Walk in Gannan Tibetan area and observe the history of people's life changes in Taohe River Basin.

Editor's note Taohe River is a major tributary of the upper reaches of the Yellow River. Tibetan is called Luqu, which means dragon water or divine water. Taohe River Basin is the birthplace of human civilization, with splendid Majiayao culture, Xindian culture and Siwa culture.

Wang Xiaozhong was born in Gannan Tibetan area. 20 19 to 10, as the first secretary and captain of the Tibet aid team, started a two-year residency in Duo Long Village, Zhuoni Daogao Township. It was during his stay in the village that he found that there were more and more deviations in his understanding of his native land, and even inexplicable distances and escapes. So with a deep love for his native land, he began a journey to find the source of Taohe River and observed the daily life and customs of people in villages on both sides of Taohe River.

People living along the Taohe River, either grazing in the high-altitude world on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau or working hard in the loess piles, have been guarding this river and sticking to their beliefs for thousands of years. At the same time, it is also developing in an unpredictable direction-the income of animal husbandry has dropped sharply because of the continuous shrinkage of grassland, the income of agriculture is meager, traditional farming has been abandoned, and handicrafts have shrunk or even disappeared. The land has become complicated, and so have the people living on it. These changes are inevitable and cannot be solved.

"I can't give up my love for the land because of the invasion of the virus, nor can I give up my pursuit of the river because of the lost culture and tradition along the Taohe River." Author Wang Xiaozhong wrote in the book. Perhaps the national culture and tradition created by our ancestors are dying out, but the river has not died out. It is still as vast as ever and goes straight to its destination.

Authorized by the publishing house, this paper extracts several chapters from the book. In Yongjing County, the author watched the Taohe River and the Yellow River converge and visited the local farmhouse music that flourished because of the Taohe River. With the development of tourism, people's lives are getting richer and richer, and traditional handicrafts and folk customs are also changing quietly.

Wang Xiaozhong's Notes on Taoheyuan: 202 1 September; Guangxi Normal University Press

Out of Yongjing County, walk seven or eight kilometers to the east, cross the Yellow River to the southern end, and then walk along a winding mountain road to Xia Long Temple, and you can reach Longhuishan. Longhuishan is backed by Liujiaxia Hydropower Station, surrounded by mountains and water, with steep hanging walls, lush trees and long canyons. The water of the Yellow River is in the canyon, green as jade, warm and pleasant. In the shallow valley in the southeast, Gaojiashan is connected with Wusuli Mountain, Taohe River is connected with the Yellow River, two mountains are flying dragons, and the water of two rivers is like two dragons playing with pearls. Its landscape is really rare.

Taohe River is a big tributary on the right bank of the upper reaches of the Yellow River. It is bounded by Bird and Rat Mountain, Maxian Mountain, Weihe River and Zuli River in the east, Jiajialiang River and Daxia River in the west, the main stream of the Yellow River in the north and Qinling Mountain and Bailong River in the south, with a total length of more than 670 kilometers and a drainage area of more than 25,000 square kilometers. Among the tributaries of the Yellow River, the annual runoff of Taohe River is second only to Weihe River. There are many tributaries of Taohe River, which are scattered all over the place and converge in one place. On the south side of Taohe River basin is Gannan grassland on the northeast edge of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, with abundant rainfall and complete vegetation, and on the north side is Longxi Loess Plateau, which is dry and rainless and has serious soil erosion. The river at the southern end is crystal clear, but it becomes very turbid after flowing through the Loess Plateau. The situation that the upstream water reaches the bottom, the river course is stable and the water flow is stable also disappears invisibly.

Landscape of the upper reaches of Taohe River: Guangxi Normal University Press

The Yellow River is still lying in Liujiaxia Reservoir, with layers of ripples, golden light flashing, green water and blue intersecting, which reminds people of the poem "Spring River is as green as blue". The water of Taohe River flows in quietly, which seems out of place, but Taohe River has found a big family. The Taohe River here is no longer a small jasper, nor a good family, but muddy yellow mud soup. The meeting place is like pouring a bucket of butter into a pool of clear water, like two pigments that are difficult to reconcile. After thousands of turns, these two irreconcilable pigments repeatedly mixed and infiltrated, drifted in the canyon, and finally disappeared, completely blending into one in the big water reservoir.

In Liujiaxia Reservoir, you can see the wonders of the intersection of Taohe River and Yellow River. Guangxi Normal University Press/vision china Map

I walked many miles to see the confluence of Taohe River and Yellow River. Yongjing county ten years ago is different from Yongjing county today. Its changes make people unable to distinguish things and find the north and south. Taohe River flows into the Yellow River, which is the natural law of river development. It not only ensures our survival, but also brings us great benefits, improves people's livelihood and makes the value of rivers play an unprecedented role.

