Why is Taihang Mountain the backbone of China?

People in Shanxi, Henan and Hebei say that when you don't feel well, go to Taihang Mountain!

Although humorous, Taihang Mountain does contain great energy: it is a mountain of geography, culture and spirit.

The uplift of Taihang Mountain promoted the uplift of North China Plain and the birth of many basins in Shanxi. It is the mother mountain of the people of Shanxi, Hebei and Henan.

Taihang Mountain has bred many rivers, is the "Three Rivers Source" of North China Plain, nourishes the homes of people in Hebei and Henan, and provides the source of life for the birth of ancient cities such as Beijing, Anyang, Lingshou, Handan and Yecheng.

Taihang Mountain is also a legendary mountain with spiritual strength. There is a legend that a foolish man moved mountains. The Eighth Route Army established the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei revolutionary base here to resist aggression, and Henan people built the "Tianlu" and "Artificial Tianhe" Red Flag Canal here.

Taihang Mountain is the ridge extending from north to south in China, and it is also the "air home" for the people of Henan, Hebei and Shanxi.

Taihang Mountain, why is it "the backbone of China"?

Qinling Mountains and Taihang Mountains together form the central skeleton of eastern China. Taihang Mountain, like Qinling Mountain, is not "a mountain".

Famous mountains converge into Taihang Mountain.

Taihang Mountain runs through Beijing, Hebei, Shanxi and Henan provinces, with a total length of about 400 kilometers. If the remaining veins of Taihang Mountain are included, the total length will reach 1000 km. Broadly speaking, Taihang Mountain actually gathers many famous mountains:

Wutai Mountain ranks first among the four famous Buddhist mountains.

Buddhism enjoys supreme status in China and even East Asia.

Yuntai Mountain is the refuge of the Seven Sages of Bamboo Forest.

It provides China people with the possibility of another spiritual world;

The King of Wu is a relic of Taihang Mountain, which is said to be the place where the Yellow Emperor sacrificed to heaven.

During the Han and Wei Dynasties, it became the "first cave in the world" of Taoism.

"Too"-more than big. The name Taihang was probably named by an ancient Hebei person. The mountain in front of us is really very high. The majestic Taihang Mountain is vast and can accommodate many famous mountains and rivers.

Natural red Great Wall

If the Qinling Mountains, which runs through the east and west, is an important mountain range that separates the north and south of China's climate; Therefore, Taihang Mountain, which runs through the north and south, is an important dividing line between plateau China and lowland China.

Geographers have simply divided the landforms of China into plateau China and lowland China. The dividing line between these two parts is just along the dividing line between Daxing 'anling, Taihang Mountain, Wushan Mountain and Xuefeng Mountain-the second and third steps of China topography. Taihang Mountain is located in the center of this "backbone".

There is a large fault zone in the geological structure of eastern China. To the east of the fault zone, the crust is sinking continuously, forming the North China Plain and the Middle and Lower Yangtze Plain. On the west side of the fault zone, the crustal uplift formed the Inner Mongolia-Shanxi Plateau and the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau. Taihang Mountain rose in this process.

In the drastic geological changes, the earth left Taihang Mountain with three wonders that shocked the world: the tower peak, the canyon and the long cliff, making Taihang Mountain a rare giant geological park in the world.

The winding Taihang Mountain Grand Canyon, the river is looking for a way to enter the North China Plain; There are many pagodas in Baishishan, which are divided into Zhao Yan in the Warring States Period and mountainous areas in Liao and Song Dynasties.

However, what makes Taihang Mountain unique is the long cliff.

Especially in the middle part of Taihang Mountain, the red timely sandstone constitutes a horizontally developed multi-level cliff stone wall, which is the most iconic geological landscape of Taihang Mountain. Because it is the most famous area in Zanhuang, Hebei Province, it is also called "craggy rock landform", and it is one of the three sandstone landforms in China, which are equally famous with Danxia and Zhangjiajie.

Different from the water rhyme of Danxia and the wonderful show of Zhangjiajie, the precipice of craggy rock is a tough guy made of iron in the north, full of deep aesthetic feeling.

