How Many Breathtaking Landscapes Does Honghe, Yunnan Hold?
The hillside is covered with dense patterns
Between the patterns lies water as still as glass
(Honghe Terraces, photographer: Lu Wen)
A fourth-class station with only two trains per day
(Bisezhai Station, Mengzi, Yunnan, photographer: Wan Rui)
While specialty dishes like steamed pot chicken and cross-bridge rice noodles
Have quietly made their way to dining tables across the country
(Yunnan cross-bridge rice noodles, photographer: Wang Chao)
These breathtaking wonders
Its full name is the Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture
(Location and administrative divisions of Honghe Prefecture, map by Gong Xiangjie & Chen Sui/Planet Research Institute)
Situated between the Eastern Yunnan Plateau and the Ailao Mountains
The Honghe and Pearl River basins converge here
Boasting an exceptionally rich natural environment
(Topography and water systems of Honghe Prefecture, map by Gong Xiangjie & Chen Sui/Planet Research Institute)
Forming a typical karst landscape
(Please view horizontally, Pearl Cave in Xinxiang Township, photographer: He Pingchang)
The towering Ailao Mountains stretch across the southwest
Shrouded in mist and covered with vast forests
(Ailao Mountains, please view horizontally, photographer: Rao Ying)
The areas it flows through are mostly covered with red soil
(The Great Bend of the Red River, photographer @ Hu Yanhui)
(Dawei Mountain National Nature Reserve, with the Lüshui River in the center, photographer @ Chai Junfeng)
The relic from the dinosaur era—the Chinese tree fern
(Chinese tree fern, photographer @ Mo Mingzhong)
(Western black-crested gibbon in the Red River basin, photographer @ Zhang Chenghao)
(Tree shrews in Honghe Prefecture, photographer @ Mo Mingzhong)
Countless birds, amphibians, and other animals
There is a place called Huni Huna beyond the horizon
Piled into miraculous and towering mountains..."
—Hani migration epic "Hani Apei Congpopo"
Journeying south from the highlands sung in the song
(Migration route of the Hani people, map by @ Gong Xiangjie & Chen Sui/Planet Research Institute)
They became a distinct ethnic group
(Live performance of the Hani's "Four Seasons Terraces," please view horizontally, photographer @ Dai Yunliang)
At that time, agricultural activities in the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau region
Most of the Ailao Mountains remained a wild and untamed land
They first chose sunny, gentle slopes
Planting several rounds of dryland crops on them
To level the land and improve the soil
(Terrace Construction Process 1: From Dryland to Dry Field, Illustration by Chen Sui/Planet Research Institute)
Piling up soil layer by layer at the edge of the platform
(Terrace Construction Process 2: Building Bunds - Diverting Water - Paddy Field, Illustration by Chen Sui/Planet Research Institute)
Mountain water diverted through canals
Flows step by step into fields of varying sizes
(Hani Terrace Water Diversion System, Illustration by Chen Sui/Planet Research Institute)
(Duoyishu Terraces in Yuanyang, Honghe Prefecture, Photographer: Liu Zhuming)
The Hani people created a unique agricultural calendar
From the spring planting ritual "Kang E Po"
(Hani Terraces in Spring, Photographer: Zhang Hongke)
To the summer harvest prayer "Ku Zha Zha"
(Summer Terraces, Photographer: Wang Chao)
The autumn harvest season "Che Shi Zha"
(Autumn Scenery of Yuanyang Terraces, Photographer: Dai Yunliang)
And the winter fallow period "Zha Le Te"
(The Once-in-a-Century Snowfall in Honghe Prefecture, 2013, Photographer: He Junyun)
Compiled into the "Hani Four Seasons Production Song"
Incorporated into the passionate and powerful Manggu Dance
Preserving ancient traditions through song and dance
(Jianshui Hani Manggu Dance, a dance rooted in Hani farming customs, Photographer: Dai Yunliang)
"The lifeblood of water is forests and trees"
(Hani village Zuofu Village, photographer @ Wang Chao)
Each has a deliberately preserved forest
While the high mountain areas retain their primeval forests
(A Hani village surrounded by forests, where modern houses still adopt the traditional mushroom-shaped roof style, photographer @ He Junyun)
Forests, villages, terraces, and water systems
Thus, the perfect homeland of the Hani people is formed
(Schematic diagram of the four-element landscape of Hani terraces, cartographer @ Chen Sui/Planet Research Institute)
A large number of Han people from the north migrated to the Red River Basin
The area of terraces began to expand rapidly
Today, they are spread across four counties: Yuanyang, Honghe, Lüchun, and Jinping
(Distribution range of Hani terraces, cartographers @ Gong Xiangjie & Chen Sui/Planet Research Institute)
(Tuzhang houses in Chengzi Ancient Village, please view horizontally, photographer @ Cai Zhenyu)
It is also gratitude for the gifts of nature
(Honghe County Long Street Banquet, photographer @ Zhang Kai)
On the fertile flatlands with better production conditions
The rulers established Lin'an Prefecture (present-day Jianshui)
(Chaoyang Tower in Jianshui, photographer @ Yan Xiangwei)
(Zhujia Garden in Jianshui, Honghe Prefecture, photographer @ Li Changhua)
(Jianshui purple pottery, which developed during the Ming and Qing dynasties, remains a local specialty today. The image shows the production process of Jianshui purple pottery, photographer @ Wang Chao)
(Shuanglong Bridge in Jianshui, photographer: Li Wenbo)
(Jianshui Confucian Temple, photographer: Jiang Chenming)
While the generations living on this land—
Han, Hani, Yi, Miao, Dai, Zhuang,
Yao, Hui, Lahu, Blang, and Buyi—
continue and develop their ethnic traditions.
