[InKunming--Yunnan] On April 21st, a grand folk activity the 2018 “Kai Yang Men” held in Honghe Hani Rice Terraces, as well, it is the award ceremony to celebrate the success of the terraces being written into China’s Shanghai Great World Guinness as the largest rice terraces in China. With joyful dance, beautiful music and traditional Hani food, people greeted the planting day in a traditional way, and the whole village was immersed in a pleasant atmosphere.

There is a saying in Honghe, “you can’t realize how large the Samaba terraces are unless you come and see.” Located in Baohua town of Honghe county, Samaba terraces, as the largest terraces in the world, owns a reputation of wide field in Hani language.

4,300 terraces are connected end-to-end from an altitude of 600 meters to 1,800 meters. The large one covers about 0.27 hectares, while the small one is just big like a buffalo. With the changing of seasons, the terraces present various colors and landscapes, like green carpet in summer, golden mountain in fall and clear mirrors in winter.

Before spring ploughing, villagers chose a good time to hold a grand ceremony “Kai Yang Men”. In new clothes, they went to the largest terrace in village and asked one of the most prestigious elder to plant the first seed and pray for autumn harvest. Then, everyone began rice seeding.

While villagers were seeding, Hani people danced and sang on the stage, offering tourists a magnificent visual feast. Many tourists went down to the fields to interact with each other, and cheerful atmosphere was filled with the beautiful terraces.

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(Editors: Christine, Rachel)