Taihang Mountain is not too high. The northern platform of Wutai Mountain, which is more than 3,000 meters, and the main peak of Xiaowutai Mountain, which is more than 2,800 meters, are the boundaries of the height of Taihang Mountain. Different from those snow-capped mountains in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the imposing manner of Taihang Mountain with its stone walls spreading flat is breathtaking, just like the Great Wall of Wan Li, with one side red.

Water comes from Taihang.

Taihang Mountain has not only the vigorous beauty shown by rocks, but also the tenderness in meandering water.

Taihang gave the most beautiful part to South Taihang.

There are many faces in the 800-mile majestic Taihang Mountain. Traditionally, people will divide Taihang Mountain into three parts: North Taihang Mountain, West Taihang Mountain and South Taihang Mountain, which correspond to Taihang Mountain in Hebei, Shanxi and Henan respectively.

There is a big difference between the two. North Taihang and West Taihang are short of water, while South Taihang is rich in water resources.

The extreme rainstorm in Henan in July 20021year was related to Taihang Mountain. Taihang Mountain runs through the core area of North China, and the warm and humid airflow from the ocean is blocked by the mountains, which is easy to form rainfall on the windward slope east of the mountains.

Xinxiang, Jiaozuo and Jiyuan, where South Taihang is located, are rich in groundwater and have many surface springs, which are called "underground reservoirs in North China". In Yuntai Mountain and Guo Liang in the south of Taihang Mountain, there are many waterfalls with huge falls. Such dense waterfalls are rare in northern China.

Some people say that Taihang Mountain gave the most beautiful part to South Taihang, which is really appropriate.

Unlike many mountains, which are the watershed of the river basin, many water systems in Taihang Mountain pass through the mountains.

With the huge terrain gap between Shanxi Plateau and North China Plain, Qinhe River, Zhanghe River, Hutuo River, Shahe River, Tanghe River, Juma River, Yongding River and other rivers cross the main vein of Taihang Mountain and flow into North China Plain, with fertile soil for thousands of miles.

These rivers pass through Taihang Mountain, and many mouths are cut on the mountain, which together with the natural passages on the mountain become important passages.

Golden road connecting Shanxi with Henan and Hebei.

Taihang Mountain has eight most famous inlets and passes, also known as "Taihang Eight Dragons".

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The place where the mountains break is called "Feng", which is a distinctive topographic dialect around Taihang Mountain.

Taihang Mountain is not too high. Although it was still a barrier between Shanxi and North China Plain for the ancients, it did not become an obvious partition.

For more than two thousand years, Taihang Mountain has often become an area where different civilizations and different political forces collide and merge. At this time, "Taihang Eight Dragons" is not only the passage of materials and personnel, but also the golden road in the eyes of strategists.

Jingxing, as a county name, used to be the traffic artery for Shaanxi and Shanxi to enter Beijing, but now Shijiazhuang-Taiyuan Highway and Shijiazhuang-Taiyuan Railway are still accompanied by Jingxing.

According to statistics, there have been more than 50 wars in Taihang Mountain, 1 1 emperors visited Taihang Mountain, and hundreds of scholars left nearly 200 excellent poems about Taihang Mountain. Han Xin was the "last battle" in Jingxingkou; Cao Cao entered Shanxi from Jiaokou and launched the Battle of Huguan. Ming Yingzong left Juyongguan for the Northern Expedition and took the army capital.

Because of the importance of the passage, every move of Taihang Mountain affects the nerves of Shanxi, Henan and Hebei.

The backer behind Chinese civilization

The significance of Taihang Mountain is by no means limited to Taihang Mountain itself. The mountains and rivers of Taihang Mountain have created a big stage for the birth and prosperity of many surrounding civilizations.

It is precisely because of the strong uplift of Taihang Mountain, the continuous cutting of mountains and soil in the west and the continuous reclamation of land in the east that many basins around Taihang Mountain and North China Plain were born and became people's ideal homes.

