Shangbao Terraces

Shangbao Terraces

The Shangbao Terraces are located 50 kilometers from Chongyi County and 127 kilometers from downtown Ganzhou City. Built along the mountain slopes, the terraces stretch across hundreds of acres, interspersed with scattered villages. During the farming season, springs irrigate the fields layer by layer from the mountaintop down to the valley, creating a spectacular scene, while in the harvest season, the colorful crops add boundless vitality to the terraces. This is a historical testament to the Hakka people’s long-term struggle for survival and development in the natural environment.

Shangbao Scenic Area

Shangbao Scenic Area

The Shangbao Terraces are situated around Huaxian Peak, the second highest peak in southern Jiangxi at 1,741 meters above sea level, within the 148-square-kilometer Shangbao Township. Tens of thousands of acres of terraces are scattered across Nannian, Lianghe, and Chishui areas near Huaxian Peak. The vertical drop of the terraces reaches nearly 1,000 meters, with the highest plots situated at an altitude of 1,260 meters. Some terraces extend continuously from high to low, even forming up to a hundred layers, resembling long ladders draped across the mountain ridges and valleys. Especially in Nannian Village, the surrounding terraces, undulating and layered, surge toward the sky, leaving visitors in awe.

There is a beautiful local legend about the Shangbao Terraces: Once upon a time, on an evening, two seemingly insane travelers passed by a thatched hut inn in the northwest of Nanan Prefecture. The innkeeper, a kind woman, offered passing guests water, meals, and lodging. The two eccentric guests first drank a hundred bowls of tea, stacking the bowls one on top of the other. Then they ate a hundred bowls of rice, also stacking those bowls. When they looked back at the woman, she didn’t mind their huge consumption and still smiled at them. Grateful, the travelers asked the innkeeper, “What is this place called?” The woman sighed and said, “It’s called Shangbao, a poor land of barren hills and rocky fields with no farmland.” The eccentric guests gathered the tea and rice bowls together, rubbed their stomachs, and said, “No worries, layer upon layer of mountains and fields will make the people of Shangbao live like immortals.” The innkeeper, sensing these men were extraordinary, added, “But with only mountains and fields, without water, life is still impossible!” One of the eccentric ones then asked tentatively, “What if we had a bowl of lees?” Sure enough, the woman brought out a bowl full of sweet lees. The eccentric man then took a kettle and poured water over the lees while chanting, “Shangbao, Shangbao, high mountain peaks with gushing waters.” The next morning, when the innkeeper went to wake the guests, they had vanished. She stepped outside and saw that the nearby hillsides were covered with terraced fields, layer upon layer, resembling ladders climbing to the sky. From then on, people began calling them “terraces.”

Although the legend is beautiful, it remains unverifiable. The earliest historical record of the Shangbao Terraces can be found in the "Memorial on Establishing Chongyi County" written by Wang Shouren, a Neo-Confucian scholar and grand coordinator of Ming Dynasty. Historical texts document that the Hakka ancestors, who migrated from Guangdong to these wild mountains and forests, built houses along the hillsides and carved out fields for survival. On gentler slopes, they developed larger fields, while on steep and narrow areas, they created smaller ones—even carving terraces into gullies, crevices, and stone cracks. They opened fields from the mountain foot all the way to the summit, leaving no inch of land or stone unused, turning them all into arable plots that yielded grain. The "Complete Book of Agriculture" by Xu Guangqi of the Ming Dynasty also mentions this. These terraces, row upon row, ridge upon ridge, stand like a grand epic laid across heaven and earth, bearing witness to the wisdom and toil of the Hakka ancestors. They have become a wonder of Hakka farming civilization. Since the 1970s, when the first black-and-white photo of Shangbao farmers working in the terraces—taken by renowned Gannan photographer Li Xueming—was published in newspapers, the Shangbao Terraces gradually gained national fame. Ever since, countless photographers, writers, and painters have visited Shangbao year after year to explore the terrace clusters. Through photos, paintings, and literature, they have brought the mountainous charm to the outside world and drawn batches of tourists to witness the magnificent scenery of the Shangbao Terraces.

Category: One of China's Three Great Terraces

Phone: 0797-3863048

Opening Hours: All day

1. To Ganzhou: The Beijing-Kowloon Railway passes through Ganzhou, and the Guangdong-Ganzhou Expressway is fully open. Highways buses are available from surrounding cities to Ganzhou. There are also flights from Nanchang and Guangzhou to Ganzhou. Travelers can choose between plane, train, or highway bus.

2. After arriving in Ganzhou, take a bus from Ganzhou South Bus Station to Chongyi. The road is newly paved, with buses running every half hour.

3. After reaching Chongyi, take a bus to Shangbao. The entire route is on cement roads. There are five buses per day, the earliest at 8:00 AM and the latest at 3:00 PM. The journey takes one and a half hours, and the fare is 11 RMB.

4. Shangbao is a bustling small town on the Hunan-Jiangxi border. Food and accommodation are available in the town. From the town to Shuinan Village (Nannian Village), the road is cement-paved, and you can take a motorcycle. Shuinan Village now has several farm stays.

Shangbao Township: A township under the jurisdiction of Chongyi County. It is one of the county’s main bases for timber, bamboo, and grain production. Established as Shangbao Commune in 1958 and restructured as a township in 1984, it is located in the western part of the county, bordering the Zhuguang Mountain Range to the west and adjacent to Guidong County of Hunan Province. The township government is stationed in Shangbao Market, 29 kilometers from the county seat. Covering an area of 147 square kilometers with a population of 12,000, it is connected to the county seat via Hengshang Highway. The township administers 12 village committees: Meikeng, Jiazi, Shangbao, Nannian, Baishui, Chishui, Zhuxi, Yuzhuang, Lianghe, Zhengjing, Junyuan, and Nuanshui. Forestry mainly consists of pine, fir, mixed woods, and bamboo, with forest by-products including mushrooms, tea, handmade paper, … More details on Shangbao Township++