Dongchuan, which means “palette,” is a valley of colours. Spanning 50 kilometres around the village of Huashitou in Xintian township, about 2400 metres above sea level, are rolling mountains where its fiery red soil with a variety of crops and ever changing light could easily be mistaken for a Van Gogh. The iron oxide in the soil has developed an extraordinarily reddish hue. The cultivation of golden wheat, emerald barley, white potato flowers and pink buckwheat produces a magnific