This document discusses terraced agriculture and cultural heritage sites in China. It summarizes: 1) China has a large amount of mountainous terrain suitable for terraced farming, accounting for 70% of its total area. Terraced agriculture produces rice, corn, wheat and other crops. 2) Two notable terraced sites in China that have been designated as UNESCO World Heritage sites are the Honghe Hani Rice Terraces and Yunnan World Tea Tree Origin, known for being the origin of Puer tea. 3) The document also discusses efforts to preserve intangible cultural heritage like the multi-voice folk singing of the Hani people in Honghe county. This singing tradition

1. Stories Happened in
the Terraced Land in
China
by Professor Shi Junchao
CHINA

2. China is a large country, total area account for
9.6 million square kilometers, mountainous area
make up 70% of the total. West part
geographically is higher than east. Except for
Yangzi river plain and Songnen plain covering
less than 1/3 of the land total, 2/3 are
mountains, high plateaus and hills which makes
China a big terraces country centered around
paddy rice wet terraces and dry terraces
producing corn, sorghum, wheat, millet, potato,
tea and fruits. Striking stories are now taking
place in the terraces in China as termed

3. Honghe Hani World
Heritage

4. To our great joy, if to become world heritage in
2010 for us were a distance dream for us, then,
I could formally announce to the participants of
the Second World Terrace Conference today that
our dream come true in June 22, 2013. In only 30
minutes, our application has been improved by
the committee in the capital city of Cambodia
Phnom Penh and smoothly being listed into world
heritage.

10. Yunnan World Tea Tree Origin
and Puer Tea World Heritage

11. For my personal view, the significance of this world heritage has
surpassed that of Honghe Hani terraces. If Honghe Hani terraces’
influence is only felt within China, this is meant for the whole
world.
Half of the world population drink tea, and 60 countries produce
tea. The history of drinking tea accounted for over 10,000 years.
Tea breed different kinds of culture in different countries. In
China, it enjoy a most prestigious social status as “Cha Dao”.
However, as such influential culture, it has not been listed into
the world culture heritage, which is a pity. Tea tree grow in the
terraces, and tea culture is also terrace culture, therefore, the
regret of tea not been included into the world heritage is also a
regret for the terrace civilization.

15. Since 2004, after 10 years of cooperation
between the expert team led by professor Shi
and local government, in the year 2013, this
project has been listed into the number 6 of
candidate alternative list, that is to say, 6
years later, once again, we could report to
all of you that it also become world cultural
heritage.

19. Honghe Hani Multiple Voice Singsong
Appling the world intangible
Heritage list of UNESCO

21. Honghe Hani multi-voice folk songs has been described as
the most diversify- voiced folk songs in the world. In
the year 1995, musicians have found that it has 8 voices,
and through the investigation of professor Shi, it has 10
voices. These folk songs have been sung by the villagers
who worked on the terraces while planting seeds, or by
the Hani bride in a marriage ceremony, or in the funeral
of old ones, or by young girls and boys when stay
together and making friends. In Nov. of 2013, invited by
the president of Chinese Conservatory of Music Zhao,
Professor Shi address a forum featured “singing in the
sky ladder- Hani multi-voiced folk song and its culture”,
both the value of the folk songs and research of
professor Shi have been recognized by the music authority
in China.

26. Involvement of economic concerns. Based on our
understanding, a very important reason for
China’s inefficiency of intangible assets
protection is due to lack of concern for the
people engaged in, for example, if both academic
circle and government cultural department only
caring for the culture protection without paying
equal attention to the folk singers, it will
eventually result in nothing. Therefore, our
group started from economic bailout.

30. As for the cultural heritage, in the past, we assume it as fixed
and unchangeable. Now, this idea also has been proved wrong.
Youngsters nowadays even living in the mountainous regions could
communicate equal efficiently with outside through modern
communication means such as television, computer network and
mobile phone. We cooperated with Kunming Art Institute, and
recruit some Hani to receive free training in the institute.
Helped with Yang Liping and BMW company, each kid get 8,000 yuan
of tuition and 1,000 yuan of living subsidies. The courses
opened for those kids include both traditional Hani multi voices
and basic music classes in addition to computer and English.
Sometimes, the students also participated in the paid
performance, which in line with sustainable education and world
heritage concept.