Harmony between man and nature
The Hani Terrace is one of the most representative of Chinese terraces and a
wonder in the world of agricultural civilization. The four-elemental
forest-village-terrace-river structure of the agriculture ecosystem and its
unique terrace cultural landscape is unparalleled around the world. Human beings
living peacefully with their environment is an ideal highly valued in the 21st
century. The Honghe Hani Terrace deserves international protection and must be
treasured as an example of sustainable development, especially in our
increasingly industrialized and modernized society.
For more than 1,000 years, the Hani did not really build a city of their own;
they have always been living in village units due to geological reasons; the
region along the south banks of the Honghe River is too mountainous to build a
city. Thus, it is fair to say that Hani people have focused their energies and
wisdom on terraces while others erected buildings.
To some extent, the Hani Terrace represents the utmost harmony human beings
could ever attain while settling their environment. They have created a huge
irrigation network on mountains with innumerable channels and trenches linking
the terraces together where water flows from the higher folds to the lower ones,
and then finally into the river again.