Taiji Island is in the upper reaches of Yanguoxia. The Yellow River flows eastward, uninhibited. After leaving Liu Jia Canyon, it miraculously made an "S" turn, and then meandered westward. This big "S" has been stored in front of Yanguoxia for a long time and turned into a lake, which looks like Tai Chi. On the land of the motherland, the natural landscape like Taiji Island is not worth mentioning. However, Taiji Island has brought endless benefits to Yongjing people, and the surrounding villages have also used the good reputation of this place to build farmhouses.

Taiji Island is a bit of a misnomer among the great rivers and mountains of the motherland, but the farmhouse music near Taiji Island is genuine. Nongjiale is concentrated in Zaoyuan New Village, Yongjing County, which is not only beautiful, but also the production base of Yongjing Jujube. Jujube in Zaoyuan is big, brightly colored, thin-skinned and thick-fleshed, and sells well both inside and outside the province.

I found this place along the vague memory of ten years ago. In the early years, Zaoyuan New Village was mostly antique brick-wood structure, which had local national artistic characteristics under the exquisite Linxia brick carving. But in just ten years, great changes have taken place here, and the old buildings are basically the same as the modern buildings in major scenic spots. It is gratifying that the jujube forest is still there, with a tree-lined sky and fragrant branches.

Yongjing jujube data map

Besides, it is delicious food. The farmhouse here is trying to build Taohe carp. For Taohe carp, I almost inquired about the farmhouse I visited ten years ago. Finally, I found it. However, ten years later, things have changed, and the beautiful young boss's skin is flabby, but her indomitable character has not changed at all. Fish is only as good as her family's, rice is only as fragrant as her family's, and dates are only as sweet as her family's. Her old courtyard has not changed, and the complete quadrangle is surrounded by jujube garden, so it is difficult to see the whole picture from the outside. It's just that the former outer courtyard has changed, many jujube trees have been dug up, and several modern and fashionable restaurants have been added.

On October day, the scenery is not cold. In addition to the table, sofa, stereo and TV, there is also a pig iron stove in the dining room. The fire is booming, which makes people feel warm. A row of dates stood at the door, the straight trunk went straight into the sky, but the naughty oblique branches hung at the door of the restaurant, and the dates had already been polished. It's all over the floor, but it's cracked. Unfortunately, those dates are thin and thick. The proprietress doesn't know me for a long time, but she still introduced me to all the delicious food on the menu as she did ten years ago. When it comes to fish, it is even more glib. Yes, I want to eat fish. I often live on both sides of Taohe River, and I eat a lot of the most precious goldfish and stone fish. Carps are disdainful, but here, they are particularly eager to eat. The most common Taohe carp can be sold at sky-high prices here. Are all the sky-high things good? Many times, it is really difficult for us to convince ourselves of our distorted psychology. It is precisely because of this distorted psychology that we mistreat a lot of intestines and stomach in our lives, echoing the bad tricks of many businessmen.

The Taohe carp in Liujiaxia reservoir area is particularly precious, which is unreasonable, but businessmen can tell you a lot that you can't refute. Fortunately, the taste of many years ago is still there, and I have eaten a lot of dates. Taohe carp climbed over the mountains and climbed in the yellow mud soup and was eaten by us. Unfortunately, after all. However, all kinds of creatures in nature can't escape the inherent food chain law of nature.

In a farmhouse in Apollo Village, zhuoni, Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, local people are making ghee for their guests. Vision china diagram

Taohe River is a river closely related to the origin of Chinese civilization. It falls and climbs across two plateaus, which is not only the inheritance of farming civilization, but also the change of nomadic culture.

After crossing the Loess Plateau, Taohe River suddenly fell into a gentle valley basin. The climate changed from the plateau mountain climate with high altitude, low temperature, strong solar radiation and great regional differences on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to the temperate continental climate with cold and dry winter and hot and rainy summer, and the wild beauty was greatly improved. The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is mostly grassland and forest, which is suitable for grazing and hunting. After arriving in the Loess Plateau, because its climate and environment are more conducive to agricultural development, the Taohe River Basin in the middle reaches is densely populated with agriculture and human beings. If you want to trace the source, it will probably be thousands of years ago. The core area of Majiayao culture and Siwa culture is in the middle reaches of Taohe River, where the earliest bronzes discovered in China were unearthed. The emergence of Majiayao culture and Siwa culture is enough to prove Taohe's position in the history of Chinese civilization.

The "spiral painted pottery drum" of Majiayao culture in Neolithic age is an earlier percussion instrument discovered so far. Vision china diagram

Due to different regions, the runoff of Taohe River is accompanied by different products and customs. Products have remained unchanged since ancient times, but the evolution of customs is constantly changing with the process of socialization.

