Cultural Landscape of Honghe Hani Rice Terraces

For 1,300 years the Hani have farmed gravity: channels carry water from the forested summits of the Ailao Mountains down through cascading rice terraces toward the Hong River, feeding paddies of red rice worked with buffalo, ducks, fish and eel in one integrated system. From 82 villages of thatched 'mushroom' houses, the Hani keep up the beliefs — honouring sun, moon, forest and fire — that hold the whole landscape together. UNESCO inscribed the 16,603-hectare terraces in 2013.