Longji Terraces Longsheng- Dragon's Backbone Rice terraces

The Longji Terraces are located in Longsheng County about 111km northeast of guilin and take 2 hours by express bus, 3 hours by local bus.

Longji Terraces, sometimes called the Dragon's Backbone rice Terraces, Longji Rice Terraces is the amazing scenery in the world by Zhuang people. They were built over 300 years from the late 1200s to the early 1600s, during the Yuan and Qing Dynasty's, and are still actively maintained and farmed today.

The Longji Terraces are built into the hillsides. The altitudes of the terraces vary between 300 meters & 1100 meters with sloping grades between 26 degrees and 35 degrees. The steepest slope is 50 degrees. Although there are terraces everywhere in the mountain areas of South China, it is extremely rare to see a terrace as big as the Dragon's Backbone Terraces.

The Dragon's Backbone rice Terraces look like great chains or ribbons as they wind from the foot to the top of the hill. This ingenious construction makes best use of the scare arable land and water resources in the mountainous area. Some of the terraces look like great chains, other look like ribbons. They wind from the foot to the top of the hill. The smaller ones are like snails and the bigger ones like towers. There are layers on layers of terraces, high and low. The outline is very smooth. Its scale is enormous. It is called "The champion of the terrace world".

There are the Zhuang village of Ping'an, Viewpoint 1 and viewpoint 1 in Longji Terraces. The locals in the region are Zhuang people, one of 55 distinct Chinese minority groups. the Pingan Villages have turned almost completely to the tourism industry. The houses are mainly built of wood, mostly 2-3 stories high for hotels and 2 stories for individual houses. In many houses, the pigs are housed in a kind of basement and the family living quarters are above. As mentioned, the villages embraced tourism freely as it adds additional income to their family. They sell handicraft, culinary specialties and anyhting else that money can buy. Visitors also hae to pay a 50RMB entrance fee for the villages. Communication with the villagers consitted of smiling and body language as the villagers speak their own local dialect.

The best time for a visit to Longji Terraces is during spring and autumn. During May and June, Rice paddies are just groomed for the planting season and are just a pool of mud and water. It would probably take another 2 weeks before farmers started planting. During Sep. and Oct. the rice fields turn golden and the afternoon sun paints the terraces as fields of gold.

Map of Longji Terraces - Jinkeng Terraces


Go to visit the Dazai (Jinkeng)Terraces

Addresss: longsheng County, Guilin
Admission Fee: RMB 50
Opening Hours:
Recommending Time for a Visit: 1 day
Transportation: by bus at Guilin bus station
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