East of Dunhuang, deep in the Gobi, the 14 years of the Yulin Cave Keepers

Yulin Grottoes, the sister cave of Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes, is also an important part of the Dunhuang Grottoes art system. It is located 70 kilometers south of Guazhou County and has experienced the Tang, Five Dynasties, Song, Xixia, Yuan and Qing Dynasties. After more than 1,000 years of construction, there are 43 existing caves, more than 270 colored sculptures, and more than 5,600 square meters of murals. Brilliant as a treasure, it is a magnificent sight.

Although they are both cultural heritage managed by the Dunhuang Academy, the Yulin Grottoes are a far more desolate and remote place than the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang.

Entrance to the cave area. The pictures in this article were provided by the interviewees.

Driving east from Dunhuang, you will see a deserted Gobi desert. After more than an hour, water began to flow, and a few dazzling Populus euphratica were seen. Continuing forward along the Yulin River, the car suddenly stopped on a large flat land surrounded by open fields. The driver pointed to the entrance where the road could not be seen in front and said, "Down here, you will find the Yulin Cave."

National Treasure Monument

The quiet but brilliant Yulin Grottoes are hidden deep in the canyon cliffs of this vast desert. Walking down the stone steps, the world suddenly opens up. Under the sunshine and the elm trees, the Yulin River looks like a paradise.

Song Zizhen stayed in Yulin Grottoes for 14 years. When he was transferred from the Dunhuang Academy Security Office to serve as the director of the Yulin Grottoes Cultural Relics Protection Research Institute, he never thought that he would live in this desolate and lonely place. Place to stay for so long.

The road from Dunhuang to Guazhou Yulin Grottoes is now half highway and half dirt road. Although it is still remote and inconvenient, it is already a route that can be traveled by self-driving. Before that, the staff of the Dunhuang Research Institute went to Yulin Grottoes, which still took several hours of bumpy rides. If a young and inexperienced girl prepares a bag of snacks to eat on the road before getting in the car, she will probably vomit in the car halfway through the journey.

Song Zizhen’s work photos

Fourteen years ago, Song Zizhen came to work here in the winter around Christmas. As a staff member of the Dunhuang Research Institute, he often visited Yulin Grottoes before, mostly leaving on the same day. This time, he wanted to stay for a long time.

He remembered that it was snowing heavily when he came, and the weather was very cold. In the middle of the night, I was lying in a simple house with a brick and earth structure. The roof was the same as that of the local mud houses. Instead of tiles, it was just covered with wooden mats and smeared with mud. Burning coal to keep warm in the middle of the night, with the sound of the rushing water on my pillow, I couldn't fall asleep. I thought to myself, this place is really too desolate.

The leader told him that he would come back after three years. He did not expect that this stay would last 14 years.

Song Zizhen came to Yulin Grottoes in 2007. At that time, it was already an era of Internet access in all directions, and Dunhuang had already been integrated with international standards. However, Yulin Cave, more than 170 kilometers away from home, is still deep in the Gobi desert, inaccessible and isolated from the world. Conditions here are not much different than they were decades or even centuries ago.

What I drink is water from the river. When I return to the county town, I need to find a ride from a fellow villager. Tractors, motorcycles, carts, and ox carts, any with wheels will do. If you don’t have a car, you have to walk. At that time, there were no telephones, let alone the Internet, airy and leaky mud houses, and mud toilets that made people flee. In winter, we need to clear snow, in spring, we need to plant trees, and in summer, we need to grow vegetables.

Because there is no direct train, it takes three or four days to go from Dunhuang to Yulin Grottoes by various means of transportation. This process lasted for many years. Song Zizhen often only returns to her home in Dunhuang every ten days and a half, and it is also normal to go back once a month. Since his children were in junior high school, he rarely took care of the family.

But nowadays, people who have been to Yulin Cave can hardly imagine that the lives of the cave keepers would have been like that only ten years apart.

When he met Song Zizhen, he warmly invited him and led him around the Yulin Grottoes.

