Walking along the Yalu River, from rain to fog

The Yalu River railway bridge at the upper estuary stands in the fog. (Li Wei/map)

The plane began to descend. I was wondering if I could overlook the Yalu River under the sea of clouds through the porthole, but I heard the announcement "Please close the shutter". The lights in the engine room soon dimmed, and I waited in the dim light. When the plane landed at Dandong Langtou Airport, I found the sky gloomy and the rain was piercing. Even with the shutter open, I may not see the banks of the river.

Langtou Airport, which is used for military and civilian purposes, is close to the border between China and North Korea, with the Yalu River in the east and the Yellow Sea in the south. 195 1 year, the first plane of the volunteers took off and began the first air battle between China and the United States. The old battlefield, the border town, overlooking North Korea ... During the epidemic, tourists who came to the Yalu River had nothing but these visions.

In addition, I have a curiosity: "Water is like a duck's head" recorded by Du You in Tong Dian in the Tang Dynasty and "The geese fly to the Yalu River, and the geese raise dark clouds" written by Lu You in the Song Dynasty.

Get on the bus in the rain and drive east along Guomen Avenue towards Yalu River. When approaching the river, the car walked with the approach bridge of the Sino-Korean Yalu River Boundary River Highway Bridge, which was erected at a high place. The bridge eventually flew across the river, but we could only stop at the west bank of the river.

I don't know if it's the epidemic or the weather. The river bank is quiet and empty. The Yalu River is shrouded in a hazy rain, and the water beats the green grass on the shore. The white cable-stayed bridge towering above the water is the longest cross-border bridge in China. The main bridge was completed many years ago, but it has not been opened to traffic due to the delay in the construction of the connecting approach road on the Korean side. My line of sight extends far away along the empty bridge and gradually becomes blurred. Equally vague are the trees on the other side of the river, which only show blue-gray outlines in the rain and fog. A bird skimmed over the river and flew to the shadows in the distance. At this moment, it is one of the few creatures that can come and go freely on both sides of the river.

Sino-Korean Yalu River Boundary River Highway Bridge (photo by Li Jin)

The river ran into the sea, and I went upstream. With the increasing density of houses and population, we came to Dandong. Tourists who can't cross the river like birds are all crowded by the river with boundary markers and looking across the river. The most lively place is, of course, the broken bridge with only half left. This iron bridge was originally the first bridge on the Yalu River, which was built by the Japanese colonial government in 19 1 1. The most special thing is that it adopts a rare opening and closing beam structure, which can rotate 90 degrees around the No.9 cylindrical pier to facilitate the navigation of passing ships. 1October, 1950, 1 1, the US Air Force bombed the bridge to half, leaving only 477 meters of the original 12-hole iron bridge on the China side.

Nowadays, the mechanical structure of the opening-closing beam can still be seen at the pier, and the dust and rust on the gears are mottled, so it is impossible to imagine the magnificent scenery of Qian Fan when the bridge was opened. On the observation deck of the broken bridge, people's amazing eyes swept through twisted steel bars, bullet-marked iron beams and torpedoes tied with chains. They bared their teeth under the clouds and stretched out to the drizzle and breeze.

The Yalu River bridge is broken, the steel bars are twisted, and the bullet marks still exist. (Li Wei/map)

To the north of the Broken Bridge is the China-DPRK Friendship Bridge, which was also built in Japan. It was built later than the Broken Bridge, only 100 meters apart. As a traffic link connecting the front and rear of the troops, it was also devastated by the US military. On the day when the broken bridge was blown off, the bridge was also seriously damaged and could not be opened to traffic. Anton (formerly known as Dandong) Railway Sub-bureau braved the fatal danger of air raid, repaired it overnight, and finally restored it to traffic before dawn the next day. 195 1 April, the bridge was blown to bend the rails and moved. Anton Railway Sub-bureau carried out emergency repairs for four days and nights, set up temporary bridge cribs and laid rails for military trains to pass through.

If it weren't for the epidemic, there would be trains on the Friendship Bridge between China and North Korea carrying tourists who are curious about the mysterious neighboring countries every day, and the trains returning to Dandong from the other side are full of migrant workers selected by North Korea. Almost every hotel in this border town takes seeing the Yalu River as its selling point. The boss will enthusiastically tell me which restaurants can see the songs and dances performed by Korean beauty, and at the same time sell me "rooms facing the scenery".

