China’s Top Destinations in April for Terraced Fields & Blooming Flowers

China is never short of historical sites and natural wonders, but the romantic towns and villages with amazing terraced fields or blooming flowers are the most iconic highlights in April. Take a journey from Danba Town in Sichuan to Nyingchi in Tibet, from Fengshan Town in Guangxi to Congjiang Town in Guizhou to explore the best of the beautiful spring season of China.

Yili Kazak Autonomous Prefecture in Xinjiang

There is a large area of virgin almond forest dating back to Middle Ages in Xinyuan Country, Yili Prefecture. The almond trees are in full bloom for only four or five days from April 10 to 20. Morning hours will be perfect time for the serene sunrise and the almond blossom in the color of white or pink stretching for a few tens of kilometers.  

Nyingchi Prefecture in Tibet

Make a romantic approach to ‪‎Nyingchi in spring season for the ‘Peach Blossom Valley’‬, where the thousands of peach trees will be in full bloom and scattered in the grassy pasture land, with the permanent snow-capped mountains as the background.

Danba Tibetan Town in West Sichuan

Ranked as the top of the most beautiful villages in China, Danba boasts profound yet unique Jiarong Tibetan cultures and beautiful girls. Usually in early April, stretches of pear flowers are in bloom embracing the local Tibetan dwellings and ancient watch towers, and extending to the Jinchuan River.  

Maojiabu Scenic Area (茅家埠) in Hangzhou

Hangzhou is intoxicatingly beautiful in the springtime, but the famous attractions such as West Lakes and Xixi Wetlands may be overcrowded with tourists. Therefore, you’re encouraged to visit Maojiabu Scenic Area for distinctive riverside dwelling houses, Hangzhou green tea culture and Buddhist culture.

Fengshan Town in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region

Fengshan Town features groups of Karst peaks as beautiful as those in Guilin and Yangshuo. There are also fascinating Karst caves, pits and naturally formed bridges. Travel to the countryside to experience the Chinese pastoral life in this busy farming season.

Congjiang Town in Guizhou

Inhabited by many minority tribes including Miao, Dong, Zhuang, Yao, etc., Congjiang features amazing terraced fields named Jiabang Terraced Paddy Fields. April is a one of the best time to visit Jiabang, when farmers will irrigate the fields then plant rice seedlings.

Jiangling Terraced Fields in Wuyuan Town, Jiangxi Province

In China’s most beautiful countryside Wuyuan, there are terraced canola‬ flowers fields surrounding the scattered traditional villages with Huizhou architectures and dwellings in April.

Experiencing Dong Culture at Zhaoxing’s Grain Rain Festival

With over 1000 different festivals celebrated by 48 different minority groups in one year, Guizhou is one of the two provinces in China (the other one is Yunnan Province with 51 minority groups) that offer best minority culture experience.

Soon on April 19 (the 13th day of the third lunar calendar month), Dong people in the thousand-year-old Zhaoxing Dong Village will celebrate the Grain Rain Festival (the 6th solar term of Chinese 24 solar terms), with various fun-filled activities and unique cultural experiences for Dong people’s agricultural civilization and very old traditions. 

One of the most beautiful ancient villages in China, Zhaoxing Dong Village retains the traditional layout and architectures. The villagers have been living a simple humble life and devoting themselves to preserving the Dong culture and customs, such as the ‘Kam Grand Choirs’ which was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Cultural Site in 2006.

To celebrate the Grain Rain Festival, traditionally Dong people will ‘eat black rice and sow the rice seed’, so as to mark the beginning of busy farming season, show respect to the hard-working cattle, and give an important and special gift to the sweetheart. The ‘black rice’ is made from sticky rice with the leaf juice of Vaccinium bracteatum Thunb. It is usually considered as a love token according to the traditional Dong marriage customs.

Therefore Grain Rain Festival is also a big day for unmarried men and women. Young men will throw bamboo baskets with presents into young women’s houses for ‘black rice’, meat and wine. Then the man will sing a folk song to get back the basket, yet remain wary of the girl’s sneak attack by applying soot with oil on the man’s face, named ‘Da Hua Lian’. Finally people of all ages including both the locals and travelers join in the ‘Da Hua Lian’. It turns to be a Carnival Night!

>> If you are planning a minority culture tour to Guizhou and want to take part in Zhaoxing’s Grain Rain Festival on April 19, 2016, please contact us for more details.

A Spring Outing to Yangshuo and Hike to the Countryside

People never get tired of Yangshuo, generally, and we're no exception. This place offers many cool and unique ways to amuse the friends and family, such as biking into the rural landscape, bamboo-rafting on the rivers for the awesome Karst mountains, rock-climbing on the scaring vertical peaks, and enjoying the peaceful and relaxing hours at a secret, quaint hotel. Or, do what ETC team was doing – hiking to the countryside of Yangshuo.

Yangshuo, with its surrounding pristine villages and old towns like Xingping and Fuli, offer numerous hiking trails to meet all difficulties. This time, we chose the trail from Jiuxian Village to the Yulong Bridge in Baisha Town, an easy and scenic route. We walked along the Yulong River, through the villages, and passed by paddy fields, vegetable fields and fruit gardens en route. On the photos, you can see that the country roads are rough and rugged, and sometimes difficult to figure out. However, we were rewarded with picturesque landscape and a great hiking experience.

 

The Yulong Bridge

Here we also would like to recommend two hotels, the Secret Garden Boutique Hotel and Jade Mountain Hotel.

The Secret Garden hides itself between towering Karst peaks & lush rice paddies in Jiuxian Village of Yangshuo. The hotel is converted from a group of Qing Dynasty dwelling houses, but restored and provides modern comforts. It is a wonderful place for visitors who desire serenity and a chance to experience the gentle rhythm of Chinese rural life.

Jade Mountain Hotel is a budget hotel and enjoys an ideal location by standing at the opposite of Yulong River. Therefore, you can have a relaxing walk along the river or enjoy doing the morning exercise like running and Tai Chi.

In this season of spring, the canola‬ flowers are in full blossom. Isn’t it beautiful?!