The secret realm left behind in the world, the last pure land on the snow-covered plateau—A journey to Aba Prefecture’s Lotus Leaf during the Spring Festival

Snow-capped mountains, grasslands, glaciers, forests, lakes, prayer flags, and temples are our initial impressions of Tibetan pure lands and snow-covered plateaus. In fact, the scope of Tibetan areas is not limited to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Gannan in Gansu, Shangri-La in Yunnan, and western Sichuan are all areas where Tibetans have lived for generations.

Especially in western Sichuan, there is not only Tibetan culture that has been passed down to this day, but also a mixture of cultures from other ethnic groups, mixed with the hustle and bustle of cities, towns and villages. The snow-capped mountains here have a purity that shocks the soul. This is the secret place where God left the world, and it is the place where the soul awakens.

Before going to Lianbao Yeze in Aba Prefecture, I explored the legend of King Gesar many times. This Spring Festival, I persuaded my parents to go to Aba, the pure land. This is the most low-key secret place in western Sichuan, the back garden of the gods, and the ancient battlefield where Gesar fought.

D1: Chengdu-Dujiangyan-Partridge Mountain-Aba County (445KM).

On the second day of the Lunar New Year, I was so entangled with trivial matters that I didn’t set off until 12 noon. I took my parents and made an appointment with photographer Xiao Zhao, setting off from Chengdu and going upstream from the Minjiang River. Today’s plan is to climb the Partridge Mountain, check Zhenliangzi, and chase the sunset in the Manzhatang Wetland.

Now the Wenma Expressway can reach Miyaluo directly. Two hours later, we have crossed the Partridge Mountain and continue to cross Chazhen Liangzi. At this time, the Hongyuan Prairie has been snowing heavily for many days. The colorful grassland has long been covered with white clothes, and herds of cattle and sheep dot the tranquility of the grassland. The mountains, rivers and valleys in the distance are already frozen, majestic and solemn, a bit more peaceful and a bit bleak.

Turn right from Longriba and embark on the G347 national highway to Aba County. In the afternoon, when the last red tinge on the horizon fell into darkness, we successfully climbed to the snow mountain pass. After the snow, the glow shines over more than a dozen peaks, half of the mountain is green and white, and the other half is red. Looking up from a high place, you can see the snow-capped mountains and ice peaks standing in the distant sky. Under the reflection of the setting sun, they show layers of red, like pieces of pink cake.

After quietly enjoying the sunset, before the boundless darkness swallowed the earth, we went down the mountain and headed straight to Aba County, looking for a good hotel, casually flipping through the "Collection of Folktales of Aba County", and fell asleep in exhaustion. Go and spend the night speechless.

D2: Aba County-Lianbaoyeze-Langyi Temple-Aba County (80KM)

Lianbaoyeze is located in the southeastern part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, in the Bayan Hara Mountains The southern branch is located between Aba County in Sichuan Province and Jiuzhi County and Banma County in Qinghai Province, with a total area of ??about 800 square kilometers. The scenic area of ??Aba County is about 500 square kilometers

In Tibetan "Lian Bao Ye Ze" is translated into Chinese as the Peak of Dignity Jade, which also means Stone Mountain. The mountains here are full of masculinity, and the cold cliffs glow with a metallic luster and form a huge and majestic stone wall. It is the first of the gods in the Anduo region. The highest altitude in the territory is 5,141 meters, and the average altitude of the peaks is more than 4,000 meters. , is a famous sacred mountain in Tibetan areas, which scares many people away!

This is the ancient battlefield where King Gesar fought, and many stories about King Gesar are still told today. Surrounded by overlapping peaks, stalagmites, majestic, deep, and tragic lakes, it is a perfect blend of softness, fortitude, majesty, and beauty.

At eight o'clock in the morning, before Aba County woke up, we drove off. An hour later, we arrived at the entrance of the scenic spot and started climbing.

The Lianbaoye Ze Scenic Area is a long valley, about tens of kilometers, spiraling along the mountain road, heading deep into the valley, with shining snow-capped peaks on both sides. There are mountain peaks one after another, and we reach the first Haizi. I saw a huge sapphire inlaid on the frozen lake in the distance. This is a plastic, transparent light blue polycrystalline ice body, formed by the ice formation of grains of snow. Polished by time and refracted by sunlight, it reveals a refreshing beauty.

At that moment I seemed to hear a call from Northrend. Arthas turned out to be the prince of the human kingdom of Nordaeron. When an undead plague threatened his beloved motherland, Arthas devoted himself to On a mission that is destined to be a tragedy - he wants to find a rune sword that can help him save his country. But the Holy Sword will make its new owner pay a heavy price, inducing him to fall into a terrible curse. It leads Arthas through the far north wilderness to the Frozen Throne. There, Alsace will face the end of his painful journey - the darkest fate in the world.