On the left is the Yalu River Broken Bridge, and on the right is the China-DPRK Friendship Bridge. (Li Wei/map)

But that day I just wanted to see another bridge, an "invisible bridge". About 5 kilometers north of the broken bridge, there is a secret passage to cross the river in the water: volunteers put wooden stakes in the water to build a pontoon bridge to connect the other side of Dangsang Island in North Korea. The bridge is submerged in the water at high tide and exposed at low tide. In addition to a large number of troops crossing the river, materials also entered the Korean front through this bridge.

On the Yalu River, Dandong has four bridges used to resist US aggression and aid Korea, namely the Yalu River Broken Bridge, the China-DPRK Friendship Bridge, the Hekou Broken Bridge (Qingcheng Bridge) and the Shanghekou Yalu River Railway Bridge. In addition, the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea also used three bridges not located in Dandong, namely Ji 'an Yalu River Bridge, Linjiang Yalu River Bridge and Changhui Bridge. As for the pontoon bridge, it has been built and demolished, and it has been demolished and built. It is impossible to determine how many bridges there are. ...

Volunteers built two pontoons in April of 195 1. In addition to this pontoon bridge connecting Dangsang Island, another railway pontoon bridge is located at Shahekou in the east of the city. Because it was in the main channel, it was demolished after the war. The first pontoon bridge in Korea was built in September, 1950, one kilometer downstream of Shanghekou Village in Kuandian County. It was demolished every day to ensure its secrecy: the bridge was built two or three hours after dusk, and the engineers led the troops to cross the river secretly, and then it was demolished before dawn 1 hour. As for the common historical photos of "crossing the Yalu River", they were taken on the pontoon bridge in Mashi Village, which is the only place for volunteers to cross the river from the highway bridge to the DPRK on foot. After the war, the pontoon bridge in Mashi Village was destroyed by the flood. Nowadays, the only trace of the pontoon bridge that people who come to look for the bridge can find is this pontoon bridge connected with Dangsang Island.

It's a pity that the rain made the river rise and could not be seen. I can only guess where some piers of the pontoon bridge are from the change of water flow. This section of the river is much narrower than the downtown area of Dandong, and the lush fields and trees on the other side are very close. The traces of war are drowned by time and current, and only the memory of history is still in the haze, lingering on the Yalu River.

Where the pontoon bridge is located, the pier is under the current. (Li Wei/map)

The road from Dandong to the north is close to the riverbank, and some sections are separated from the river by barbed wire, constantly reminding me that the Yalu River is the boundary river between the two countries. Rain will wash away vegetation and make it green. The two sides are fresh and pleasing to the eye, and the lush colors spread with the flat terrain until a mountain peak stands out at the intersection of the Yalu River and its tributaries, and the trees on the top of the mountain can be seen in the distance. This is the Great Wall of Hushan.

As early as the Liao Dynasty, Jurchen lived on both sides of the Yalu River and was a descendant of the Blackwater people who migrated here. After Akuta unified the ministries of Jurchen, he expelled the rule of Qidan, established the Jin Dynasty and invaded the Song Dynasty. There is a sentence in Lu You's "The Teacher's Watch" that "chasing tigers to the north of Qilian Mountain" and "shooting back to the wild goose Yalu River". At that time, Qilian Mountain and Yalu River were the border areas where Song and Jin confronted each other, and the poem was about the fighting life of soldiers who resisted Jin.

Then the Mongols destroyed the Jin Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty overthrew the Yuan Dynasty. Rivers and mountains change hands, dynasties change, and only rivers continue. In the fifth year of Chenghua in the Ming Dynasty, the Hushan Great Wall was built along the Yalu River, which was the easternmost part of the Great Wall in the Ming Dynasty. The original intention of the Ming Dynasty to build the Great Wall in Liaodong was to prevent the restoration of the Northern Yuan Dynasty, but with the rise of Jianzhou Jurchen, it threatened both the Ming Dynasty and North Korea, and the object of resistance of this land became Jurchen again.

