Longji Terraces: A Heavenly Fairyland Scattered in the Sky
In all the terraces in China, the Longji Terraces in Guangxi's Longsheng County are the most well-known, boasting the title of 'World's Greatest Terraces'. Whenever the spring irrigation season comes, the terraces resemble a series of silver mirrors. Looking out, they are like strands of spider silk, water surfaces shimmering with silver, farmers diligently working the land with water buffaloes, beautiful women with long hair and combs, and rustic, simple, and natural footed houses, wooden bridges, and stone-paved paths, forming an unparalleled landscape painting of rural mountains and waters.
Where terraces are no more magnificent and imposing than those in Longji. They are like a dragon, stretching endlessly. That's truly a powerful and majestic sight, with terraces one after another pulling hand in hand from the rushing riverbanks of the Longji Mountains to the white clouds surrounding the mountain peaks, forming a vast and magnificent group of terraces. Layer upon layer, they rise into the clouds and sky, extending horizontally for five or six miles, what a spectacular group of terraces! Due to the rugged terrain and densely packed plots, like 'dragon scales' inlaid in the 'dragon's body', from a distance, the shimmering Longji Mountains are full of dynamism, resembling a dragon traversing the clouds and breaking through the mist, engulfing the mountains and rivers.
'Seven Stars Beside the Moon' is the most beautiful landscape of the Pindian Terraces. Standing on the summit, the seven terraces opposite appear like seven green stars surrounding the water field on top of the mountain, just like the moon in the sky. Because of 'Seven Stars Beside the Moon', the Pindian Terraces have scenery within scenery, adding much interest and meaning. Newly planted rice seedlings flow smoothly and gracefully like green waves, floating and drifting in the mist; when the fields are full of water, the reflections are mirror-like, beautiful and magnificent like strings of silver chains, arranged in an orderly manner on the mountains, one after another following the slopes, winding and turning, beautiful and graceful, like nature transforming into curves, without a word, permeating the beauty of pictures, sculpture, and music. It's a hard-to-express feeling, a deep shock caused by the grandeur of nature and human power.
We couldn't help but want to feel the magnificent beauty of the Longji Terraces closely, in the starry and scattered terraces, hardworking Zhuang and Yi ethnic farmers were planting rice seedlings in the fields in the spring. A stone standing in the center of the water field, 'Longji Ancestral Field', caught my attention. By the roadside, a Zhuang lady running a shop enthusiastically told me about the history of the Longji Terraces. It turns out that the Longji Terraces were originally built during the Yuan Dynasty and completed during the Qing Dynasty, with a history of 650 years. Hearing from older generations, the first people who arrived at Longji started clearing land and farming on the ridges, the terrain was steep and rugged, so they started clearing it one by one, piece by piece, after several generations, they finally covered the entire ridge. It's unimaginable that the first Zhuang and Yi people who arrived at Longji bravely faced the deep mountains in front of them, relying on the most primitive methods of slash-and-burn farming to cultivate the first piece of land. Today, if they were alive, they would be most satisfied to hear the news that a new piece of land had been cultivated.
I arrived at the ancient Zhuang village of Pindian, where the Zhuang houses are embedded in the mountains. I saw a large number of traditional Zhuang footed houses distributed throughout the village. A winding stone-paved road connected the entire Pindian Village, which was very new and beautiful to view from afar, like a beautiful and elegant musical piece, integrated into the embrace of nature, and its harmonious and unified, one-whole meaning infected people. Entering the village, it was a lively scene, with many renovated houses and guesthouses, and their names were all translated into English, and some even had coffee shops. An old Zhuang man told us that Pindian Village was very poor in the past. With the increasing fame of the Longji Terraces, more and more tourists came, and more and more restaurants and guesthouses were opened in the village. In just a few years, Pindian Village has become a wealthy village.
I couldn't help but feel hungry, so the old man warmly recommended us to try Zhuang specialty dishes like bamboo tube rice and Longji liquor. After several dishes were put on the table, Zhuang girls sang and performed a special 'Longji liquor' for us. The lyrics roughly said: 'The road is curved, the stone pavement is gray, the Zhuang girls welcome guests, the mellow and light liquor is served, expressing the Zhuang people's heartfelt feelings. We took the cup and drank the liquor, and the Zhuang girls continued to sing: 'Longji liquor is clear and pure, the clear liquor is served to the guests, please take a cup and drink, wishing you a long and healthy life.' We couldn't refuse, we took the cup and drank it all. At this time, a sound of 'Lu Si' was heard, which means 'Cheers' in Zhuang.
Soon, bamboo tube chicken and bamboo tube rice were on the table. Bamboo tube rice, as the name suggests, is rice cooked in a bamboo tube. The old man saw that I was curious, he told me that all these bamboo were cut from the mountains behind the terraces in the morning, the rice was soaked in spring water, and then mixed with pork, wood ear mushrooms, and dried bamboo shoots, then poured into the bamboo tube little by little with a spoon, and the chicken was raised on the mountain, steamed with red date and goji berry for about ten minutes, then all the moisture in the bamboo was steamed into the rice, and the bamboo tube rice was finished. Hearing the old man's description, I couldn't wait to open the bamboo tube rice, the fragrance of bamboo was strong and tempting, and after tasting it, it had the fragrance of bamboo and the deliciousness of rice, a very delicious flavor.
