This is Ejina Banner of Alashan League in the westernmost part of Inner Mongolia.
What is Ejina?
"800 quicksand boundary, 3,000 weak water depth", "Let the weak water be 3,000, I only take a ladle to drink" ... The weak water in The Journey to the West's "Dream of Red Mansions" and other classical masterpieces symbolizes the profundity and infatuation of water potential, which is full of poetry and painting. The "weak water flowing into quicksand" in Water Mirror Notes refers to Heihe River, the second largest inland river in China. It originated in Qilian Mountain, first turned to the northwest, then turned to the northeast, and ran to the desert Gobi, forming a large oasis, namely Ejina Banner.
The word Ejina comes from the Xixia language "Yijinai", which means black water. Driving from Beijing all the way west along the Beijing-Xinjiang Expressway, the last "supply station" in Inner Mongolia is Ejina Banner. The endless Gobi desert with dark gray surface, endless desert and several low-rise hills are not the whole picture here. Under the nourishment of the mother river Heihe River, more than 400,000 mu of Populus euphratica stands upright, and more than 40 square kilometers of Gobi Lake is sparkling in Juyan Sea, and people of all ethnic groups live and work in peace and contentment.
From time to time, there are three or five groups of camels on the roadside, strolling leisurely. There seems to be a camel bell ringing in my ear, as if telling the vicissitudes of memory on the ancient Silk Road. Since the Han dynasty, Chinese sons and daughters have been stationed here, setting blockades and building fortifications, creating a splendid civilization. Later, it was an important town in the Tang, Xixia and Yuan Dynasties.
Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, located about150km south of Dalaihubu Town, where the flag government is located, is the place to launch Shenzhou series spacecraft. In recent years, tourists come here to explore the beautiful scenery and seclusion, and they are often full during the National Day, with more than one million tourists.
At present, the local government has pressed the "pause button" because of the COVID-19 epidemic. However, the long history and unique landscape are still fascinating.
The ancient plug Huang Yun * * *.
"Asked the bike, belonging to the country too Juyan. When the account is collected, the geese return to Hu Tian. " Wang Wei's To the Frontier takes readers to live in the northwest frontier and feel its magnificence.
"Juyan" is the phonetic change of "Qilian" in Xiongnu language. In the Tang Dynasty, when Yan Shigu annotated Hanshu, he said that "Xiongnu is called Qilian Mountain", Qilian Mountain is Tianshan Mountain, and Juyanhai is Tianchi Lake. Under the nourishment of the Great Lakes on this day, the famous Juyan Oasis in history was formed, which is today's Ejina Oasis.
Fu Xingye, head of the Ejina Banner Cultural Relics Protection Center, introduced that Juyan Site is located in Ejina Banner, Inner Mongolia and Jinta County, Gansu Province, and the overall trend is northeast-southwest. It is composed of beacon towers, fortified cities and other building facilities, and it is a frontier defense facility built in the Han Dynasty.
Juyan area, located in the northwest border, is the only way for the Mongolian Plateau to reach Hexi Corridor and the western regions, and it is also an important passage through the Badain Jaran Desert and the vast Gobi to Mobei. By controlling this place, we seized the throat from Mobei to Hexi and the Western Regions.
In the second year of Emperor founding ceremony of the Han Dynasty (12 1), the Huns retreated to Mobei after Huo Qubing, a general in title of generals in ancient times, hit the Huns hard. In Tai 33 (BC 102), the Han Dynasty sent Lu Bode, the captain of the strong crossbow, to build pavilions, the Great Wall, beacon towers and other military defense facilities in Juyan area to resist the invasion of Xiongnu.
At the same time, Lu Bode built a water-guarding Duwei mansion, Juyan Duwei mansion and Qilu barrier. During the Qin and Han Dynasties, Dewey was the military attache second only to the general, and the military organization directly under Dewey's family was called the waiting official. Juyan Duwei House belongs to Zhangye County, and there are three waiting officials in the north, west and south, namely, North Waiting Officer, Jiaqu Waiting Officer and Mitsui Waiting Officer.
