The present situation of killing tiger's mouth

Due to its special geographical location, the Great Wall in Youyu County was built earlier, which can be traced back to the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Shahukou, located in the northernmost direction of Youyu County, is the great pass of the ancient Great Wall.

Because of tourism development, the entire gate of Shahukou was renovated and rebuilt, and the original historical features were destroyed.

In the view of many Great Wall researchers, killing tiger mouth in Youyu County, Shanxi Province is an extreme case of the protection and development of the Great Wall.

"When Youyu held a seminar, I gave my opinion that the historical features of the Great Wall cannot be destroyed. But now it has been completely destroyed, which is misleading and dereliction of duty for future generations. " Yan Zheng, director of the editorial department of Wan Li Great Wall, told the Morning Post reporter. However, local people who have participated in the maintenance and development of the killing tiger mouth think: "The views of experts are unrealistic and too idealistic. Without development, the development problems of local villagers cannot be solved. "

In fact, the contradiction between the protection and development of the Great Wall has been puzzling Youyu County 10 for many years, and there is no answer so far. "This is killed the tiger's mouth. There is nothing to see now. It is a newly built wall. " Goujian, a traveler, pointed to a magnificent brick tower in front of him and sighed gently.

Youyu County belongs to Shuozhou City, Shanxi Province, located in the northwest of Shanxi Province, bordering Inner Mongolia and having the Great Wall. "There are many ancient Great Walls in Youyu, but the most famous one is killing the tiger's mouth." Wu Chengshan, director of Youyu County Museum, told the Morning Post reporter.

Shahukou, located in the northernmost part of Youyu County, is the great pass of the ancient Great Wall. "In order to resist the invasion of the Mongols to the south, the Ming Dynasty sent troops to fight from this port many times, so it was named' Shahukou', representing the northern minorities." Wu Chengshan explained: "Later, Kangxi personally invaded the north and changed it to' killing the tiger's mouth'."

Although it has a long history, before 2000, for most Youyu people, it was just a dilapidated rammed earth gate and the only way for Youyu to reach Inner Mongolia. "It used to be a tall loess gate, and the walls on both sides were also rammed earth piles. The poor people who have no houses have also set up sheds on the side to live. " Youyu Jiao Ren is a coach driver in Youyu County, who specializes in taking foreign tourists to Youyu for sightseeing and can also be a temporary tour guide. The change of killing the tiger's mouth originated around 2000, when there was a cultural upsurge of "Shanxi merchants" in China. Shahukou, as the "first tax pass" in Qing Dynasty, is also the key site for Shanxi merchants to "go west", which naturally attracts foreign tourists. "At that time, tourists from all over the country came to experience the westward journey. The province has the most tourists and more leaders. " Yanjiao told the Morning Post reporter.

The upsurge of "Shanxi merchants" culture finally led to the development of tiger-fighting tourism. At the beginning of 20 12, when the Morning Post reporter came to Shahukou, it was difficult to find the remains of the old site of the Great Wall. The whole gate of the killing tiger mouth was renovated and rebuilt, knocking down the original design of high gate and narrow road. Today, the gate to kill the tiger's mouth consists of two newly-built towers, which are spacious and magnificent. In the southeast of Shahukou, a Kangxi sculpture and a museum have been built. "Killing the tiger's mouth now is completely different from before. The walls of the Great Wall are also bricks that were burned later. It doesn't taste like before. " Gou Jiao told the Morning Post reporter that he still liked the previous killing tiger mouth.

Gou Jian's point of view represents many people's views on killing the tiger's mouth today. Yan Zheng, director of the editorial department of Wan Li Great Wall, said: "This will kill the tiger's mouth and destroy the original appearance of history. After a hundred years, future generations will see it again, and they will think that the Great Wall is like this, with sculptures and museums. This is misleading to future generations. " A department-level cadre of Shanxi Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau even bluntly told the Morning Post reporter: "It's hard to kill a tiger!" The criticism and questioning from the outside world made Youyu people feel helpless and painful. Wang Degong, former chairman of the Political Consultative Conference of Youyu County and president of the Great Wall Protection Research Association of the county, told the Morning Post reporter: "What the experts said has their reasons. But for people on the front line of the Great Wall, experts' views are unrealistic and too idealistic. Without development, the development problem of local villagers cannot be solved. "

Youyu County is located in the Loess Plateau in northwest Shanxi, adjacent to Inner Mongolia and Linger County. A few decades ago, the ecological environment here was bad, and the forest coverage rate in the county was less than 0.3%. "In the past, Youyu was a national poverty-stricken county with deserts everywhere. Several generations of Youyu people insisted on afforestation, and today's ecological Youyu landscape has emerged. " Wang Tao, director of Youyu County Propaganda Center, told the Morning Post reporter that the current coverage rate of Youyu forest is over 52%.