Daytime in the grotto area

The river is gurgling, the birds are singing and the flowers are fragrant. Together with the grotto plank road, the scenery is endless. There is a low-key but artistic signboard "Yulin House" on the wall of the office rest area of ??the newly completed Yulin Grottoes Cultural Relics Conservation Research Institute. The entire building area is rich in design concepts and is integrated with the great grottoes on both sides of the canyon that have lasted for thousands of years, while the internal space is extremely simple, modern and comfortable.

Plank Road in the Grotto Area

The splendid Yulin Grottoes are now the destination of many tourists visiting Dunhuang. Outside the cave, the environment here is so refined in the Gobi desert that it is so beautiful that it makes people linger.

Song Zizhen is very pleased with the newly renovated "Yulin House". It took more than 4 years to complete with the strong support of the Dunhuang Research Institute and social welfare forces and the participation of many designers.

In the Yulin Grottoes for more than ten years, in addition to guarding this precious human cultural heritage, doing cultural relic protection, cultural promotion, and comprehensive management work, Song Zizhen said that he has been worrying about these trivial lives all year round. Troubled and running around, "In the first few years, I just dug wells for employees to find water, took shuttle buses home, and then communicated on the phone and the Internet. Now, we have finally built an employee home for everyone." He sighed, " More than ten years have passed like this."

Talking about his career as a "cave guard" over the years, Song Zizhen spoke vividly. He is a typical northwest man. He speaks in a leisurely and straightforward manner. He often grins, but the scenes he describes are sometimes so vivid that they make people laugh out loud. When talking about the hardships, he also said "endure", but a large part of his memories were about the benefits of Yulin Grottoes.

Speaking of which, the snow is too thick in winter. The staff often sweeps the snow after explaining. After sweeping the snow, they throw down the broom and go to explain again. The girls cry while doing it. He suddenly said, "Oh, Yulin Grottoes are also very beautiful in winter, and the snow scenery is particularly beautiful. You should come and see it in winter. Populus euphratica is also beautiful in autumn, and the scenery in all four seasons has its own characteristics."

He said: "As time goes by, I also like this place. This place is indeed very good and very quiet. It allows people to think and study quietly. Sometimes I am busy during the day and can tidy myself up at night."

Exterior view of the cave area

Although life was difficult back then, it was accompanied by spiritual happiness. Song Zizhen misses the days when she and her colleagues from the Dunhuang Academy often drank tea and chatted late at night. We were as close as brothers. , Love the family. Nowadays, the environment of Yulin Grottoes has taken on a completely new look, and the material hardship has gradually faded away. However, he has also begun to worry about the younger generation's feelings and dedication to this place, and worries that there will always be new challenges in the protection of the grottoes.

In a few months, Song Zizhen will reach retirement age. Looking back on the way back, he described his generation as "a blue strand on a rough road". They came here by simple means of transportation and began their lifelong indissoluble bond with the Dunhuang Grottoes.

“After staying here for so many years, I actually don’t have too many thoughts. First, protect the Yulin Grottoes; second, provide good service and serve the Yulin Grottoes; third, serve the employees and tourists. Provide good service and guarantee. No matter what you do, whether you can do something meaningful in this position and whether you can improve this place and develop it, I think it is the most important thing."

Now, He felt that he had fulfilled his original wish and handed over a Yulin Grotto with a completely new environment and appearance into the hands of future generations. He sighed with emotion: "My mission is completed, and it is not in vain to work in Yulin Cave for so many years."

The Big Buddha in Cave 6

1. Looking for water to drink

< p> Song Zizhen is from the northwest, and the Gobi desert is a familiar daily life for him. However, when she first arrived at her new post, Song Zizhen was still a little unprepared for the desolation and loneliness of Yulin Cave.

Before this, he had been in many places. His hometown is near Maiji Mountain in Tianshui. He came to Dunhuang to study in middle school when he was 12 years old. After graduation, because his father worked in Qinghai, he went to Qinghai Mangya, a place that is now an Internet celebrity attraction but is still thousands of miles away and desolate. Song Zizhen became an educated youth there. After that, he worked in the local public security system for 18 years. In 1994, the Dunhuang Academy established a Security Office and needed people with public security experience. By various coincidences, Song Zizhen returned to Dunhuang from Qinghai and became a member of the Security Office of the Dunhuang Academy.