Many rivers cross Taihang Mountain, forming alluvial fans near the mountain pass, and the sediments of the ancient Yellow River make the North China Plain fertile for thousands of miles. Fenhe River, the largest tributary in the middle reaches of the Yellow River, originated from two radial structural systems, Taihang Mountain and Luliang Mountain, and gave birth to the richest Fenhe River basin in Shanxi.

Taihang Mountain is like the mother of northern China.

In Shanxi, a series of basins such as Ding Xin, Taiyuan, Linfen and Yuncheng have been formed between Luliang Mountain and Taihang Mountain, and Changzhi and Jincheng basins have also been formed in low mountain areas. In Huguan, Lingchuan and other places in Shanxi, there are many place names with the word "palm", such as Zhang Shu, Zhangshi, Zhangjiao, Mazhang, Dong Zhang, Xizhang and Jinjiazhang, which are very regional. The word "palm" means the low-lying area at the head of the ditch.

People gather and live in these rare plains, and the geographical features of Taihang Mountain have become the most direct cognition of people's hometown. Basins and plains have become the places where civilization was born and developed, and also the most developed places in population, towns and economy in Shanxi and Henan.

Taihang and the Yellow River, with the power of one mountain and one river, named today's four provinces of Shandong, Shanxi, Henan and Hebei-and in history, this land called "Central Plains" was the earliest "mountains and rivers" in China.

Nihewan site in Sanggan River basin,

It is one of the largest Paleolithic sites in China.

It's been two million years,

It is considered to be the origin of East Asian race.

Zhoukoudian site at the junction of Taihang Mountain and North China Plain,

It is the only Paleolithic World Heritage Project in China.

About half a million years ago,

Man has mastered the mystery of fire for the first time here.

Cishan site at the eastern foot of Taihang Mountain,

It is one of the most important early Neolithic sites in China.

This was proved about 10000 years ago.

China is the first place in the world to cultivate millet and walnut and domesticate domestic chickens.

Taosi site excavation site.

Figure/vision china

Taosi site at the west foot of Taihang Mountain,

About 4000 years ago,

Civilized elements such as cities, bronzes and characters appear here.

Some scholars believe that this may be the capital of Yao.

The early Taihang Mountain was endowed with the mythical image of China people creating the world. People also call it Wuxing Mountain, Wangmushan Mountain and Nuwa Mountain. Here, China people construct the cosmic order from the perspective of China people and explore the mystery of the origin of civilization.

It is said that Nu Wa made people here and unearthed them, refining stones to make up the sky. Shexian tile palace is to commemorate the goddess of creation of the snake head. Cheng Tang, the king of Shang Dynasty, prayed for rain in the mulberry forest here. In the legend deduction of later generations, Cheng Tang changed from an emperor to a rain god. Hou Yi shoots the sun here, Jingwei fills the sea here, Gong Yu moves mountains here, and Shennong tastes herbs here. ...

Two splendid ancient city belts have been formed on the east and west sides of Taihang Mountain. From Shang Dynasty to Han Dynasty, countless countries, kingdoms and vassal states appeared. In the Fenhe River valley at the western foot of Taihang Mountain, Jinyang, Pingcheng, Houma, Jiangxi and Pingyang all wrote about the events since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.

Zu Ti moved to Xing, Pan Geng moved to Yin, then Anyang, Lingshou, Handan, Yecheng and Beijing in the Henan-Hebei region east of Taihang, which is almost a history of China city from the Dynasty to the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

With such a long history and suitable geographical and climatic conditions, Taihang Mountain area has also become one of the areas with the highest density of ancient architectural remains in China.

The three existing wooden buildings of the Tang Dynasty in China are all on the Taihang Mountain in a broad sense: nanzenji is one of the oldest wooden buildings in Asia, North Temple is praised by Liang Sicheng as the "first national treasure" of China, and Wang Guangren Temple is the only remaining Taoist building of the Tang Dynasty in China. Even the remaining "half-built" Tang structure, Zhengding Kaiyuan Temple Bell Tower is at the Jingxing exit, facing the Taihang Mountain in the ancient city.

