The Yuanyang Hani Terraces are located in the Ailao Mountains along the southern bank of the Red River in the Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture of Yunnan Province. As the core area of the Hani Terraces, the Yuanyang Hani Terraces cover an area of about 3740 hectares, with a history of cultivation dating back to the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907).

The unique charm of the Yuanyang Hani Terraces stems from the four-element integrated ecological system (forests, villages, terraces and water systems) that has evolved over thousands of years, centered on water. Forests on the mountaintops conserve water sources, supplying domestic water for villages on the middle-slopes and irrigation water for the terrace fields below. The flowing water continues downstream and converges into rivers in the valleys. The whole process realizes the organic unity of living, production and ecology, which is a wonder in the history of global agricultural civilization. 

Since the Tang Dynasty, people of all ethnic groups, mainly the Hani people, have carved terraces according to the mountainous terrain. Today, 305 canals and channels crisscross the area to nourish the terraces. In the long-term agricultural practice, local residents have created original techniques such as wooden tally water distribution for precise water allocation, hydraulic machinery to facilitate irrigation, and bamboo pipe water diversion to cross gullies. Furthermore, they have adopted the fertilizer flushing method to realize the recycling of water resources, thus constructing a mountain irrigation system highly adapted to nature.

In September 2025, the site of Yuanyang Hani Terraces was successfully inscribed on the List of World Heritage Irrigation Structures by the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage. Since then, this mountain farming irrigation system, which has been used for over 1,300 years, is one of the few agricultural civilizations worldwide to achieve all three heritage titles (including World Cultural Heritage of UNESCO and Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System of FAO in 2013).

Source: INTCE