Kung Fu Panda ‘grown’ in Xinjiang paddy fields

Tourists take photos of the paddy artwork from the sightseeing tower. (Photo/Tianshannet)

Paddy fields with vivid 3D depictions of well-known characters like Panda Po from Kung Fu Panda have attracted many tourists in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, according to Tianshannet, a Xinjiang news portal.

The paintings were created using a clever combination of green rice and special colored rice grown in a paddy demonstration base named “Lv Meng Fei Yang” (meaning “flying green dreams”) which covers a total area of 687 mu (about 45.8 hectares) in Nadaqiniulu Town, Qapqal Xibe Autonomous County, Ili Kazak Autonomous Prefecture of Xinjiang.

While the conventional green rice is planted using machinery, the colored rice is planted manually along colored contour lines marked in the rice fields with the help of a satellite locator, using a method of “filling in the blanks,” according to Guo Yanli, head of the culture station in Nadaqiniulu Town.

New patterns were collected from online platforms at the beginning of the year, and after designing and planting in April and May, the paddy fields entered their best viewing period during July and August, according to Zhao Zhigang, the president of a tourism company that operates the paddy demonstration base.

A 30-meter-high sightseeing tower has also been built beside the paddy fields to enable tourists to view the paddy artwork from different heights and angles.

Last year, the area received over 30,000 tourists, said Zhao, adding that they have also developed ecological sightseeing and leisure tourism activities such as fruit-picking and agritainment based in conventional agricultural areas to help increase the income of local farmers.