Get to know Dayangjie Hani Village in Honghe County

Posted by ugfanfan on January 12th, 2015

Dayangjie Hani Village in Honghe County, Honghe (Red River) Hani and Yi Nationalities Autonomous Prefecture of Yunnan Province: Cooking smoke reflected in a thousand mirrors.

Honghe Hani & Yi Autonomous Prefecture, founded on 18 November 1957. It is named after the Honghe River, which flows across its cities and counties. The Honghe River flows from the west to the east across the prefecture. Found in this area are dense tropical rain forests like many green peaks rising one higher than another, immense variety of Karst landforms, many deep mirror-like plateau lakes, magnificent views of seas of clouds in the valleys and ravines, tiers upon tiers of terraced fields which reach to the sky, and rich rare-metal resources renown home and abroad
 
This place, in the heart of the Ailao Mountains, is called Dayangjie and is located in Honghe County, Yunnan Province. Its inhabitants are known as the Yeche, a branch of the Hani ethnic minority. The Ailao Mountains are an eastern spur of the Yingling Mountains, the wartershed between the Hengduan Mountains in the west of Yunanan and the plateau in the east of the province. Moist warm air currents moving eastward from the Indian ocean meet barrier of the Ailao Mountains where they are transformed into abundant rain and fantastic cloud sea spectackes, moisteningand nurturing the splendid terraces on the Ailao Mountains.

Many ethnic groups live in the Ailao Mountains. The Dai ethnic group living on the riverbanks has turned the poor land along the riverbanks into rich farmland. The Yao ethnic group lives in the mild river valley, where many fruits and edible mushrooms grow. The Yaos also have their own traditional medicinal herbs. The Miao ethnic group lives in the mountains. The Miao women are good at tie dying and embroidery.

Yeche villagers, a branch of the Hani ethnic minority, are usually located at mid-level on the mountain slopes. Forests is higher up than the mountain and below are the terraced fields like stairways to Heaven, stretching from deep down in the river valleys up the mountain slopes to 2,000 meters and more above sea level. The terraces stretch their way, hugging the form of the mountainside, connecting several mountains together. The smallest terraces at the steepest spots are only about two square meters in area. Hani planting terraced fields are one of the most inspiring scenes in southern Yunnan. They resemble silver ladders, stretching from the foot of the mountains right to the top. The fields, sometimes as small as one to two square meters, are a unique sight.

There are no historical records as to when terraced fields were first used. However, according to ancient bronze ware, which depicts the ploughing techniques and folk customs of the Yi and Hani ethnic groups, they surely have a long-standing history.

The best place to view the terraced fields is in the south of Yuanyang County, where the mountains are covered with terraces extending 2,000 meters, from the mountaintop down to the valley. In winter and spring each year, the valley is filled with heavy mist, and the two mountains are like islands floating in a sea of cloud. Between the terraces, which reflect silver light, are stretches of green tea plantations. With plenty of rain and heavy mists, the Yunwu Tea (cloud and mist tea) produced in the town by the Yi ethnic group is extremely refreshing. The Yi are a people who love singing and dancing. Their dances imitate a hunt and have 36 parts, describing the hunting activities of their ancestors. This is a place to move the soul.

Grace Fan is a travel expert from chinatourdotcom which provides a full range of travel service such as China vacation deals, China city tours, China day tours, Tibet Tours, Guilin tours, Yangtze River tour and Shanghai tours , etc