美丽中国(01)龙之心

美丽中国中英文字幕

exploration of China The last hidden world begins in the warm nearly thousand meters

to the floor of the Red ChinaFor centuriestravellers to China have told tales of magical landscapesand surprising creaturesChinese civilization is the world's oldestand today it's largestwith well over a billion peopleIt's home to more than distinct ethnic groupsand a wide range of traditional life stylesoften in close partnership with natureWe know that China faces immense social and environmental problemsbut there is great beauty here tooChina is home to the world's highest mountainsvast deserts ranging from from searing hotto mind numbing coldsteaming forestsharboring rare creaturesgrassy plains beneath vast horizonsand rich tropical seasNow for the first time everwe can explore the whole of this great countrymeet some of the surprising and exotic creatures that live hereand consider the relationship of the people and wildlife of Chinato the remarkable landscaping which they liveThis is wild ChinaOur subtropical southOn the Li River fishermen and birds perch on bamboo raftsa partnership that goes back more than a thousand yearsThis scenery is known throughout the worlda recurring motif in Chinese paintingsand a major tourist attractionThe south of China is a vast areaeight times larger than the UKIt's a landscape of hillsbut also of waterIt rains here for up to days a yearand standing water is everywhereIn a floodplain of the Yangtse Riverblack-tailed godwits probe the mud in search of wormsBut it isn't just wildlife that thrive in this environmentthe swampy ground provides ideal conditions for the remarkable member of the grass familyriceThe Chinese have been cultivating rice for at least thousand yearsIt has transformed a landscapeLate winter in southern Yunnan it's a busy time for local farmersas they prepare the age-old paddy field ready for the coming springThese hill slopes of Yuanyang countyplunge River Valleyeach contains literally thousands of stack terraces carved out by hand using basic digging toolsYunnan's rice terraces are among the oldest human structures in Chinastill ploughed as they always have beenby domesticated water

buffaloeswhose ancestors originated in these very valleysThis man-made landscape is one of the most amazing engineering feats of preindustrial ChinaIt seems as if every square inch of landhas been pressed into cultivationAs evening approachesan age-old ritual unfoldsIt's the mating seasonand male paddy frogs are competing for the attention of femalesBut it dosen't always pay to draw too much attention to

youselfThe Chinese Pond Heron is a crapulous predatorEven in the middle of a ploughed paddy field<i>nature is red in beacon

claw</i>This may look like a slaughterbut as each heron can swallow only one frog at a timethe vast majority will escape to croak another

dayTerrace paddies like

美丽中国中英文字幕

those of Yunyang county are found across much of southern ChinaThis whole vast landscape is dominated by rice cultivationIn here in Guizhou province the Miao minority have developed a remarkable rice

cultureWith every inch of fertile land given over to rice cultivationthe Miao build their wooden houses on the steepest and least productive hillsidesIn Chinese

rural life everything has a usedried in the sun manure from the cowsheds would be used as cooking fuelIt's midday and the Song family aretucking into a lunch of rice and vegetablesOblivious to the domestic

chitchatgranddad Guyong Song has serious maters on his mindSpring is a start of the rice growing seasonthe success of the crop will determin how well the family will eat next yearso planting at the right time is

criticalThe ideal date depends on what the weather will do this yearnever easy to

predictBut there is some surprising help at handOn the ceiling of the Song's living rooma pair of red-rumped swallows newly arrive from their winter migrationis busy fixing up last year's nestIn China animals have value does much for their symbolic meaning as for many good they may doMiao people believe that swallow pairs remain faithful for lifeso their presence is a favor and a blessingbringing

happiness to a marriage and good luck to a homeLike most Miao dwellings the Song's living room windows look out over the paddy

fieldsFrom early spring one of these windows is always left open to let the swallows come and go freelyEach year granddad Gu knows the exat day the swallows returnMiao

people believe the birds arrival predicts the timing of a season

aheadThis year they were lateso Gu and the other community elders have agreed that rice planting should be delayed

accordinglyAs the Miao prepare their fields for plantingthe swallows collect mud to repair their nestsand chase after insects across the newly ploughed

paddiesFinally after weeks of preparationthe ordained time for

planting has arrivedbut first the seedlings must be uproot from the

nursery bedsand bundled up ready to be

transported to their new paddyhigher up the hillsideAll the Song's neighbors have turned to help with the

transplantingIt's how the community has always workedwhen the time comes the Songs will return the favorWhile the farmers are busy in the fieldsthe swallows fly back and forth with material for their nestMany hands make light workplanting the new paddy takes a little more than an hourJob done the villagers can relaxat least until tomorrowBut for the nesting swallows the work of raising a familyhas only just

begunIn the newly planted fieldslittle egrets hunt for foodsThe rice paddy harbor tadpoles fish and insectsand egrets have chicks to feedThis colony in Chongqing province is established in when a few dozen birds build nests in the bamboo grove behind Yanguang

villageBelieving they were assigned of lucklocal people