Listed in a French magazine as a new-found wonder of the seven world landscapes in 1993, Yuanyang’s Terraced Fields, situated in the Province of Yunnan in China, are built on hilly slopes spanning over 11,000 hectares and has a history stretching back to 2,000 years ago. These fields are among the world’s largest and most spectacular but they are the least known. Counting hundreds of them, they are worked by the seven Chinese minority groups living there. Their incomparable beauty is a testament to the inhabitants’ endless daily efforts, unity, creativity and perseverance, a grand victory of human beings over their hostile lands adding to a perfect harmony of the two.

This gem of beauty is, however, not timeless. Maintaining the wide dikes and high dike walls alone requires skills and constant efforts and many young people abandoned the livelihood of farming and left Yuanyang for easier jobs. The population there is also shrinking. This has prompted Singaporean photographer Teo Bee Yen to capture the beauty of the terraces in all the different seasons before the times have changed too far. Over a period of many years he had painstakingly explored every corner of the area, waited patiently for the right moment when sunlight touched some certain terraces or fields, bringing life and excitement to his photography. The photographs were exhibited at Wisma Kebudayaan SGM, Kuala Lumpur from January 13 to 20, 2008.