we are off to walk along the Longsheng Rice Terraces from Ping’an Village to Longji Zhuang Village.

Construction of the terraces started 650 years ago.  It began in the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) and continued until the early Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). To build the terraces the Zhuang and Yao people faced major obstacles.  First they had to clear the forest from the deep sided mountains and then rely on slash and burn agriculture to cultivate the first fields.

The terraced field are built along the slope winding from the riverside up to the mountain top, between 2,000 to 2,600 ft above sea level. A coiling terrace line that starts from the mountain foot up to the mountain top divides the mountain layers of water in Spring, layers of green rice shoots in Summer, layers of rice in fall and layers of frost in winter.

The terraced fields received their name because the rice terraces resemble a dragons scales, whilst the summit of the mountain range looks like the backbone of the dragon.

To get a better idea of what the terraces are like watch this video:

Overnight – We are stopping overnight in Longji Zhuang Village which is relatively isolated from the outside world. The village dates back to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).  The village is on a ridge with the rice terraces circling down to the Jin River below.

The village boasts 300 households and a population of 1,300 North Zhuang pople.  They are all from three families the Lia Family: the Hou family: and the Pan family.

The families belong to the Baiyi or “White Clothes” branch of the Zhuang Ethnic minority and are characterised by their beautifully embroidered white shirts.

Villagers grow rice and potatoes to feed the whole family: paddy corn, taro and bean are their favourite food.  They cook using bamboo cut in half, they put the food in the middle, seal it up, put it into the fire, then open it up to get the food when it is fully cooked.

For our dinner we are having a traditional meal cooked by one of the villagers in their house.

We are stopping in a Diaojiaolou, which is a three storey traditional wooden house supported by wooden columns.  The houses are built on stilts to protect the villagers from snakes and insects. I hate snakes!!

The weather – The weather in Yangshou and Guilin has been very hot with temperatures in the day getting up to the mid 80s.  However it gets quite cool in the evening / overnight. Still no rain!!

I was given a traditional ‘farmers hat’ by the owner of the Old Manor House so I have been wearing that. Sometimes the hats are called a sedge hat, rice hat, paddy hat, bamboo hat or coolie hat . In Chinese, it is called dǒulì (斗笠), literally meaning a “one-dǒu bamboo hat”, (笠帽, 竹笠). It is fantastic for keeping the sun from your head, face and neck.