The rain almost stopped, so I boarded the gatehouse and walked on the Great Wall. Summer rain nourishes lush grass trees, and a blue-gray stone wall stands between lush green trees, which is almost indistinguishable without careful look. The Great Wall extends to a very high place along the ridge, and vines are all over the wall, such as a green carpet covering the stone, which makes this ancient Great Wall look a little vicissitudes.

The Great Wall of Hushan is hidden among the green trees. (Li Wei/map)

In the late Ming Dynasty, the late Jin Dynasty established by Nurhachi controlled Liaodong. After the Battle of Salhu and the Battle of Jin Song, the destroyed Hushan Great Wall, like other Great Walls in Liaodong, lost its military defense significance and was abandoned. After the Qing Dynasty entered the Central Plains, the "land of Zhaoxing" in the northeast was designated as a restricted area. In the Ming Dynasty, the abandoned part of the Great Wall in Liaodong was inserted with willow branches and transformed into a "wicker edge" as a symbol of the restricted area. Time has passed, and many people think that Shanhaiguan is the starting point of the Great Wall in Ming Dynasty, and the Great Wall in Liaodong has been forgotten for many years. Today, the wall under my feet was restored and rebuilt on the basis of the ruins at the end of the 20th century. At the entrance, the scenic spot proudly reads: The starting point is at the eastern end of the Great Wall in Wan Li.

On this day, employees of a restaurant in Dandong are building the Great Wall. More than half of the people said that although they had known the Great Wall of Hushan since childhood, it was their first time to climb it. They have all been to the "one-step crossing" under the Great Wall, where the river is extremely narrow, as if one step from the countryside in the northeast can reach the farmland in North Korea. However, the epidemic has been closed "one step away", and everyone can only climb to the top of the Great Wall to see neighboring countries.

The leader holds a megaphone in his hand, and the passionate melodies of old songs such as "On the Songhua River" and "Lu" urge people to go to one watchtower after another. There is a very narrow and steep staircase leading to the watchtower at the top of the mountain. People are tightly squeezed between rocks, looking up at the gloomy sky and climbing up with their hands and feet. When I climbed to the top panting, I found a longer, wider but still steep staircase waiting for me. The stereo sang louder, and the employees cheered each other up. I followed their footsteps to the top of Hushan Mountain, climbed the watchtower and looked out.

Looking south of Yalu River from the watchtower at the top of Hushan Mountain. (Li Wei/map)

It was at the end of the Qing Dynasty that the mountains and lakes resumed their beacon smoke and the war reignited. During the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the Japanese attacked China by land and sea, and Hushan, which faces North Korea across the river, became one of the important battlefields. The Qing army deployed along the Yalu River, and the generals boarded Hushan for on-the-spot inspection, and more than a thousand soldiers defended by the mountain; The Japanese army camped in Yizhou, North Korea on the other side. 189410124 October, the two sides launched an artillery battle across the river, and the Japanese army swam across the river at the upstream Anping estuary, which opened the gap in the defense of the Qing army. But this was a diversion, and the Japanese army deliberately confused the Qing army in order to secretly prepare materials for bridging. The first line of Hushan River forms sandbars due to sediment alluvial, and the current is shallow. That night, the Japanese army set up two pontoons on the river under Tiger Mountain, but the Qing army didn't find them. On the morning of the 25th, the Japanese army launched an attack on the position of the Qing army in Hushan. The Qing army suffered heavy casualties and was forced to retreat. The Japanese army occupied Hushan and moved its headquarters here. On 26th, the Japanese army further occupied Jiuliancheng Scenic Resort scenic spot and Andong County in the lower reaches of Yalu River.

"There are two poplars in front of the door, a neat fence yard, and a small straw house …" The tune of the old songs in the anti-Japanese period flies. Although it is not the Songhua River, the Yalu River is also green and clear. Jiang Xindao and the other side are flat farmland, where neat village houses stand, and lush trees dot the field scenery. It's raining again, and the river is connected with the clouds on the horizon. Dandong people used to see the scenery in North Korea, and soon took songs to shelter from the rain. Shan Ye was silent again, leaving me still thinking about the Great Wall.

Overlooking Jiang Xindao and the other side from the watchtower of Tiger Peak. (Li Wei/map)

I didn't pay attention to when it was foggy after the rain. Only journey to the south, gradually can't see the blue river. The thin fog is like a cloud, caged among green trees and shrouded the river. When I stopped the car, the white fog was already boundless.

