The Ancient Terraced Fields of Weizishui Village

The Ancient Terraced Fields of Weizishui Village are a historic agricultural landscape located in Yanchi Town, Mentougou District, Beijing, China. Dating back to the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, these terraces have a history of nearly 600 years and cover an area of approximately 1,200 acres, making them a rare example of contiguous dryland terraces in Beijing. The terraces stretch from 300 to 700 meters above sea level, following the mountain contours, and together with the ancient village, reservoir, and stone bridges, they form a picturesque landscape. The earliest reclamation of these terraces can be traced back to the Yongle era of the Ming Dynasty, when the ancestors of the Gao family built stone embankments to create farmland to solve survival challenges. Over generations of expansion, the terraces reached their current scale. They bear witness to the evolution of agricultural civilization from the Ming and Qing dynasties to the present day, with relics such as stone embankments and ancient wells still preserving their original appearance. In 2012, the village and its terraces were included in the first batch of China's Traditional Villages List. The terraces are not only a living heritage of agricultural civilization but also embody the wisdom of northern mountain residents in adapting to local conditions and the techniques of dryland farming, holding significant cultural value. You can see them by navigating directly to the Weizishui Village Terraces.