There is almost no landscape left reflecting the vegetation of the subtropical mountain forest in the Danian region. The human mark has completely changed the landscape, but there are still a few scattered elements in the vicinity of villages and hamlets.
You can find 锥栗属 (Castanopsis, an evergreen shrub of the Fagaceae family), 石櫟屬 (Lithocarpus, a tree of the Fagaceae family), 柯树属 (Schima, large white flowers of the Theaceae family), maglieta (a kind of magnolia), the betula luminifera (West China birch), the 枫香树属 (Liquidambar, deciduous tree of the Altingiaceae family), the 杉木 (Cunninghamia lanceolata, conifer or China fir) and the 马尾松 (Pinus massoniana, conifer with very fine and long needles).
The landscape elements
While not going into the details that can be linked to micro-climates, we can distinguish 3 types of landscape features that have been strongly marked by human activities for thousands of years:
Valley floors: representing approximately 20% of the cultivated land in the Danian region, they are often made up of large rice fields on clayey soil and benefit from significant irrigation with a high risk of flooding, especially during the period from June to July. Glutinous rice (水稻, Oryza sativa) predominates because it resists heavy rains and high water levels thanks to its high stalk.
Hillsides: Depending on the slopes and irrigation possibilities, there will be mainly rice fields with glutinous rice (30% of the cultivated land), while the drier slopes will be more populated by Chinese fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata) and oil camellias (油茶 Camelia oleifera), but there will also be some rice fields (15% of the land). It should be noted that the villages will be located rather high up in order to preserve the agricultural areas. These villages are surrounded by vegetable gardens.
Summits: often of the hilly type, the heights are mainly concerned by plantations of fast-growing Chinese firs. It is also a spring catchment area which, via a network of canals and aqueducts (made of bamboo), supplies cultivated rice fields (25% of cultivated land) with hybrid rice that is better adapted to drought and can be produced in 3-4 months, unlike glutinous rice.
In the next article we will talk about the historical evolution of agriculture in the Danian region.
