The Origin of Moxi Terrace

According to research, Moxi Terrace is a product of debris flow accumulation. As early as approximately 7,000 years ago, Moxi was an open depression nestled among mountains, with lush water plants, towering trees shading the sky, and ancient glaciers and perpetual snow covering the surrounding high peaks.

The advent of a warmer glacial period gradually raised the surface temperature, causing glaciers to melt and snow to thaw. Torrential floods swept massive amounts of sediment, blocking the valleys around Daban Rock. After repeated breaches of the sediment barriers, the water in the depression overflowed, exposing the debris flow-accumulated landform. Over millennia, the two sides of the depression were continuously eroded by glacial meltwater and flash floods, with the river valley cutting deeply into the depression to form today’s Moxi Terrace.

The terrace slopes from north to south, with two "U"-shaped rivers — Yajia Geng and Yanzigou — developing along the edges of its foothills. Rising over 80 to 100 meters above the two river valleys, the terrace stretches 11 kilometers long with an average width of 2 kilometers. In the upper part of the terrace lies Xinxing Township, divided into upper and lower sections by the Gaojiaping mound. The upper section extends into the mouth of Yanzigou, while the lower section reaches Baoziba. From an elevated perspective, these two sections resemble the upper and lower jaws of a dragon, with the mound as the "dragon’s treasure."

From Shanshu Village in Moxi to Lishukan (the boundary between Moxi and Xinxing), the deeply incised river valleys on both sides of the terrace curve naturally, resembling a coiled dragon’s body. The terrace narrows from top to bottom, with its tail end shaped like a ridge — looking exactly like a dragon’s tail. When viewed as a whole, the upper, middle, and lower sections of Moxi Terrace form the image of a giant dragon lying dormant among the mountains.