Zhang Wenping, director of the Inner Mongolia Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, said that some researchers believe that there should be a waiting official in Juyan Duwei House-Juyan Waiting Official. Because the bamboo slips unearthed in the Han Dynasty are called "Juyan fortress", "Juyan fortress" and "Juyan fortress". "Saiwei" is often called "Wei", also known as "Barrier Wei", and is one of the officials waiting for officials. If the waiting official of Juyan really exists, its governance is preliminarily inferred as Red City.
Archaeological data show that the main body of the fortress city where the Xiasanhou government of Duwei Prefecture in Juyan is located is a square fortress city with a side length of about 23. 1 m, and a large dock yard is attached to the south side. Although there is no dock yard in Hongcheng, the side length of its main barrier city is about 23. 1 m, which meets the specifications of the waiting office.
The activities of military forces and horses in Juyan area in Han Dynasty not only left the city site and beacon tower site, but also formed a large number of Juyan Han bamboo slips.
The ruins of Jiaqu Houguan, 24 kilometers south of Dalaihubu Town, only have weathered rammed earth piles and three layers of adobe and a layer of Achnatherum, and the outline is discernible. A large number of Juyan Han bamboo slips have been unearthed in this place, commonly known as Broken City.
1930 From April to May to the beginning of 193 1 930, Swedish scholar Faucoeur Begemann, a member of the northwest scientific expedition composed of China and Sweden, first unearthed wooden slips of the Han Dynasty at the beacon tower site in Juyan City, and then unearthed more than 5,200 pieces at the Houguan Castle site in Jiaqu.
On the east side of the castle, there is a hut less than 6 square meters. Begemann found a wooden slip in the ruins of the hut. Experts speculate that this hut is probably the archive room at that time.
From 1972 to 1976, when excavating the site of Jiaqu Houguan, the China Archaeological Team * * discovered more than 7,000 Han bamboo slips such as "The Moon in the Fire" and "Jiaqu to Confess", which were as clear and firm as new, as if people had crossed into the Han Dynasty.
The archaeological team also focused on the excavation of the hut site presumed as the archives, and unearthed more than 70 books from the first year of Wangmang Tianfeng (A.D. 14) to the first year of Jianwu in the Eastern Han Dynasty (A.D. 25), each of which was woven with two or three ropes. More than 900 bamboo slips were also unearthed in the archives.
More than 35,500 bamboo slips have been found in archaeological excavations in Juyan area since 1930, which is one of the areas with the largest number of bamboo slips in China.
Fu Xingye said that the bamboo slips unearthed in Juyan are documents and archives that record the activities of the frontier garrison in the Han Dynasty, covering politics, economy, military affairs, frontier defense, reclamation, water conservancy, geography, transportation, law, nationality, religion and many other fields. The frontier defense facilities of Juyan site and the unearthed Han bamboo slips are considered as important archaeological discoveries in the 20th century, enjoying a high reputation at home and abroad.
The frontier defense facilities of Juyan site were built in the period of Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty. After the Eastern Han Dynasty, they gradually lost their functions and were finally abandoned. The glory of the Han Dynasty has passed, but as long as the Heihe River is still flowing, the civilization of Juyan will not disappear.
Prosperity masks the dust.
The city's predecessor was the former site of Datong built by the Northern Zhou Emperor Yuwen Yong. Because of the large number of horses and chariots, it is also called "Horse Circle City". In the first year of the hanging archway in the city (AD 685), overseas Chinese settled in Anbei Duhu, but soon after, Anbei Duhu moved to Xi 'an (now northwest of Minle County, Gansu Province). After that, the city garrison was set up here, and in the second year of Tianbao, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty (AD 743), it was changed to Ningkou Army.
There was only one site in the Tang Dynasty, so archaeologists speculated that the scope of Juyan reclamation in the Tang Dynasty was much smaller than that in the Han Dynasty, and it was a declining period in Juyan reclamation history.
