Existing terraces are mostly manually constructed (as opposed to machine-constructed), and are usually very narrow in width. We show here some of the better built manually-constructed terraces in Pingliang, Gansu in the Jingchuan River watershed.

New terraces built with bulldozers are shown in pictures below with their white ridges. A new growth of winter wheat was just emerging from these fields when rain finally came after a drought that lasted 160-180 days. The surrounding slopeland was not yet planted, and will be planted with other drought-resistant crops here in Huanxian and Huachi, Gansu.

Picture source: George Leung (1999)