Zhefang Rice

Zhefang Rice

Zhefang Rice is a protected geographical indication product.

　　The “Zhefang Rice” from Luxi County in Dehong Prefecture boasts a pearly white color and a delicate, fragrant texture when cooked into rice—soft and tasty—and into porridge—sticky yet not greasy. With exceptionally high nutritional value, it is truly a premium rice variety that excels in color, aroma, and taste. As early as the Qing Dynasty, it was designated as tribute rice (“Gong Mi”) offered to the imperial court.

　　Grown in the Zhefang Basin of Zhefang Town, Luxi City, Zhefang Rice features a pearly white color, and when cooked, the rice is fragrant, tender, soft yet smooth, sticky without being overly thick, and does not harden when cooled. It is highly nutritious. Since the Yuan Dynasty, it has been designated by successive dynasties as a tribute item from the local chieftains of Luxi, with fixed annual quotas. In 1959, it was appointed by the State Council as the official rice served at state banquets for foreign guests. This product is cultivated using traditional rice varieties and farming methods, and is meticulously processed with modern equipment and techniques to ensure cleanliness and hygiene—making it an excellent choice for household use or as a gift for family and friends.

Zhefang Rice embodies the essence of traditional rice cultivation, drawing the vitality of nature to form a rare, soft, and aromatic type of edible rice under unique climatic and ecological conditions. The names of Zhefang Rice varieties all start with the character “Hao” (毫), such as Hao’angong and Hao’anxiu. These are all late-maturing, tall-stalked, and low-yield rice varieties—the character “Hao” (毫) means “fine rice” in the Dai language, referring to rice passed down through generations. The local Dai people take pride in growing traditional rice and eating traditional rice dishes. They have even maintained the traditional methods of ox-plowing and manual weeding. Even during the era of communal farming that emphasized high yields, they never stopped cultivating it. Since the 1990s, as the era of material scarcity came to an end, people’s lifestyle aspirations have undergone qualitative changes. Eating “Zhefang Rice” became a trend, and with increasing demand, the planting area has expanded year by year, making it a traditional branded commodity of Luxi City.

The unique quality characteristics of Zhefang Rice are found only in the 100,000-mu (about 6,666 hectares) paddy field area located at the convergence of the “Three Gorges”—the Sandai Mountain Gorge, Longjiang Gorge, and Moli Gorge—at an altitude of 840 meters in the southeast of the Zhefang Basin. The maximum annual yield reaches 30 million kilograms. This region features thick soil layers, abundant sunlight, plentiful rainfall, fast air circulation, multiple natural hot springs and underground rivers, as well as numerous forest springs. The area avoids chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and suffers little from pests, diseases, or epidemics—all of which contribute to the distinctive climatic and ecological environment that shapes the qualities of Zhefang Rice. For many years, numerous agricultural experts have conducted on-site investigations and attempted transplant experiments elsewhere, but all have been unsuccessful.