Wuyuan: The village in the sea of flowers
CGTN
03:23

Wuyuan, a county in northeast of Jiangxi Province in China, gets immersed in a sea of flowers every year during March. The bright-yellow rapeseed flowers attract butterflies and bees to join their "spring dancing party," and the remote county lives up to its reputation for being "the most beautiful countryside in China."

Since ancient times, the locals have been cultivating rapeseed, not just as vegetable, but also for its seeds to extract oil. The crops are sown in the autumn of the previous year and harvested in the summer of the following year. During the flowering season, the expansive rapeseed flower fields turn bright-yellow. The stunning view has gradually turned Wuyuan from an unknown countryside into a popular travel destination. 

Jiangxi Province is a big producer of rapeseed flowers in China. It has many counties like Wuyuan. So, what makes Wuyuan stand out as "the most beautiful countryside in China?"

Wuyuan is a mountainous region with 83 percent of its land being mountains and hills. Unlike other places where flowers are planted on plains, rapeseed is grown here on terrace fields. 

These fields are successive flat areas built on a slope. Terrace cultivation or terrace farming makes it possible to use the land that would not normally be able to be used with conventional farming methods. It can also protect the terraced area's soil from erosion and reduce the damage of flooding in the valley. Here in Wuyuan, layers of golden terraces planted with rapeseed flowers are said to be one of the 10 most beautiful terraces in the world. 

Wuyuan is also a historic site, home to some of the best-preserved ancient architecture in China. The oldest ones can be traced back to the Tang Dynasty in 740. These ancient Hui-style architectures with their typical white walls and black tiles form a beautiful natural landscape in the sea of rapeseed flowers.

(Cover image is a screenshot from the video)

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