UK Newspaper: Vietnam among top 25 surreal landscapes.
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The terraced rice paddies in Vietnam, The Telegraph wrote, form one of the most striking green landscapes in the world. The terraced rice fields have been created by people living in mountainous and hilly terrain, where there is a shortage of flat land for rice cultivation. They chose areas with gentle slopes and advantage positions for receiving rainwater and stream water, changing them into spectacular terraced rice fields. This is evidence of the creativity of local ethnic minority people in adapting to the local climate, soil, and irrigation conditions.
At any time of year, the terraced rice fields possess a different beauty. In April and May, they are watered to prepare for a new crop and their surfaces look like mirrors reflecting the colors of nature. Under the sunlight, the flooded terraced fields seem to overlap each other, like steps leading up to the sky. In June and July, the terraced fields wear green “dresses” of fully-grown rice. In September and October, when the harvest begins, they change from green to yellow, resembling golden silk scarves flying in the wind above green mountain slopes. Ethnic minority people, in their colorful costumes, embellish the beautiful picture.
Terraced rice fields are most commonly found in Sapa (Lao Cai province), Mu Cang Chai district (Yen Bai province), Hoang Su Phi district (Ha Giang province), Que Phong district (Nghe An province), Pu Luong district (Thanh Hoa province), and the central highlands region.
The imposing scenery, along with the unique features of local ethic minority people’s culture, attract both domestic and foreign tourists and inspire photographers.
The Daily Telegraph, commonly referred to simply as The Telegraph, is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was founded by Arthur B. Sleigh in 1855 as The Daily Telegraph and Courier.
The Telegraph is widely regarded as a national “newspaper of record” and it maintains an international reputation for quality, having been described by the BBC as being “one of the world's great titles”. The paper's motto, “Was, is, and will be”, appears in the editorial pages and has featured in every edition of the newspaper since 19 April 1858.
The paper had a circulation of 460,054 in December 2016, having declined following industry trends from 1.4 million in 1980. Its sister paper, The Sunday Telegraph, which started in 1961, had a circulation of 359,287 as of December 2016. The Daily Telegraph has the largest circulation for a broadsheet newspaper in the UK and the sixth largest circulation of any UK newspaper as of 2016. The two sister newspapers are run separately, with different editorial staff, but there is cross-usage of stories. Articles published in either may be published on the Telegraph Media Group's www.telegraph.co.uk website, under the title of The Telegraph.
The Telegraph has been the first newspaper to report on a number of notable news scoops, including the 2009 MP expenses scandal, which led to a number of high-profile political resignations and for which it was named 2009 British Newspaper of the Year, and its 2016 undercover investigation on the England football manager Sam Allardyce. However, critics, including the paper's former chief political commentator Peter Oborne, accuse it of being unduly influenced by advertisers, especially HSBC.