The thorough change of ecological environment has also changed the development thinking of Youyu County. In 2000, Gao Hou, then the county magistrate, proposed to develop "eco-tourism", and the killing tiger mouth with a history of nearly 2,000 years became the breakthrough point of tourism development. In an earlier planning of "Development and Construction Project of Shahukou Tourist Area in Youyu County", it is pointed out in detail that supporting projects such as tourist business district, food street and holiday village will be built around the Great Wall of Shahukou. "The estimated investment is 65.438+0.4 billion yuan. After completion, it will increase the tourism income by 65.438+0.00 billion yuan every year and increase the income of related industries by 65.438+0.00 billion yuan. "

Despite the early planning, you Yu's financial situation can only be described as a drop in the bucket. "The government has no money to kill the tiger. The government finance of Youyu County only exceeded 1 100 million in 2006. " Wang Tao said. Despite the financial difficulties, the leaders of Youyu County insist on the development idea of tourism development. "At that time, the county found Youyu leaders and foreign businessmen, hoping that they could support tourism development." Wang Degong, former president of CPPCC, recalled that some Youyu people who worked outside the home also held fund-raising activities for this purpose.

"The idea that was decided at that time was how much to repair, step by step." Wang Degong said.

With the gradual investment of funds, differences have followed. Around 2002, Youyu County set up a "Shahukou Tourist Area" to take charge of related development projects and invited experts and scholars to participate in project planning. "When the experts came, contradictions appeared." Wang Degong told the Morning Post reporter that experts from the Institute of Design and Planning suggested "overhauling the building and rebuilding a beautiful and spectacular long wall", while experts on cultural relics "demanded that the original appearance be preserved and not allowed to be changed".

This debate even rose to the administrative field. According to Wang Degong's memory, many leaders also took part in the demonstration to kill the tiger's mouth. "Some leaders said that they should develop well and make the Great Wall and Xikou culture bigger and stronger, and some leaders said that they should pay attention to protection." Wang Degong said that a deputy governor in Beijing even greeted the county, "saying that he likes antique cultural relics very much, and the county should pay attention to the protection of cultural relics when developing the tiger's mouth".

It is in this kind of controversy and wandering that it is difficult to carry out the development and construction around the killing tiger mouth, but it is hard to say that it is successful. It's been 12 years since You Yu first put forward the tourism development of killing tiger mouth. Although the development of Shahukou and the surrounding Great Wall is questioned, Wang Degong is still happy with its achievements.

"In the past, many people lived under the Great Wall. Many people have no money to build a house, so they have to make holes in the wall and live in it. The hole is filled with potatoes and yam. " Wang Degong recalled: "If these people don't move away, how can you protect the Great Wall? Youyu is a poor county. Is it okay to resettle these people and not engage in tourism development? "

The development of tourism has really brought benefits to Youyu. The data shows that in 20 1 1 year, Youyu County received 834,200 tourists and earned 798 million yuan.

"Now there is only a commercial street, which is not very mature and there is no hotel accommodation." Wang Degong said with regret.

The reason for the slow development is not only insufficient funds, but also conceptual problems. "It is because of the great controversy that the entire tourism development of the Shahukou Great Wall has progressed very slowly and failed to achieve our original expected results." Wang Degong told the Morning Post reporter.

The thinking of protecting the tiger's mouth is still fermenting, and more and more tourists have their own choices. 20/kloc-February, Huang Haitao from Shaanxi took his wife and daughter to visit Shahukou. It was very cold, and Huang's daughter was red with cold and kept walking home. "When we went to the 32 Great Wall yesterday, she was not like this, but she was very excited and climbed up and down." Huang Haitao told the Morning Post reporter.

Article 32 The Great Wall is located in Yangqianhe Township, Youyu County. It is the 32nd beacon tower after the Great Wall of Ming Dynasty entered Youyu. This section of the Great Wall is relatively well preserved because of its rugged mountains and sparsely populated areas.

After the development of tourism in Shahukou, the once inaccessible 32 Great Wall suddenly became lively. "Now tourists come to Youyu and don't even look at killing the tiger's mouth. They went directly to the No.32 Great Wall to see the original ancient Great Wall. " Gou Jian, a traveler, revealed, "Even provincial leaders like to travel to the 32 Great Wall."

The rise of the 32nd Great Wall may be an embarrassing irony for the tourism development of Shahukou.

But it may also be a new inspiration for Youyu's future protection and development of the Great Wall.