In fact, the history of many slopes on the Loess Plateau can be traced back to the pre-Qin period. In the pre-Qin period, there were mountain management activities in northern China, which gave birth to "sloping terraces".
According to historical records, The Book of Songs Xiaoya Baihua says, "The tiger pool flows northward and soaks in rice fields." Song Yu, a lyricist of Chu in the Warring States Period, said, "When the wind rises, the waves are as high as the lonely trees on Mount Li." Among them, horizontal fields such as "paddy field" and "solitary mu" are the primitive embryonic forms of horizontal terraces.
Fan Sheng Zhi, an agronomist in the Western Han Dynasty, mentioned in his book Fan Sheng Zhi that when planting rice, there must be a height difference between border beds to facilitate the flow and exchange of water, which is actually a horizontal terrace.
In addition, there are some records of comprehensive utilization of terraces in Han Dynasty. The pottery sculptures unearthed in Pengshui County, Chongqing show that the terrace construction in China was very perfect in the Eastern Han Dynasty.