However, the cultural connotation of this city is very rich. Poets in the Tang Dynasty such as Wang Wei and Chen Ziang stopped here. In the 25th year of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty (AD 737), Wang Wei wrote a well-known poem called "Lonely Smoke in the Desert, Long River Falling in the Yen". After the Tang Dynasty moved the governor of Anbei to Datong City, Chen Ziang, a poet from the army to Datong City, wrote a letter of advice, expounded the importance of the geographical location of Datong City, and wrote poems such as "Twelve Knowledge from the Ancient City Juyan to Joe" and "With the Tree of Juyan"
Walking around the city, I can't help but flash across the famous sentence "There are no fragrant trees on the side, and the birds suddenly listen to the new ones".
When many tourists come to Ejina Banner, they always visit the most complete and grand ruins of the ancient city Black City on the northern line of the ancient Silk Road. It is located about 22 kilometers southeast of Dalaihubu Town. Black City, also known as Black Water City, is the Yan Jun branch of Heishui Town established by Xixia in the lower reaches of Heihe River.
1286, Yuan Shizu established the "General Manager House of Yijinai Road" here, and expanded the Black City on a large scale, making it a transportation hub from the Central Plains to Mobei. According to legend, Kyle Polo passed through here.
In the fifth year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty (A.D. 1372), Sheng Feng, a general of the Ming Dynasty, built a sand dam to cut off the water source in the upper reaches of the Heihe River and retreated after breaking through the Black City. This bustling ancient city was abandoned because of the diversion of Heihe River.
It was not until 1886 that Russian explorer potanin discovered the ruins of the Black City, which had been sleeping in the yellow sand for more than 500 years, that the tranquility of the Black City began to be broken by foreign explorers such as Russia, Sweden and Japan.
During the period of 1908, Russian explorer kozlov excavated a large number of cultural relics here, including precious ancient books such as The Pearl of the Late Pan-Han Dynasty, and Yin Tong and Wen Hai, which were compared in Chinese and Xia.
Kozlov has carried out two large-scale excavations in the Black City. For the first time, more than ten boxes of silk Buddhist paintings, coins and other cultural relics, as well as books, letters, metal coins, women's ornaments, furniture, daily necessities and so on were excavated in the streets and temple sites in the city.
During his second visit to Black City, he hired someone to open a stupa with a lid, which contained many Buddhist statues and hundreds of books, paintings and scriptures. They then excavated more than 30 towers and unearthed more than 2,000 manuscripts, more than 300 Buddhist paintings and a large number of small wooden and bronze gilded Buddha statues. Aleksei Ivanovich Ivanov, a famous Russian sinologist, found a book in a pile of documents, The Synchronistic Hand of Brahma and Chinese, which is the only dictionary in the world with dual explanations in Xixia and Chinese.
After many excavations, the Black City was scarred. Due to the serious desertification in the surrounding areas, in recent years, quicksand has eroded the Black City from the east, west and north, and many sites have been buried under the yellow sand. Archaeologists predict that there are still a large number of precious documents of Xixia and Song, Liao, Jin and Yuan Dynasties buried in this city.
"Sha Guang looks for clues alone, and the road fans refer to the smoke." This ancient city, half hidden by quicksand, has experienced prosperity and the baptism of war. Now, the situation of empty lanes has gone with the wind, leaving only the world to admire its grandeur and tranquility.
The Great Lakes are reborn and everything is thriving.
Vivi lives along the coast, where there are rustling reeds. Driving more than 50 kilometers from Dalaihubu Town to the north, you will reach the huge salt sea in the east of Heihe tail lake.
In autumn, standing by the lake, I saw flocks of seagulls flying happily, clumps of reeds swaying in the wind, and the calm lake surface was crystal clear under the sunlight, like a mirror embedded in the vast Gobi Desert, supporting the hope of life in this arid and desolate land.
It is hard for many people to imagine that Dongjuyanhai, with its blue waves and flocks of gulls, completely dried up more than 20 years ago and became a "sea of death". Xijuyanhai dried up as early as the early 1960s and almost became the second Lop Nur.
Juyanhai was called Juyanze in Han Dynasty, Xihai in Wei and Jin Dynasties and Juyanhai in Tang Dynasty. Due to the diversion of the lower reaches of Heihe River, the lake surface of Juyanhai has changed from time to time. Since the Qing Dynasty, it has been divided into Supor in the east and Gashunol in the west, and people used to call it Dongjuyanhai and Xijuyanhai.
