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Yuanyang, a county south of Kunming in Yunan provice. It is not famous at all, but the Rice terraces there is very unique and known by very few people, they were built by the Hani ethnic group. Rice Terraces there are the world's largest and most spectacular rice terrace. Although few general tourists have visited the Yuan Yang rice terraces, many photographers have (which attests to the beauty of the landscape).

The landscape changes vividly through the year. The paddies are flooded in the winter and early spring- this creates the reflecting pool effect, a photographer's dream (see photo). In the summer, the paddies are luxuriantly green with growing rice stalks. After the fall harvest, the paddies become naked bare earth.

The rice farmers have had to practice ecology and land preservation centuries before those concepts were widely accepted around the world. Without hard work maintaining the terrace walls and irrigation system, the precious top soil would wash down the hillsides into the rivers.

Visit some of region's many ethnic minority villages and markets where locals wear their colorful traditional costumes.