Here Be Dragons

In China’s southern provinces, mythical landscapes abound. From the verdant peaks lining the Yangtze River to the towering pillars of Zhangjiajie — inspiration for the film Avatar — the region’s motley mountains conjure up some fanciful visions

- Stephanie Cavagnaro

Dragons dance on sleepy mountains. Or so I’m told. I scan the contoured clay landscape, cut like giant stairs rising up from the Heping River to lofty plateaus. The waterlogged Longji Rice Terraces coil in all directions, reflecting a leaden sky. But I don’t see dragons.

“You need China-style imagination,” insists my cheery guide, John, from our spot at the Nine Dragons and Five Tigers viewing point. “Thirty percent is the imagery; 70% is the imagination.” I squint again at the ripples of beige, blue and jade — nothing. John seems perplexed and decides another spot may prove more fruitful, so we continue our hike across these 700-year-old fields.

I’ve come to China’s southern provinces for vistas like this — for the mythical mountains. I’m winding my way from these terraced heights near Guilin in the lofty Guangxi region, heading north up the towering pinnacles of Zhangjiajie, and then west through the peaks flanking the Yangtze River.

Our trek across these rice paddies begins in Ping’an, a tiny, 900-strong village of enterprising Zhuang and Yao ethnic minorities. On arrival, Yao women surround a group of tourists and, after striking a deal, unfurl their hair — twisted in complicated locks atop their head — and drop it, Rapunzel-like, to the floor. “They only cut their hair three times in their life,” John explains — once at 16, again when married, and finally before death. “They have two secrets to keep their hair shiny: rice water and the seeds from camellia.”