At first glance, it seems impossible.
On a sheet of water barely 10 centimeters deep, Jin Taiyang glides across a flooded rice terrace nearly 800 meters above sea level. Instead of being pulled by a boat, the 33-year-old wakeboarding coach is pulled by an electric winch.
He gathers speed, then launches off a ramp at the edge of one terrace. He twists into a backflip and lands smoothly on the tier below. The water there is shallower than a rain puddle. Water sprays into the air, and the onlookers break into applause.
For Jin, it is unlike riding anywhere else.
"When you're surfing in the ocean, the only sound you hear is that of the waves," he said. "Here, you're surrounded by birds and insects. You can hear the water beneath your board, the winch pulling you forward and, if you land the trick, the cheers from visitors."
The performances take place at the Yunhe Rice Terraces Scenic Area in Yunhe county, in East China's Zhejiang province.
Each spring, before rice transplanting begins, the terraces are flooded with mountain spring water. The fields turn into mirror-like surfaces, creating ideal conditions for wakeboarding. An ancient farming landscape and a modern extreme sport now share the same water.
Jin grew up in the city of Nanjing, so the farming scenes here leave the deepest impression on him. "My favorite scene is seeing local farmers in bamboo hats working the fields with water buffalo," he said. "That's something you don't get to see very often anymore. It feels very Chinese."
He also remembers the first time he arrived after a heavy rain. "The fog covered the mountains and visibility was very low," he recalled. "It felt as if we were riding through the clouds."
The idea first emerged in 2021. Jin and Zhang Wei, a former member of the Chinese national wakeboard team, were invited to film a promotional video here.
"In skateboarding and snowboarding, people often ride in unusual places to create different visual effects," said Jin. "We wanted to see if wakeboarding could do the same."
Conventional wakeboarding is done behind a boat on a lake or in the sea. Here, a winch does the pulling. "As long as there's water, we can ride," Jin said. "What makes Yunhe special is not just the water, but the terraces themselves. The layered landscape creates a backdrop you can't find anywhere else."
The first shoot in May 2021 was a success. This spring, Jin and Zhang returned with four other riders for another series of performances. "The audience was much larger this time," Zhang said. "We could hear the applause throughout."
Although the tricks may appear effortless, each one requires careful preparation. Even experienced riders cannot expect every attempt to succeed. Before each performance, the team studies the terraces and plans every jump between the levels.
"Sometimes we have to try several times before getting a trick right," Jin said with a laugh. "That also means falling into the mud more than once."
The terraces are never used as a training ground. "We only perform tricks that we've fully mastered," Zhang said. "Everything we do here has been practiced countless times on lakes. We don't come here to experiment."
The performances have also sparked visitors' interest in the sport. A manager at the scenic area said the athletes will be invited back to perform regularly after the farming season. The area is also considering wakeboarding lessons for visitors, under professional guidance.