Container house viewing platform overlooking the sea of rice – Admire the painted rice fields in Yuanli for free

Text by MOOK Scenic Spots Editorial Department | Images provided by Flying in the Sky

Known as the "granary of Miaoli," Yuanli Township not only has the largest rice-growing area in the county but is also famous nationwide for its painted rice fields. This year’s first season rice field painting features the theme “Sun Wukong Battles the Iron Fan Princess,” vividly depicted in front of the Love Orchard and expected to last until early July.

As Yuanli Township is close to Huoyanshan (Flaming Mountain), which is the setting where Sun Wukong battles the Iron Fan Princess in the classic novel Journey to the West, the Yuanli Township Farmers’ Association drew inspiration from this and created cute versions of Sun Wukong and the Iron Fan Princess, painted onto the rice fields.

Each year during the first and second rice planting seasons, the Yuanli Township Farmers’ Association uses four-colored rice—green, yellow, white, and purple—to create beautiful patterns that attract numerous visitors. There is also a container house-built viewing platform on-site that offers a full panoramic view of the painted rice fields.

Known as the “granary of Miaoli,” Yuanli Township has the largest rice-growing area in the county and primarily grows rice as its main crop. The Farmers’ Association leverages this granary characteristic to create painted rice fields, not only to showcase the diversity of rice colors but also to turn the painted rice fields into a tourism highlight.