Yuanyang Rice Terrace is a self sustaining ecosystem. During winter to early spring, the entire field is irrigated with spring water from the forest above to rejuvenate and getting prepared for the next season. The Hani people have repeated this for more than a thousand years. There is only one harvest in a year for the Yuanyang Rice Terrace; planting is from March to Oct./Nov. every year.

Although not many general tourists have visited the Yuanyang Rice Terraces, hordes of photographers have. The landscape changes vividly through the year. The flooded paddies from Dec. to April creates reflecting pool effect, which is a photographer's dream. In summer, the paddies are luxuriantly green with growing rice stalks. After the fall harvest, the paddies become naked bare earth.