(Yi Torch Festival in Honghe Prefecture, photographer: Du Wenming)
Cross-bridge rice noodles, steamed pot chicken, grilled tofu, rice rolls...
(Grilled tofu in Jianshui, photographer: Jiang Chenming)
The awakened Honghe Prefecture is prosperous and peaceful,
silently guarding a corner of the southwest.
This, too, is related to the gifts of the land.
(Mineral resource distribution map of Honghe Prefecture, cartography: Gong Xiangjie & Chen Sui/Planet Research Institute)
At one point, it even accounted for 60% of the nation's tin production.
But the real turning point came in the late Qing Dynasty.
At that time, Western countries like Britain and France had industrialized,
leading to the establishment of Yunnan's first customs office.
(Former site of Mengzi Customs, photographer: Shu Junyi)
It was like turning on the tap for tin production.
The annual output of Gejiu Tin Mine rose from over 900 tons in the mid-Qing Dynasty.
Directly surged to over 5,300 tons
Transported to Haiphong, Vietnam, and Hong Kong, China
Then flowed into Western industrial nations via sea routes
(Major export routes of modern Gejiu tin mines, mapped by Gong Xiangjie & Chen Sui/Planet Research Institute)
The demand for tin in industrial nations grew year after year
A new mode of transportation became imperative
But building a railway in mountainous and deeply valleyed Yunnan
Coupled with dense forests and severe miasma
(The Yunnan-Vietnam Railway in Wantang Township, Honghe Prefecture, traversing rugged mountains, photographed by Wang Lu)
None was more challenging than the Sicha River Grand Canyon in Pingbian County
The canyon walls are only about 60 meters apart
Then carried piece by piece up the mountain by Chinese laborers
A bridge supported by herringbone-shaped steel beams
(Construction process of the Herringbone Bridge, mapped by Zheng Borong/Planet Research Institute)
(The Herringbone Bridge, photographed by He Junyun)
The Yunnan-Vietnam Railway was finally fully completed in 1910
(Historical photo of the construction of the Baizhai Bridge on the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway, image source: "Yunnan-Vietnam Railway," provided by He Junyun)
Together forming the lifeline of Yunnan at the time
(Route map of the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway and the Gejiu-Bise-Shilin Railway, mapped by Gong Xiangjie & Chen Sui/Planet Research Institute)
Greatly improving transportation efficiency
The time was reduced from dozens of days to just two.
(Freight train on the Zhumashao exhibition line of the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway in Kaiyuan City, photographer: Wang Lu)
The railway also introduced Western architecture and lifestyles,
including trading firms, banks, hospitals, schools, and post offices,
as well as the earliest "express delivery companies."
It overturned the millennia-old way of life in southern Yunnan.
(Former site of Datong Company, once the largest trading firm along the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway, photographer: He Junyun)
The junction of the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway and the Gejiu-Shilin Railway,
(Bisezhai Station, photographer: Li Changhua)
A group of Yunnan students were selected to study in Japan,
and it was via the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway that they left the country.
Eventually, they arrived in Kunming along the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway,
launching the campaign against Yuan Shikai.
A group of students from Peking University, Tsinghua University, and Nankai University,
(Former site of the Southwest Associated University's Mengzi branch, photographer: Lu Wen)
Even in the process of China's modernization,
it played an indispensable role.
Later, it was twice disrupted by war.
(The Yunnan-Vietnam Railway international through train crossing the Sino-Vietnamese Friendship Bridge near the confluence of the Nanxi River and the Red River in Hekou, photographer: Shu Junyi)
When the once-famous southwestern artery...
Gradually submerged by the mundane life
(Abandoned Dishui Station of the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway, photographer: He Junyun)
When millions of acres of terraced fields surge into view like giant waves
The hidden turbulence beneath the seemingly calm surface
Just as the Hani Terraces are called "the carvings of the earth"
(Yuanyang Terraces, please view horizontally, photographer: Jia Nan)
November 18, 1957
The Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture was officially established
A home to a vast number of rare flora and fauna
An important cultivation base for tropical and subtropical cash crops
Fertile ground for developing modern plateau agriculture
(Dense rubber forests in Honghe Prefecture, photographer: He Junyun)
With a more developed railway and highway network
Nature, culture, history, and cuisine
(Mengzi-Wenshan-Yanshan Expressway, photographer: Zhang Hongke)
Reviewers: Lushumao, Li Zhangziwei, Wang Kun
P.S. Main references for this article:
[1] Honghe Prefecture Local Chronicles Compilation Committee. Honghe Prefecture Chronicles[M]. Yunnan People's Publishing House, 2013.
[2] Editorial Team. Overview of Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture[M]. Ethnic Publishing House, 2008.
[3] Min Qingwen, et al. The Hani Rice Terraces System in Honghe, Yunnan[M]. China Agriculture Press, 2014.
[4] Huang Shaowen. From Nuoma'ame to Ailao Mountains[M]. Yunnan Nationalities Publishing House, 2007.
[5] Liao Li. The Rise and Fall of Tin Capital Gejiu[M]. Yunnan Education Publishing House, 2017.
[6] Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture Tourism Development Committee. A Century of Yunnan-Vietnam Railway[M]. Yunnan People's Publishing House, 2015.
[7] Yang Juan. Research on the Development of Gejiu Tin Mine under the Background of Modern International Economic Integration[D]. Yunnan University, 2016.
[8] Zhang Yongshuai. Research on the Opening of Ports and Port Trade in Modern Yunnan[D]. Fudan University, 2011.