Nongzao Field • Hundred-Li Terraces

“There is always an inner sensibility that connects us to the countryside.”

Original | Xu Gang • Nongzao Notes

Through human labor and dwelling practices, people engage in production and life within nature, transforming pristine wilderness into a human-shaped landscape. Humanity projects inner spirit onto the natural world, breathing human vitality into it. The “humanised nature”, or “naturalised humanity”, embodies the harmony between humanity and nature.

Stretching endlessly in lush verdure, the Moon Mountains belong to the Jiuwan Mountain range, straddling the Guizhou-Guangxi border and covering two provinces, three prefectures and six counties. Rugged and sharply ridged, the region lies in the mid-to-south subtropical zone, featuring a mild humid climate with an average annual temperature of 15.5°C, dominated by yellow soil and yellow-red earth.

A local saying aptly depicts the ethnic settlement pattern:

The Miao dwell on hilltops, the Dong beside water sources, and the Han settlers along village thoroughfares.

Deep within the primeval forests resides an ancient Miao community of southeastern Guizhou, preserving intact archaic cultural customs passed down through generations.

Remote and poorly connected, the mountain terrain lacks flat arable land, with most slopes steeper than 40 degrees. For survival, the resilient Miao ancestors drew on profound wisdom, adapted to local terrain, and reshaped nature in accordance with ecological laws. Over centuries, they crafted layered, magnificent terraced fields, forming the hundred-li terrace landscape nested in the Moon Mountains hinterland.

Moon Mountain terraces boast grand scale and imposing momentum, most extensively distributed across four townships of Congjiang County: Jiabang, Jiajiu, Jiamian and Donglang. With primitive organic forms, crisscross country paths and fluid contour lines, these terraces blend seamlessly with surrounding Miao villages, unfolding as picturesque seasonal scrolls.

Jiajiu: A Hometown of Terraces Hidden in the Hinterland

Jiabang Terraces have long enjoyed wide renown. Though merely sixty to seventy kilometres away, Jiajiu Terraces remain far less known and easily overlooked. Compared with Jiabang, Jiajiu retains a wilder, more rustic charm, untouched by commercial tourism. Nestled deep in the Moon Mountains, it preserves a tranquil seclusion and guards its quiet authenticity.

Blessed with exquisite natural scenery, Jiajiu is famed as the “Hometown of Terraces”. Layered terraces spiral along mountain contours, forming a unique integrated landscape of nature and human settlement. Within its territory rise the renowned Sun Mountain, Moon Mountain and Kongming Mountain, where towering ancient trees form a dense canopy, sheltering a boundless sea of bamboo that flourishes each September. Kongming Pond holds the historic site of Kongming’s military training ground, where Zhuge Liang is said to have stationed troops during the Three Kingdoms period.

The area abounds in rich ethnic traditions: Miao mountain folk songs, antiphonal singing ceremonies, the lively Annual Bull Festival, and the sacred grand Miao Guzang Ancestral Ritual.

Jiajiu Terraces span approximately 12,000 mu, mainly scattered across Hefa, Baishao, Baishao, Dangdiu, Jiaweng, Jiashui, Yumin and Jialie villages. Among them, Jiashui Terraces stand out as the most distinctive.

Jiashui Terraces: The Wisdom of Forest – Village – Terrace

Jiashui Terraces originate from the Wuniu River at the mountain foot. Villages nestle halfway up the slopes, while hilltops remain covered in primeval forest, shaping an ecological sequence: forest – village – terrace.

Mountain forests anchor soil and rock, mitigating large-scale landslides and curbing soil erosion. Sited on mid-slopes, villages grant convenient access to firewood and farmland, forming a balanced living layout. Terraces lying below settlements enjoy abundant water resources, facilitating cultivation while preventing landslides from endangering village safety.

To avoid ecological damage from extensive excavation, Jiashui villagers adopted a subtle approach: densifying terrace layers, minimizing disruption to bedrock, and reinforcing ridges with soil and native grass. This strategy maximizes arable land without scarring the mountain’s ecological foundation.

The craftsmanship of terrace ridge construction follows refined traditional rules. When levelling foundations, workers stack stones while backfilling screened soil free of gravel and grassroots. Earth is compacted layer by layer and pounded solid with wooden mallets for a level, stable base. For water-retaining ridges, turf clods are placed grass-side downward, with fine soil tamped tightly along the inner edge — ensuring both effective water retention and structural durability.

These practices embody profound reverence for nature, crystallizing generations of experience and wisdom gained from living in harmony with mountain ecosystems.

The forest-village-terrace layout forms a complete mountain agro-ecological cycle:

Forest conserves water → Mountain streams irrigate terraces → Ridge grass is harvested for fodder → Livestock manure ferments on upper slopes → Organic fertilizer is applied locally → Fish and duck symbiosis purifies rice fields → Autumn brings ripe rice and plump aquatic produce.

Energy and matter input and output maintain dynamic balance, enabling sustainable material circulation and ecological continuity, sustaining local communities through endless generations.

Jiashui Terraces represent the most captivating landscape in the Moon Mountains hinterland: flowing contour lines, textured field patches, soft natural light and layered hues — majestic from afar, delicate and refined up close, embodying a transcendent natural beauty untouched by mortal hustle.

Terraced fields emerged both as a solution to the conflict of limited land amid dense population, and as a pursuit of long-term ecological stewardship. Through continuous dwelling and production, humanity reshapes primitive nature with spiritual sentiment. Jiashui Terraces stand as a classic example of humanised nature and naturalised humanity — an ultimate embodiment of the harmony between humanity and nature.

Reflections: Lodged Rice and the Fading Fragrant Glutinous Rice

September to October marks the rice harvest season in southeastern Guizhou. Yet persistent unbroken rainfall since early autumn has triggered widespread waterlogging across terraces, causing severe rice lodging, sprouting and moulding on fallen panicles. The year 2020 proved truly calamitous.

The Miao have cherished glutinous rice as a staple since ancient times. Observing harvested fields and straw stubble reveals most cultivated varieties are non-glutinous indica rice. The planting of indigenous fragrant glutinous rice has dwindled sharply, accounting for less than ten percent of total farmland.

Traditional granaries around village settlements lie largely abandoned. Small yields of fragrant glutinous rice are now hung casually under house eaves to dry.

Such profound changes to indigenous crops and traditional livelihoods have unfolded quietly deep in the Moon Mountains. It is evident that agrarian civilization, confronting the impact of modernity, has retreated to its last line of resilience. Rural lifestyles will continue to be reshaped for better or worse. Yet the spiritual memories nurtured by dozens of generations are gradually fading away. Humanised nature, continuously reshaped by modern civilization, assumes ever-new guises with the passage of time.

[1] Xianghe Nuo is a collective local term used by Miao and Dong farmers in Guizhou for all indigenous glutinous rice varieties. For thousands of years, these distinctive rice strains have been selectively bred to adapt to local soil and climatic conditions. Cultivated entirely through natural farming systems such as rice-fish-duck symbiosis and organic agroecology, fragrant glutinous rice farming embodies profound indigenous survival wisdom and fosters a unique primitive agrarian culture rooted deeply in local land.

— Fieldwork Period: April 2020