| It is hard to imagine anywhere in the People's | | | | those found in Guatemala or Mexico. The slopes are |
| Republic untouched by civil engineers, the levelers of | | | | infinite in scope and, at an altitude of 1,100 meters, |
| history. But truly nowhere else in China has life | | | | seem to have no bottom or peak. It is simply |
| remained perfectly intact as on the Dragon's | | | | breathtaking.The hillsides that have been left |
| Backbone. Follow the Dragon's Backbone into the | | | | uncultivated are threaded with trickling water, |
| rural solitude of Longji's rice terracesby Tom CarterIt | | | | channeled from nearby springs to saturate the plots |
| is hard to imagine anywhere in the People's Republic | | | | below, and are dotted with tombs of generations |
| untouched by civil engineers, the levelers of history. | | | | upon generations of agrarians, like those you'll see still |
| But truly nowhere else in China has life remained | | | | working on the terraces.Among them are the |
| perfectly intact - culturally and naturally - as on the | | | | dark-skinned Zhaung, Bai and Yao minorities who, not |
| Dragon's Backbone in the rural villages of Longsheng | | | | unlike the Mayan Indians of Guatemala, are identifiable |
| county is southwest China.While Guangxi | | | | by the resplendence of their hand-woven traditional |
| Autonomous Region's one-two punch of geological | | | | attire. While their men trudge through the muddy |
| wonders are provincial sites that should not be | | | | terraces sowing rice, the small women roam the |
| missed - Guilin for the red hat-wearing Chinese tour | | | | paths like little florescent pink armies selling crafts and |
| groups and Yangshuo for Western backpackers - | | | | textiles kept in wicker baskets strapped on their |
| Longji Titian is an ideal place for those who cherish | | | | backs. Their pierced earlobes hang with hoops of |
| rural tranquility and solitude.Indeed, to get to the | | | | silver, and their hair, grown long since birth, is kept |
| Dragon's Backbone one must ascend dizzying heights | | | | swathed on their heads. For a small sum though, they |
| (the highest in southern China), and enter a mystical | | | | will happily undo their knot to show their hair |
| fog that removes everything travelers know about | | | | cascading to the soil.About 10 kilometers between |
| modern China, placing you in a time when people | | | | Ping'an and Dazai is Zhongliu, a rustic village of arched |
| were one with the good earth.No white tile buildings | | | | stone bridges, dilapidated stables and stilted cottages |
| in sight, the pastoral villages, namely Dazai and | | | | symmetrically enclosed by terraces, crags and |
| Ping'an, are constructed entirely of two and three | | | | waterfalls. Hikers are approached by cheerful natives |
| story wood cabins hugging the vertical mountainside, | | | | who do not hesitate to stop their plowing and ask |
| with spring water coursing through the town's canals. | | | | "Chifan ma?" Their persistence to dine in their homes |
| It is here travelers will find accommodations at the | | | | notwithstanding, what could be more refreshing after |
| simple family-run inns that make up the two | | | | an exhausting morning navigating the mountain terrain |
| settlements.While one may consider Dazai and Ping'an, | | | | than a spread of scented sticky rice baked in |
| located respectively at the northern and southern | | | | bamboo over an open fire, greens, salted meat and |
| ends of the peak, as lodging paradises, they are but | | | | Longji tea or watery rice wine?The undulating path |
| mere entrances to the wonders ahead. Most visitors | | | | continues on, with each bend revealing agricultural |
| are content with the designated "viewpoints" around | | | | grandeurs and vistas of incomparable beauty. Late in |
| the towns' terraced fields, but for the nimble hiker, | | | | the day, when the golden light of dusk illuminates the |
| continue on into the lush hillside. Follow a narrow path | | | | ribbon-like terraces, travelers encounter Longji's rush |
| of mud and stone through a misty forest of | | | | hour traffic; farmers descending into the outlying |
| venerable trees, dewy ferns and, yes, bubbling | | | | villages with bushels of reeds and firewood slung |
| brooks.The rice terraces, with sloping grades reaching | | | | over their shoulders, alongside the occasional oxen |
| 50 degrees, have been sculpted by generations of | | | | grazing in the path. That's life on the misty |
| farmers beginning in the Yuan dynasty to shape the | | | | mountaintop, where time has stood still for the past |
| hillsides into grand agricultural pyramids not unlike | | | | 700 hundred years. |