Later, Arthas defeated Illidan and climbed to the top of Ice Crown Fortress. The Lich King ordered Arthas to break his ice cage. When the ice cage shattered, the breastplate and helmet containing the Lich King's soul fell down. Arthas put on breastplate and helmet. In an instant, the souls of the Lich King Ner'zhul and Arthas merged together and became a whole - Arthas became the living vessel of Ner'zhul's soul. The Lich King Arthas sat on the Frozen Throne, watching the Scourge rebuild their fortress while accumulating strength to prepare to sweep the kingdom of Azeroth again in the future.

One day, my life will come to an end. And you will be crowned king. Under this holy ice, are the ancient evil souls also buried?

Keep going and drive to the deepest part of the canyon. This is the parking lot of the scenic spot. Looking up, you can see a tall and steep mountain suddenly standing in front of you. The cliffs are high and steep. On the left and right sides of this mountain peak, there were several other strange peaks confronting him. They were quite shocking, and they looked very much like the Middle-earth world in The Lord of the Rings. The mountain peaks are abrupt, the peaks stand steeply, the rocks are jagged and intertwined.

Follow the wooden plank road to Zhagarcuo, which is the most famous lake in the Stone Mountain. It is located under a cliff. This cliff is like a huge stone wall, lying across the lake, an isolated city. The momentum of Wanren Mountain is about to burst out, and behind the lake is a long cliff "city wall" as sharp as a knife and an axe. The lake has long since frozen, the fish have sunk into the water, and the animals and plants here have all fallen asleep quietly. Two lines of footsteps went into the distance, breaking his tranquility.

Looking at the calm ice surface, the flood of memories came to my eyes again. The scene of Stephen Chow shouting "hard work, hard work" to the sea in "The King of Comedy" keeps lingering in my mind. Life is like a road, and you need to be patient. As you walk, you may emerge from the bustling scenery in the desolation.

According to "Lianbao Yeze Sacred Mountain Chronicles", the Lianbao Yeze area was an ancient battlefield where King Gesar fought, and traces of King Gesar's battles are left everywhere on the mountain peaks. After calming down, it seems that I can still hear the shocking screams of the past, and I can see the figure of King Gesar who fought bravely for the freedom and peace of the tribe. And hidden in this heroic and fearless battle is a trace of iron-blooded tenderness.

I remembered a folk tale I read in the hotel last night.

Legend has it that in the Lianbaoye area, three birds with beautiful feathers can still be seen often, flying proudly together with each other. Their cries are so plaintive, as if they are expressing their inner pain. Local people said: "Of these three birds, one is the incarnation of King Gesar's blacksmith Aze, one is the incarnation of Miss Mei Jie, the daughter of the local mountain god, and the other is the incarnation of their child." What a sad story this is?

According to legend, King Gesar came to the Lianbao Yeze Mountain during his eastern expedition and found that there were mountains, abundant pasture, and a mountain god here. The mountain god's family has a treasure trove of gold and silver, and a horde of servants. He only has one daughter, named Mei Jie, who is beautiful in appearance and sweet in temperament. When the mountain god proposes to her, she doesn't like any of them.

There was a blacksmith Aze in King Gesar’s Eastern Expedition. He was an upright man and highly skilled. Everyone called him “the little blacksmith Aze who is like a magician.” King Gesar discovered the hot springs in this area. There were abundant iron-making materials all over the country, so the blacksmith Aze was arranged to set up camp here to make weapons specifically for him. In order to prevent Ahze from stealing iron and being lazy, King Gesar arranged for a small mountain god to supervise the blacksmith, and the small mountain god specially sent his daughter Mei Jie to monitor the blacksmith shop.

Unexpectedly, Miss Mei Jie likes the young blacksmith Aze very much. She likes him to be strong, energetic, kind-hearted, honest and honest. Her father sent her to spy on the young blacksmith, and Miss asked for it. She ran to the blacksmith shed every day, and she always liked to take Azze's hammer and give it a spin; she also wanted to give him a hand with Azze's pliers; and the bellows for blacksmithing, Miss From time to time, I have to go and give it a try. The little mountain god sent a servant to bring lunch, black tea and rough tsampa to the blacksmith; white milk cake and tea to the lady. The young lady didn't want to have these good things to herself, so she had to eat them with the blacksmith. In this way, as time went by, the two of them got along well. They were pregnant for ten months and gave birth to a lovely boy.

When the little mountain god learned about it, his lungs exploded with anger. He never imagined that his daughter would violate the rules of his ancestors, forget his identity, fall in love with a black-boned mortal blacksmith, and give birth to a human god. The combined untouchables brought shame to the mountain god nobles. He kept his daughter Mei Jie at home, beating or scolding her every day. Miss Mei Jie is a stubborn girl. She doesn't think there is anything wrong in what she did and refuses to admit her mistakes to her father, the little mountain god. On a beautiful moonlit night, she carried her son on her back, took all her jewelry, and quietly escaped. She ran to the blacksmith's house, preparing to fly away and escape to the rich agricultural area by the Aqu River outside the mountains to visit the Human God **. *A great time.

