(Singapore, Nov 21) In the vast mountains of southwestern Zhejiang, Yunhe Terraces in Lishui City are shrouded in mist and rain, appearing faint and elusive, like a scene from a fairyland.
As the largest terraced field group in East China, Yunhe Terraces were first built in the early Tang Dynasty and have a history of over 1000 years. Spanning across three geological landscapes—mountains, hills, and valleys—this area boasts natural wonders such as terraced fields, seas of clouds, mountain villages, bamboo forests, streams, waterfalls, and rime ice. It is praised as “a three-dimensional chronicle of China’s agricultural civilization” and the “poetry of earth colors”.
On February 6th this year, the Yunhe Terraced Fields Scenic Area was recognized as a National 5A-Level Tourist Attraction, breaking the “zero” record for terraced fields of this type in China to receive such an honor. What lies behind the confidence of Yunhe Terraced Fields in achieving this status?
Paint a Beautiful Landscape of Terraced Fields
As early as 2017, Yunhe first proposed the goal of creating a 5A level scenic spot for terraced fields. In 2018, Yunhe partnered with Hangzhou Business Travel Group to sign a comprehensive cooperation and development agreement, which not only broke through the development bottleneck, but also set a “5A speed” for terraced fields with “same year signing, same year landing, and same year construction”.
With the determination of “not returning until the Loulan is conquered”, Yunhe has set a remarkable set of records: in 15 days, 15 sub projects of the Fuxing Road and the post intersection line improvement projects have been fully implemented; Within three months, the historical legacy issues of Chongtou Town over the past decade were resolved; Within 6 months, the “dirty, messy, and poor” Chonghe Village was renovated and became a scenic spot on Tongjing Road; In one year, key projects such as the Jiuqu yunhuan Tourist Center, the Sunrise Cloud Sea Viewing Platform, and the Guiye Campfire Campsite were fully completed, and key issues such as the smart tourism area and the guiding system were comprehensively upgraded.
As long as one works hard, an iron pestle can be ground into a needle. Nowadays, the terraced fields scenic spots that have entered the “5A” level meet the immersive experience and diversified services for tourists from “watching the scenery” to “entering the scenery”, gradually becoming a solid reliance for Yunhe’s cultural tourism industry and rural prosperity.
Enriching the Local Citizen
The beauty of Yunhe Terraces lies not only in its unique natural resources, but also in the human creativity that embodies the harmony between man and nature, along with its rich and continuous historical culture.
On June 5th, with a loud mountain opening call, Yunhe Terraces ushered in the first plowing event since its establishment as National 5A-Level Tourist Attraction. Farmers in the Yunhe Meiyuan area helped plow and drive cattle, plowed and sowed seeds in the terraced fields, marking the beginning of summer planting in a traditional way and bringing an immersive cultural and tourism experience to tourists from all over the world.
An increasing number of young people are finding new opportunities in Yunhe Terraces. They are showcasing their talents, with creative new spaces such as the Cattle Shed Cafés, Pigsty Tea Rooms, and Grey Loft Bars emerging one after another in Yunhe Terraces. The ancient terraces are being rejuvenated with the infusion of “new blood,” remaining vibrant and timeless.
To date, Yunhe Terraces Scenic Area has built a cluster of farmhouses and homestays, with 2620 beds and over 130 catering service enterprises, directly driving employment for more than 5000 people.
Lishui City – Place Where Nature Meets Human Creativity
How to embark on the post-“5A” era? Yunhe will never stop advancing.
In March of this year, more than 1800 “special” text messages were sent from Yunhe Terraces Scenic Area to various parts of the country, and the recipients were the “troublemakers” who had previously visited Yunhe Terraces Scenic Area and provided feedbacks and suggestions to the scenic area. In July last year, the scenic area launched the “Yunhe Terraces Invite You to Find the Flaws” event, inviting people from all walks of life to identify and point out issues on-site, with the aim of comprehensively improving the environment and service quality of the scenic area.
“Thanks to these ‘troublemakers’, the optimization and improvement of software and hardware facilities in the terraced scenic area have become more precise, the ecological environment has gradually improved, and project construction has become more and more confident.” The main person in charge of Yunhe County Culture, Radio, Television, Tourism and Sports Bureau said that Yunhe is continuously promoting the construction of scenic area quality improvement projects, accelerating the construction of supporting facilities such as mountain rail cars, Qixingdun viewing platform, Guiye Firefly Tent Hotel, etc., creating new explosive points such as starry sky camping and terraced skiing, enriching new tourism formats, steadily improving tourism quality, and fully promoting the upgrading of scenic areas.
Correspondent: LIN Feng
