602
C. Li
of the “Long March” and took the Chinese revolution from one victory to another.
The Hani ethnic group has migrated to where they live now. It originated in the Qiang
clan, surnamed Gu, living on the plateau in the juncture of Gansu, Sichuan and Tibet
in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and Yellow River. From the time of Yandi
and Huangdi to the period of Spring and Autumn and the Warring States, constant
wars forced different ethnic groups into constant confrontation and assimilation, the
Qiang clan not being an exception. Part of the Qiang people migrated along the
plateau valleys of the Nu River, Lancang River and Jinsha River to the warm south
with abundant aquatic plants and dense forests. They passed the Sichuan basin to the
Yunnan-Guizhou plateau and moved from Dali to Kunming. To survive and continue
their genes, the Hani people buried the hatchet and expressed friendliness and kindness, enduring all kinds of hardships and humiliation to find a place to stay. Having
rebuilt their homes and then been driven away for innumerable times, the Hani ethnic
group eventually settled down by the Ailao Mountain.
Nobody knows on which day, in which year the Qiang group that walked into the
dense forests could no longer be found, and a farming group called “Heyi” began to
rise where the Qiang group vanished. Layers after layers of terraces stretched down
to the mountain foot, while bundles after bundles of firewood was carried onto the
mountain—this is how the Heyi group has lived from generation to generation for
thousands of years, with their life closely linked with the terraces. In their own words,
the terrace represents the Hani people and vice versa. The farm ridges are like their
bones, the red soil and flowing streams their blood and flesh, and the waving rice
and swimming crucians their soul.
Migration isn’t despair, much less death. It is the resurrection of life and the
glory of miracles. That is how Hani people have lived. Based on generations of hard
labor and intelligent creations, they have turned a rice-planting civilization in the
plain region into a fabulous and splendid miracle of terrace farming culture that has
amazed the world for over a thousand years.
2 The Ecological Wisdom of “Iso-Structured Four
Elements”
Water is the theme here. The terrace in the morning of late winter and early spring
is characterized by fresh and moist air, gurgling water and fast-changing light and
shadow. Forests, villages, terraces and rivers all in the same picture create an environment that ecologists call “iso-structured four elements.” Water flows from mountains and forests to nourish the villagers, and is then used to irrigate the terraces
and diverted along them into rivers; then water in the rivers, due to the subtropical
climate, evaporates and condenses and falls again on the forests—the cycle goes on.
As a result, water becomes the bond that ties the “four elements” together.
Many years ago, the Hani ancestors were forced to stop in a mountainous area
at the elevation of 800–2500 meters because they had no other choice. Even if you
C. Li
of the “Long March” and took the Chinese revolution from one victory to another.
The Hani ethnic group has migrated to where they live now. It originated in the Qiang
clan, surnamed Gu, living on the plateau in the juncture of Gansu, Sichuan and Tibet
in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and Yellow River. From the time of Yandi
and Huangdi to the period of Spring and Autumn and the Warring States, constant
wars forced different ethnic groups into constant confrontation and assimilation, the
Qiang clan not being an exception. Part of the Qiang people migrated along the
plateau valleys of the Nu River, Lancang River and Jinsha River to the warm south
with abundant aquatic plants and dense forests. They passed the Sichuan basin to the
Yunnan-Guizhou plateau and moved from Dali to Kunming. To survive and continue
their genes, the Hani people buried the hatchet and expressed friendliness and kindness, enduring all kinds of hardships and humiliation to find a place to stay. Having
rebuilt their homes and then been driven away for innumerable times, the Hani ethnic
group eventually settled down by the Ailao Mountain.
Nobody knows on which day, in which year the Qiang group that walked into the
dense forests could no longer be found, and a farming group called “Heyi” began to
rise where the Qiang group vanished. Layers after layers of terraces stretched down
to the mountain foot, while bundles after bundles of firewood was carried onto the
mountain—this is how the Heyi group has lived from generation to generation for
thousands of years, with their life closely linked with the terraces. In their own words,
the terrace represents the Hani people and vice versa. The farm ridges are like their
bones, the red soil and flowing streams their blood and flesh, and the waving rice
and swimming crucians their soul.
Migration isn’t despair, much less death. It is the resurrection of life and the
glory of miracles. That is how Hani people have lived. Based on generations of hard
labor and intelligent creations, they have turned a rice-planting civilization in the
plain region into a fabulous and splendid miracle of terrace farming culture that has
amazed the world for over a thousand years.
2 The Ecological Wisdom of “Iso-Structured Four
Elements”
Water is the theme here. The terrace in the morning of late winter and early spring
is characterized by fresh and moist air, gurgling water and fast-changing light and
shadow. Forests, villages, terraces and rivers all in the same picture create an environment that ecologists call “iso-structured four elements.” Water flows from mountains and forests to nourish the villagers, and is then used to irrigate the terraces
and diverted along them into rivers; then water in the rivers, due to the subtropical
climate, evaporates and condenses and falls again on the forests—the cycle goes on.
As a result, water becomes the bond that ties the “four elements” together.
Many years ago, the Hani ancestors were forced to stop in a mountainous area
at the elevation of 800–2500 meters because they had no other choice. Even if you