I went to Yantao Town in the middle and lower reaches of Taohe River, because I asked Yan Tao craftsmen in the town to carve a Yan Tao. Yan Tao Si Tong picked it up from Lama Cliff, ten miles away from Yantao Town. Its stones are square, clear in texture and green as jade. After the construction of Jiudianxia project, this section just became the reservoir area, a large number of farmland was flooded, people moved one after another, and Lama Cliff, which is rich in high-quality Yan Taoshi, was also submerged under water. After Lama Cliff was flooded, it was hard to find a stone. Even Yan Taoshi, who was not Lama Cliff, was highly valued. The stones I picked up really have first-class stones and waterlines. It is undoubtedly the old pit stone of Lama Cliff, but it is a little small.

It's not impossible for a friend to write without an inkstone. Yan Taoshi has been famous since the Tang Dynasty. It has always been a treasure of royal writers and wealthy businessmen. I promised my friend a gift, and the palm-sized Yan Tao stone head couldn't be better.

Taohe inkstone has always been a treasure of royal literati and wealthy businessmen. Vision china diagram

Yan Tao lives on the bank of Taohe River at the foot of the mountain, and the traffic is inconvenient, but he has concentrated on craftsmen, large and small, who carved Yan Tao. When I came back from Lama Cliff, I walked into a house engraved with Yan Tao's brand. The craftsman is over forty, with harmonious expression and polite language. The yard is not big, except for the piled Yan Taoshi, which is full of vegetables. A woman bent down to work in a vegetable field without looking up at the guests. I'm used to it, too Although I live by the mountain and set up a seat by the water, strangers come in an endless stream, all for the stone. Stone has a lot of value, but in fact, human feelings are much lighter than stones, while human hearts are much heavier than stones.

Needless to say, I did find a good stone. The craftsman held it in his hand and his eyes were full of envy and even jealousy.

This stone is too small to make a big one. However, the smaller the pebbles, the more we can consider the craftsman's craft. The craftsman suggested making a fish inkstone, because its shape is suitable for carving fish. I'm an outsider. I listen to you. This stone has just been placed in a farmer's house in Yantao Town, and almost everything has been forgotten. A few months later, he called and said that the inkstone had been carved. A few months later, I took time to go to Yantao Town.

Yantao Town has caught up with the rural revitalization construction and excavated everywhere. Without the telephone number of the craftsman, it is difficult to find his home. A palm-sized stone was carved into two lifelike fish, which was amazing, and then I couldn't put it down.

Yantao Town has never lacked craftsmen, and there have been several sculptors. Zhuoni and its neighboring county Min County have been fighting for Yan Tao's hometown for several years. In fact, they all live near Taohe River. It is said that Yan Tao's hometown, in addition to the origin of Yan Tao, of course, also includes the existence of sculptors. Yan Tao sculpture art is listed as intangible cultural heritage in the local area, but it has not been well protected. Several Yan Tao sculptors in Zhuoni were poached by Min County. I heard that they were given good treatment, and later they all transferred their accounts. I also asked the craftsman about it, but he just smiled and avoided answering.

In Zhuoni, Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province, layers of terraces complement each other, forming a landscape of nature. Vision china diagram

A stone becomes a handicraft, which is full of the painstaking efforts of stone diggers and craftsmen, and also pours into the collectors' vision and appreciation level. But in the hands of ordinary people, it is just a stone; In the hands of collectors, it becomes a handicraft. In short, you can't eat it as a meal. The craftsman's words are very popular, and they also tell the different fate of stones. While speaking, the craftsman's daughter-in-law has already cooked the meal. After several months' absence, the young woman who devoted herself to the yard became pregnant. Her name is Gong Caocao, and she is from Yan Tao. She is clever, especially good at cooking.

The vegetables in the yard are too long to eat. Pumpkins are unrestrained and very naughty. Branches and vines have climbed to the top of the rock sugar pear tree. Stewed pumpkin soup with Gongmucao and fried a native chicken. She grew up in Yan Tao and is very familiar with the cultivation there. During the dinner, she talked about farming, but she was not optimistic. She said that Yan Tao people seldom grow crops, which is not a matter of yield. It's too expensive to hire people from beginning to end. There are no animals in the village, so the machine operation is fast and economical, but the cost is not low. Therefore, all the fields on the ridge have been planted with trees, and Sichuan needs to plant medicinal materials. Gongmucao said with a smile, life is getting better and better, but people's hearts are getting empty without planting crops. After Yan Taoshitou rose again, more people came to look for stones, so we opened a farmhouse. More people come to eat and live, and they will be more practical. If people are busy, there will be more right and wrong when they are free. The reality is that there are still fewer people, and we want to be free. You came at a bad time, and you were busy digging Dangshen, otherwise you would find a lot of good things if you stayed a few more days. I don't know what she means by good deeds, but I really want to stay a few more days. And so is my actual situation. After dinner, I got the inkstone. It's time to go.

Proofreading: Zhang