An Italian photographer captured beautiful moments of the terraced fields of the Ha Nhi people, Yunnan province, China.

This is an area with a history of up to 1,200 years. The central area of rice terraces is located in Yuanyang, Yunnan province, China. This area has 1 million hectares and 16,600 hectares have been recognized by UNESCO as world heritage sites.

Terraced fields are a breathtaking cultural landscape on the steep slopes of the towering Ai Lao Son and of the craggy abyss beside the Red River. Over the past 1,300 years, the Hani people have developed a complex system of canals to bring water from mountain tops to terraced fields. They also created an integrated farming system, raising buffalo, cows, ducks, fish, and eels and producing red rice, the region’s main crop.

People worship the gods of the sun, moon, mountains, rivers, forests and other natural phenomena. They live in 82 villages located among mountains, forests and terraced fields. The land management system of terraced fields represents a special harmony between humans and the natural environment, both visually and ecologically, based on a distinctive, long-lasting social and religious structure.

Here, one crop is usually grown a year, starting in April and harvesting in September. At the end of the harvest, from mid-September to November, the fields are always full of water until the next year’s planting season. The patches of water in the fields form multi-dimensional, transparent mirrors when viewed from above.

The photography world is fascinated by the terraced fields, every season there are many people traveling long distances to Nguyen Duong, looking for the most beautiful shooting angles.

From dawn to night, every moment the field has a different beauty.

The ideal time for tourists to take photos of terraced fields is 30 minutes before sunset. At that time, the surface of the water glittered on the fields like a mirror reflecting the magical colors of the sky. The sunset colors of the sky reflect on the flooded fields, creating a vivid and majestic picture of nature.

The Nguyen Duong rice fields are considered the main area of the Ha Nhi Delta because the land is very bumpy, with about 3,000 steps carved into slopes ranging from 15 to 75 degrees.