Honghe Hani Rice Terraces in China

Hacked from mountains in south-western China, the sprawling Honghe Hani Rice Terraces stack up over more than 160sq km to create one of the most spectacular landscapes on Earth.

It is often said that the Great Wall of China is the only man-made object visible from space. It's not true, of course; the crumbling, frequently overgrown structure is mostly no wider than a country road. But if the unaided human eye really can spot some of Earth's engineered marvels from low orbit, then in China they must surely include the Honghe Hani Rice Terraces.

Hacked from mountains in the country's south-western Yunnan province, the sprawling terraces – hundreds of thousands of them – stack up over more than 160sq km to create one of the most spectacular and jaw-dropping landscapes on the planet.

The marvel of China's multi-generational rice terraces