ANN/THE STAR – As I gazed out the window of our third-floor hotel room in Yuan Yang, China, I was mesmerised by the breathtaking sight of miles and miles of vibrant rice terraces.
The scene unfolded before me like a canvas of colour, as the sun rose over the mountains and cast its warm glow on the Duo-yishu Rice terraces. The hues shifted from pure white to a kaleidoscope of colours – yellow, blue, grey and gold – leaving me awestruck and enchanted.
Our group of 16 senior travellers, aged 63 to 85, had travelled from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Yunnan Province, where we spent three nights in Kunming before exploring the region’s natural wonders.
The tour leader Rhys and English-speaking local guide Tony Huang regaled us with stories and insights at each stop. We marvelled at the ancient rice terraces, carved into the hills and mountains by the Hani minority people over the past 1,200 years.
In 2013, the Honghe Hani Rice Terraces were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, recognising their remarkable construction and unique social-ecological system, as well as the rich cultural heritage of the Hani people. The 16,603 hectares of terraces were a testament to the ingenuity and resilience of this ancient civilisation.
We were also bowled over by what sunset looked like at the Bada Rice Terraces. The colour changes on the rice fields were astounding. Although I could not see all colours of the rainbow, I managed to capture the rice fields in white, beige, orange, green and even black.
Generally, rice starts to grow in May there. By June, they are green, then yellow from July to September. Harvesting is in October and by November the fields are cleaned and filled with water. The myriad of colours we saw were due to the reflection of light on the rice fields.
Huang said, “The colour changes depend on many factors – sunrise or sunset, time of the day and the atmosphere, whether it is a clear, cloudy or misty day. Different seasons also bring different colours”.
On another day, I was captivated by the Dongchuan Redland, a three-hour drive from Kunming. This place is more than 20 square kilometres of red, terraced hills. We visited Huashitou and Luoxiagou villages and were greeted by terraces in multi-colours such as red, orange, green, beige and brown.
Dubbed ‘God’s Magic Palette’, the Dongchuan Redland looked like an oil-painting.
“The soil is red. When some fields are grown with potato, barley or wheat, the colour of their flowers, leaves and stems plus the blue sky produce the different colours that we see,” said Huang.
Our visits included two ethnic minority villages. The Azhike village of the ethnic Hani people in Yuan Yang is more than 210 years old, and those who live there are mostly farmers, tilling the land and rearing poultry. Their three-storey houses had mushroom-shaped roofs made from hay.
The Chengzi Village of ethnic Yi folks in Mi Le, meanwhile, is more than 300 years old. The roofs there were flat with many layers of straw and clay. The flat roofs were built to facilitate the drying of produce, mainly corn.
We all liked the ethnic markets, which were like a festival of colours, where visitors mingled with the ethnic minority in their traditional costumes.
The best was Shengcun Market where I got lost… but only temporarily, thankfully. The variety of merchandise on sale was fascinating: fruits, vegetables, meat, clothes, embroidery, haberdashery, household items, souvenirs and food, as well as a buffalo head, maggots and insects.
There were even a cutler and a dentist who offered their services in the middle of the market.
We visited other places of historical and cultural significance, like the Xing Meng Mongol Ethnic Town, where Mongolian people lived and still donned their traditional costumes daily. – Katherine Kuan
