Alan Barrett Images | The Bigger Picture | Dongchuan red soil


Dongchuan is a mountainous area of Yunnan province in southern China, where for centuries farmers have worked the soil in terraces down the mountainsides. What makes the terraces so picturesque is the combination of brightly coloured, almost red soil and the variety of colour in the crops. The red soil (in truth, it is only red in certain light conditions) is caused by the heavy iron content.