Qi Jinhua, director of the Water Affairs Bureau of Ejina Banner, said that since the 1950s and 1960s, due to climate change, population increase, industrial and agricultural development, insufficient water resources and uneven distribution in time and space, the amount of water entering Heihe River in Ejina Banner has been greatly reduced, even frequently cut off, and many lakes, springs and swamps have gradually disappeared.
According to the research of geologists, the largest Juyan Sea in history covers an area of more than 2,600 square kilometers, and there were more than 720 square kilometers in the Qin and Han Dynasties. According to 1958 investigation and calculation by the scientific research team of China Academy of Sciences, there are 267 square kilometers of water in the West Juyan Sea and 35.5 square kilometers in the East Juyan Sea. However, only three years later, the West Juyan Sea dried up completely at 196 1, and the East Juyan Sea dried up intermittently at 1992.
Saren Gerile, who is over 70 years old, lives in Taolai Sumu, Sai Han, on the west side of East Juyan Sea. She recalled that when she was a child, there were high pastures in front of and behind her house, and no cattle and sheep could be seen walking in them. But then the Heihe River cut off, the Juyanhai slowly dried up, the groundwater dropped, and the vegetation was short of water, all of which died.
In order to curb the overall deterioration of the ecosystem in the lower reaches of the Heihe River, in August 2000, the state decided to implement inter-provincial water transfer in the Heihe River, and the Ministry of Water Resources immediately established the Heihe River Basin Administration of the Yellow River Conservancy Commission to uniformly dispatch the water in the main stream of the Heihe River and manage the water resources in the whole basin.
The water saved by "tightening the belt" in the upper and middle reaches flows downstream, restoring the ecology of Ejina Banner and bringing the East Giant Salt Sea back to life. In 2003, Dongjuyanhai Lake Basin, which disappeared 1 1 year, crossed the water for the first time and accumulated a stable water surface. Since August 2004, the East Juyan Sea has not dried up for 17 years, and the water area is stable at about 40 square kilometers.
Lv Hui, a research expert on Populus euphratica forest in Ejina Banner, said that with the effective replenishment of Heihe River, the water level in Dongjuyanhai was stable, the groundwater level in Ejina Oasis rose, and Populus euphratica forest was watered by Heihe River, and its area increased from 390,000 mu in 2000 to more than 440,000 mu at present. The population and number of migratory birds near Dongjuyanhai are increasing year by year.
Jin Gele, a Suponor Sumu herder who lived near Juyanhai for generations, said: "In the past, there were rotten grasses such as alkali grass and camel thorn in Haloxylon ammodendron forest and Tamarix forest. After watering, good grasses such as licorice and Calligonum mongolicum have grown out. "
On 20 16, the Heihe River entered the Xijuyan Sea for the first time by dredging the river course and scientifically diverting it. From September, 2065438 to September, 2008, the ancient river near the site of Heicheng, which had been silent for more than 600 years, also entered the water, with an irrigation infiltration area of 25 square kilometers. Many herders said excitedly that after the river flooded, some small poplars that had withered for many years actually sprouted.
Millennium Populus euphratica defends its homeland.
Populus euphratica is the most eye-catching in Ejina Banner. Populus euphratica in the depths of Gobi blocks the wind and sand, maintains the soil and water, and guards the beautiful home. People living on both sides of the Heihe River often praise Populus euphratica like this: live, never die for a thousand years; Death will last for a thousand years; Yes, it is immortal for thousands of years.
This indomitable "Populus euphratica spirit" was vividly interpreted by heroes who took root in Gobi and planted trees to control desertification.
On the northwest edge of Badain Jaran Desert, Tubu Batu and his wife, who are nearly seventy years old, are particularly conspicuous for planting trees with shovels and buckets. At their feet, Haloxylon ammodendron with different heights and sizes surrounded an oasis of 1000 mu. In a year, Tubatu spent more than 300 days in the Woods with Haloxylon ammodendron. In the past 20 years, he and his wife have planted more than 50,000 Haloxylon ammodendron in the desolate desert, built a green barrier and protected the ecological environment of their hometown.