Shangdang area in the hinterland of Taihang Mountain is a treasure of ancient buildings. According to the statistics of Chai Zejun, an expert in ancient architecture, "Shangdang area has 80 ancient buildings before Song, Liao and Jin Dynasties, accounting for half of the country." Tiantai Temple in Pingshun, qinglian temple in Zezhou, Faxing Temple in Changzi, Huang Yu Temple in Fucheng, Kaihua Temple in Gaoping, Xiangfu in Yangcheng, etc. are all ancient buildings with great times and geographical representation.

There is no second mountain, guarded by so many ancient capitals and famous cities, and there are so many cultural relics and historical sites. Taihang Mountain is the backer of Chinese civilization and a veritable axis of civilization.

Change fate

Taihang Mountain is also a kind of spirit.

For everyone in China, as long as you know that "fools move mountains", you will know about Taihang Mountain.

"The Taihang Mountain was called in May, and the wheels were indestructible." Li Bai's poem tells the hardships of the ancients crossing Taihang Mountain. Su Shi once said with emotion: "The flying fox is in the world, and the moon sets before dusk." The majestic Taihang Mountain is like the roof of the world.

Although in the eyes of modern people, Taihang Mountain is far less majestic than the Himalayas, Hengduan Mountain and Kunlun Mountain, for our ancestors, Taihang Mountain was the first mountain they faced, because it was tall and powerful and difficult to climb. Therefore, crossing Taihang Mountain has become a symbol, a spiritual symbol of perseverance and overcoming difficulties.

1September, 937, it was in Taihang Mountain that the Eighth Route Army achieved "a great victory in Pingxing Pass" and "the first great victory since the outbreak of War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression". The Eighth Route Army soon established the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei anti-Japanese base area in Taihang Mountain area, and the guerrilla warfare since then has also spread to other areas. It is a modern myth of Taihang Mountain that "millet plus rifle" defeats aircraft artillery, and it is also the indomitable spirit of Taihang Mountain in the war of resistance.

Nowadays, people are building roads and bridges on the Taihang Mountain, and the modern fable of "Yu Gong Yi Shan" continues.

At one time, Guo Liang Village on a 200-meter vertical cliff was connected with the outside world through a "ladder" with 720 steps. Guo was shocked and dug an amazing "hanging road" on this precipice, turning the natural moat into a thoroughfare. Guo Liang Road, Xiyagou, Huilong, Kunshan and Chen Jiayuan have been built in the southern Taihang Mountain area at the junction of Shanxi and Henan, becoming a scenic spot in the depths of Taihang Mountain.

In the 1960s, pioneers of 100,000 Linzhou spent nearly ten years digging a red flag canal on the cliffs around the waist of Taihang Mountain. This is an "artificial Tianhe", which introduced the water from Zhanghe River into Linzhou, thus alleviating the shortage of local drinking water and irrigation, and became one of the "two wonders of new China" praised by Premier Zhou.

The Xianshen River Bridge, which was completed and opened to traffic in 2008, has a total height of 212m, ranking first in Asia and second in the world among similar bridges. The bridge rises from the bottom of the Xianshen River and opens its arms to both sides of the cliff, connecting the traffic between Henan and Shanxi.

Taihang Mountain Tunnel, crossing Taihang Mountain Range, is the third longest tunnel in China, with an altitude of131m, which brings Shanxi and Hebei closer together and is an important milestone in the history of railway tunnel construction in China.

"The river map covers the land" says, "Taihang is the roof of the world." The unique geographical and geological characteristics of Taihang Mountain determine the opportunities and challenges brought by this mountain range.

Pedestrians follow the wall-hung highway to Guo Liang Village above the cliff. Photography/Teng Hongliang

However, from history to the present, we are faced with the majestic Taihang Mountain, the perseverance of Gong Yu to move mountains, the hardship of changing the natural moat into a thoroughfare, the unity of canal water diversion and the unity of the people in the face of floods.