"Wow, Wonderland!" A young woman's voice let out a sigh in my heart. When I turned around, the woman smiled at me and greeted me behind her. "It's beautiful. Come and take pictures. " A van that had just stopped came down one after another, and five or six people were standing by the river, cooing at the fog.

I was going to the north to find another broken bridge. The bridge connecting China and North Korea was bombed indiscriminately by the US military, and Hekou Village in Kuandian County also left a broken highway bridge. This is the earliest highway bridge across China and North Korea on the Yalu River, formerly known as Qingcheng Bridge, through which the first batch of volunteers crossed the river. However, Wonderland made me forget this bridge. Along the river bank, the fog is getting thicker and higher, covering the exotic islands and mountains on the other side with a layer of gray gauze. After the rain, the sky was clear, the distant mountains fluctuated gently, the sparse village houses floated on the clouds, and the mist reflected the emerald green of the grass trees, making the Yalu River truly "water color like a duck's head".

Fog rose from the river, reflecting green trees. (Li Wei/map)

The sign that says "Peach Blossom Blossom Place" stands in the middle of the road leading to the estuary. Peach trees are planted everywhere in Hekou village. In the warm spring season in bloom, the burning peach blossoms embrace the beautiful village and reflect the clear river, just as the song goes. But the summer flowers have already faded, and I am surrounded by clean green after the rain. Large clouds float lightly in the air, connected with the fog on the wide river. Fish cages float in the water, and the dense forests and mountains in the distance are dyed a fuzzy ink color.

Where there are cages, there are fishermen. When the car passed the Peach Blossom Island full of farmhouses, I really saw a lonely boat in the middle of the river. There was only one fisherman standing on the boat, rowing rhythmically up and down in the diffuse fog, and I didn't know how to return to He 'an at dusk. I followed the boat quietly, for fear that the slightest sound would disturb the tranquility of this landscape painting.

There are many peaks on the river, but I don't know which shore the fisherman comes from. (Li Wei/map)

But the car is still much faster than sailing against the current. The fishing boat slowly disappeared into the fog behind the car, and the Yalu River Railway Bridge in Shanghekou, which stood on the river in front, came into my sight. This bridge was also built by Japanese colonists to transport engineering materials to the Shuifeng Hydropower Station in the upper reaches, but it was not used after completion. This bridge came in handy in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. The Northeast Military Region extended the railway from Fengcheng to Kuandian to Shanghekou, and then the Shanghekou Railway Station was connected with the North Korean Qingshui Station through this railway bridge, which became another important channel for transporting volunteers and materials.

There is no doubt that the bridge was also heavily bombed by American artillery, which was seriously damaged and was not opened after the armistice. But at night, more and more dense fog covered the traces of these wars, as well as the piers inserted into the water and the buildings on the other side (if any). As far as I can see, the distant mountains are like Dai, and the bridges seem to float in the distant air, connecting the two sides of Yunshan.

Passing the national gate and boundary markers at the bridgehead and crossing the railway tracks, I parked my car at the 74-kilometer-long tunnel entrance of the Shang Feng-Shang Xian railway. There are more than twenty military columns transported from here to North Korea day and night, and the sculptures of volunteer soldiers are still staring at the direction of North Korea. After leaving Dandong, the other party finally showed some traces of industrialization. The river seems to be a factory building, and the towering chimneys break through the fog and go straight into the mountains. At this time, I realized that I had reached the edge of the estuary, and the broken bridge I had intended to look for had been missed. When I opened the map, I found the landmark of the broken bridge on the edge of Peach Blossom Island-just as I watched the river being rowed together and thought that the personnel changes were the same, the remains of the highway bridge were ignored by me in the fog.

Looking across the river in the fog, you can see houses and chimneys in North Korea. (Li Wei/map)

I look back at the route, and the fog has actually risen from the Yalu River to the highway. The dusk is low, and there is wet fog all over the mountains. I can't see the river, and I can't see the cars and roads clearly. As if the pen and ink of landscape painting suddenly waved, the fog also enveloped me, making me completely immersed in the breath of Yalu River.

Li Jin