"I'd rather be a Haloxylon ammodendron to keep out the wind and sand than a delicious mouse. Haloxylon ammodendron is dead, but he can still stop the sand on the ground. " Tubu Batu said.
Su He, a late retired cadre, once gave up the comfortable and comfortable city life. In 2004, he began to plant trees in the desert without houses, water, roads and electricity. 20 18 was injured in sand control, but still stuck to the front line of sand control. Rooted in desert 17, planting 6307 mu. He planted Haloxylon ammodendron, and formed a 500-meter-wide and 3-kilometer-long shrub belt on the west side of the site of the Black City, cutting off the sandman who rushed to the Black City head on. ...
This indomitable "Populus euphratica spirit" is also shining in the development of China's space industry.
Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center (also known as Dongfeng Aerospace City), which is 0/50 km south of Dalaihubu Town, has written many firsts in China's space industry: the first artificial satellite, the first recoverable satellite, the first long-range launch vehicle and the first manned spacecraft. ...
From scratch, from small to large, from an arrow to a star, from launching satellites to launching manned spacecraft ... Every step of the development of China's space industry embodies the great efforts of astronauts, who have written a brilliant chapter in China's independent scientific and technological innovation with sweat and hard work.
There is a martyr cemetery in a dense forest in Dongfeng Aerospace City. More than 600 astronauts have been buried here, and some of them were buried in the vast desert by sandstorms in order to patrol the road; Some people die young to overcome technical difficulties; Some people gave their precious lives to get rid of danger. ...
Like the immortal Populus euphratica, they lie here quietly and continue to watch the development of China's space industry and the launch missions again and again.
In Ejina Banner, some residents abandoned their homeland for the national space cause and moved several times. They are like Populus euphratica who have suffered from flying sand and stones, wind, rain and snow.
Galachaolu is a herdsman from Bayan Taolai Sumusu Rong Gui Gacha. In order to support the construction of Dongfeng Aerospace City, his parents moved in 1958. He once heard the old man talk about the scene of relocation: the family packed up the felt house, drove the cattle and sheep, and rode a camel with three boxes of belongings with other herders. People walked for a while and looked back for a while. Although they are reluctant, no one refuses to move.
Many of them are descendants of Turku tribe in Mongolia.
The Tuerhute tribe is an ancient tribe of Mongolian in China. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, due to the constant struggle among Mongolian ministries, Turkut was forced to move westward and nomadic in the Volga River basin. In the twelfth lunar month of the thirty-fifth year of Qingganlong (177 1 the beginning of the year), the foreign land of Turhut decided to return to the east. Wabashi, the leader, led more than 30,000 families, about 1.7 million people, and started a great feat of Vandory's return to the motherland.
Along the way, they crossed the steep mountains and rivers and the vast desert. After half a year, they finally arrived in the Ili River basin and returned to the embrace of the motherland.
Since then, most Turks have lived in Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and Qinghai. Together with the local people of all ethnic groups, they worked hard and grazed hard to resist foreign powerful enemies, and made great contributions to the development and stability of China's northwest frontier, the maintenance and consolidation of national unity and the promotion of national unity.
Today, they and their brothers and sisters of all ethnic groups living in Ejina Banner help each other, forge ahead in unity and create a better life, so that Populus euphratica's indomitable spirit can be passed down and carried forward.
65438+1On the night of October 27th, a tourist train originating from Zhengzhou stopped at Ejina Banner 10 and set foot on its return journey. With the first batch of 586 stranded tourists leaving Ejina Banner safely and orderly, the local authorities officially started the transshipment of stranded tourists.
As of 25th 15, 94 12 tourists were stranded in Ejina Banner.
After the outbreak, both local residents and stranded tourists joined hands to help each other like Haloxylon. As tenacious and unyielding as Populus euphratica blocking sand, prevent and control the epidemic.
After defeating the epidemic, Ejina will be more beautiful in the future!