However, they never expected that on the way to escape, they were caught by the housekeeper and thugs sent by the little mountain god. They beat Aze half to death and threw him into Zhagartso. They waited until Mei Jie The lady came over sadly, but the body had sunk to the bottom of the lake.

The sad Miss Mei Jie stood by the lake and shouted loudly: "Ah Ze, Ah Ze! Why are you walking in such a hurry? So busy? Wait for me! Wait for me and the child Yeah!" After saying that, she threw the jewelry into the hot spring lake, threw the otter skin robe, fox fur hat, and satin clothes into the hot spring lake. Then, she hugged her son and jumped into the hot spring lake together. Soon, the blacksmith's body floated up, and the couple and their children hugged each other. Music sounded on the lake, golden light shot out of the water, and three birds with beautiful feathers flew out of the golden light. Hovering and singing deep in the sacred mountain of Lotus Yeze. This is the bird known as the "yellow duck" that people see today. It is also known as the plateau mandarin duck or plateau lovebird.

Nowadays, people say that Mei Jie and the blacksmith Aze have become gods in the sacred mountain of Lianbao Yeze, and they have become the lovebirds on the ravine and lakeside of the sacred mountain of Lianbao Yeze - the yellow duck. Therefore, the Tibetans who live and breed on the plateau of northwest Sichuan have never hunted yellow ducks to this day.

With emotion, we packed up and went down the mountain, planning to visit the Gemo Temple around Aba County. There are more than 20 temples of various sizes gathered around Aba County. These primitive and simple Tibetan settlements and the magnificent and solemn Tibetan Buddhist temples are the most pious beliefs of the Tibetan people. There are many temples and pagodas and many monks, such as Kirti Temple, Langyi Temple, Saige Temple, Dege Temple, Gemo Temple, etc. The temple buildings are lined up in rows, and they look particularly sacred against the blue sky. The Gemo Temple we visited this time, also known as Huiyuan Temple, is one of the three major Gelug sect temples of Tibetan Buddhism in Aba Prefecture, Sichuan Province, and one of the branches of Labrang Temple, one of the six major monasteries of the Yellow Sect.

Unfortunately, the temple is not open due to the epidemic, so you can only watch it from a distance. Afterwards, we climbed up the hillside on the edge of the county town and overlooked this quiet plateau town. The winter sun shone warmly on the vast land here, and there were still harvested highland barley stubbles in the fields, which were yellow; at a glance, Looking around, the mountains and plains are covered with dry grass, yellow, and groups of yaks are leisurely gnawing at the roots of the grass on the hillside. And the crimson temples and holy white pagodas are like furnaces of incense burning on the grassland, giving the grassland a religious solemnity. Prayer flags fluttering in the wind and colorful Mani flags dance the soul in this vast world.

At this time, the setting sun gradually sets in the west, and a touch of red rims the clouds on the mountain peaks with gold, painting Aba County with charming colors. I drove my car and ran after the sunset, but I couldn't catch up with the speed of the sunset. I watched the sunset gradually fall into the endless twilight, and returned to the hotel with a little regret.

D3: Aba County-Hongyuan County-Taoping Qiang Village-Chengdu (445KM)

I was so happy yesterday that I didn’t notice that there was something wrong with the car. As soon as I started the chassis, there was a sound A sound similar to the banging of firecrackers in the distance. Since it was the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, all the major temples were conducting religious ceremonies, and I searched all over the city but could not find a place to repair my car. After struggling for a long time, he gritted his teeth and decided to take the risk and drive to Hongyuan to get the car repaired. Unexpectedly, as soon as he hit the road and got out of the bumpy streets of the county town, the car became normal without any accidents.

With the beautiful legend of Aze and Mei Jie, we embarked on the return journey.

On the way back, we passed Taoping Qiang Village. Tickets are not charged during the Spring Festival, so we took a look around on a whim.

Taoping Qiang Village is located in Taoping Township on the bank of the Zagunao River in Li County. The village was built in 111 BC. Guangrou County was established here during the Western Han Dynasty. Taoping served as a county pass and defense important point. The area already exists, hidden in the mountains, with stone walls and towers, connected houses, and mazes of secret passages. It is known as the most mysterious "Oriental Castle".

This ancient castle was used by the Qiang people to resist powerful enemies thousands of years ago. Now, the smoke of the war has long dissipated, and only the watchtowers and houses standing in the wind have silently watched the vicissitudes of history. It is very similar. The Qiang people are bold and restrained, simple and indifferent. The maze-like alleyways, the cobweb-like underground waterways, and the huge totems standing on the square all make people feel a kind of heroic spirit, galloping between heaven and earth...

We arrived in Chengdu at 6 p.m.

Don’t let your years miss the grand scene, don’t let your time waste away. Life is also a desolate journey. You know your warmth and coldness, and you can follow your heart.