Overview
Located in Longsheng County, the Longji Rice Terraces are about 100 km (2 hours drive) from Guilin. The most popular are Ping An Rice Terrace and Jinkeng Rice Terrace. History of Longji Rice Terrace can be dating back to Yuan Dynasty, but most of the Rice Terrace were built during the Ming Dynasty, about 500 years ago.
As the rice terraces resemble a dragon's scales, while the summit of the mountain range looks like the backbone of the dragon, so called Dragon- back Rice Terrace. You can see the dragon's backbone twisting off into the distance while standing on the top of the mountain . In an early morning, if the weather is fine, the sunrise on the summit of Longji Rice Terraces is magnificent.
Map of Longsheng rice terraces
Know more
Trek to Ping An Village
Panorama of the Ping An terraced fields are built along the slope winding from the riverside up to the mountain top, the highest part being 880m in elevation while the lowest part is 380m. The coiling line that starts from the mountain foot up to the mountain top divides the mountain into layers of water glittering in the sun in spring, layers of green rice shoots in summer, layers of golden rice in fall, and layers of silvery frost in winter.
It takes a bit more than one hour from Longsheng to reach Ping An via the small village of Heping where the bus will probably wait a bit for more passengers. Buses to/from Guilin also go this way : this means that you do not actually need to go up to Longsheng coming from Guilin.
An alternative is to take the bus to Da Hu Shan and get off at Huang Luo, a Yao village where the trek to Ping An starts. The way is now easy to find as the old suspended bridge has been repaired and the bus should stop there : steps are just opposite. If you get off at the second bridge : cross it, turn left along the river, traverse the village until you see an open area with the other bridge on your left and a basketball field in the front.
Once inside Ping An (a Zhuang Village), go up to find a relatively flat rock path. Follow it to the east up to a lake (at least 30mn walk with panoramic view of the village). Further on from the lake it is a bit more than an hour's walk to the Yao village of Zhonglu, and an additional hour's walk will bring you to another Yao village Dazhai, which can serve as an alternative base for your exploration.
The best time for a good photo is in early June, when the paddies are pumping with water, the villages are transferring young rice plants from the seed bed to large areas of rice terrace
Must see
Ping An Rice Terrace
Panorama of the Ping An terraced fields are built along the slope winding from the riverside up to the mountain top, the highest part being 880m in elevation while the lowest part is 380m. The coiling line that starts from the mountain foot up to the mountain top divides the mountain into layers of water glittering in the sun in spring...more
Jinkeng Rice Terrace
Besides of the famous known Pingan village of Zhuang Minority Ethnic, there is another unknown Jinkeng Rice Terrace, which is home to Yao minorities. Jinkeng Rice Terraces are located around 25 miles (40 km) away from Longsheng, where you will be rewarded feats of farm engineering going all the way up a string of 2400 feet (800 m) mountains ...more
Long Hair Villages
When talking about Longsheng, in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, people are likely to mention the beautiful terraces, but for me it is the local women with their long and black hair who are the locality's most charming feature ...more