Three rice landraces that have been continuously cultivated in Yuanyang County for hundreds of years by the local Hani people and three modern varieties cultivated in this area for 3–5 years were comparative tested on seven major agronomic characteristics at six different altitudes in the Yuanyang paddy field. The results indicated that agronomic characteristics of the landrace varieties, such as plant height, panicle length and number of effective panicles of landraces had no significant difference at different altitudes, whereas, those agronomic traits fluctuated in the modern varieties. In the Yuanyang terrace area, the Yuanyang landraces showed greater diversity in phenotype and better adaptation compared to the modern varieties.