After staying in Mogao Grottoes for 13 years, Song Zizhen was transferred to Yulin Grottoes. Although it still belongs to the Dunhuang Academy, everyone knows that the Yulin Grottoes are very remote and difficult. The most important thing is that I can't take care of my family.

At that time, the child had just entered junior high school, but my lover said, OK, I support you. Song Zizhen is here.

However, he himself did not expect that life in the valley would have so many problems.

It was winter when we first arrived and it was very cold. The problem of going to the toilet is quite confusing. At that time, there was only one open-air dry toilet in Yulin Cave. As long as you went out to use the toilet at night in winter, you would catch a cold immediately. Because of this matter, Song Zizhen herself caught colds several times.

But the most troublesome thing is the issue of draft.

Relic Pagoda

At that time, there were less than 20 people in the Yulin Grottoes Cultural Relics Protection Research Institute, but they drank water from the Yulin River. Because there was small pollution from grazing in the upper reaches, the water here As soon as you drink it, your stomach will become bloated and make a loud rumbling sound. Sometimes you will have a stomachache, but you will get better after getting used to it for a while.

In addition to scooping water from the river, employees of the Yulin Grottoes Cultural Relics Conservation Research Institute also built a water tank on a pickup truck and went to the town of Suoyang, 30 kilometers away, to bring water back. Pull once every 5 days in winter and once every 3 days in summer. At that time, the duty room was still a simple thatched house with uneven bricks on the floor, and bricks were stacked unevenly on the tables. There was a stove in the middle. While on duty, everyone scooped water from the bucket with a ladle and boiled it.

Song Zizhen looked at the situation and realized that the water for washing and rinsing was okay, but drinking it for a long time was really unhygienic and bad for everyone’s health. “We have to ensure our drinking water problem. Even drinking water is so difficult. How to make everyone feel at ease to work."

So, the first thing he did in Yulin Cave was to purchase a set of 100,000 yuan of water purification equipment from other places, whether it was from the river. The water was still brought back and was purified before drinking. This finally temporarily solved the problem of drinking water hygiene for employees.

It took two years of transition.

Song Zizhen learned from a friend at the Provincial Department of Water Resources that as long as she submitted a report to obtain funds, she would have the opportunity to explore wells in the surrounding areas. However, the trouble was that Guazhou County had no data on water resources exploration around Liuyuan Town and Yulin Grottoes. give up halfway.

So Song Zizhen led professional prospectors to drill exploratory wells in a radius of more than ten kilometers. One of the wells was drilled to more than 70 meters, but there was no water. Finally, water was drilled 3.5 kilometers west of Yulin Grottoes. Because the cost was insufficient, the exploratory well was sealed again. The official drilling of the well was not started until the funds were in place. After digging to more than 240 meters underground, drinking water was finally extracted. Then another 3.8 kilometers of pipelines were built to divert well water to the reservoir, finally solving the drinking water problem for the employees of the Yulin Grottoes Cultural Relics Protection Institute.

Nowadays, Yulin Cave is full of flowers, plants and trees, and they grow their own vegetables, melons and fruits, all of which are brought up from the river for irrigation. And everyone still relies on the deep well dug back then for drinking water. "Now the water we drink can be bottled, and it is the same as mineral water." Song Zizhen said with a proud smile to the tea served.

Cave 2 Water Moon Guanyin

2. Shuttle bus

After solving the water problem, the second problem is getting home.

Just as the staff of the Mogao Grottoes could not return to Dunhuang County in the early years, the staff of the Yulin Grottoes also cannot return home. Yulin Grottoes are 70 kilometers away from Guazhou County, and the nearest town of Suoyang is also 30 kilometers away. Because it is located in the desolate Gobi Desert, it is almost impossible to find a car unless there is a car coming from the yard. If you want to go home, you often have to walk 30 kilometers to the town of Suoyang, and then find a car from a fellow villager to return to Guazhou County. In the Gobi Desert, it usually takes a whole day to walk 30 kilometers, and it is very troublesome in the middle of nowhere. On the return trip, we also have to repeatedly find a car. It takes only three or four days to complete the task.

Because of this, most people who work in Yulin Cave only go home every two or three months. It's fine for single young people, but it's a big problem for those with families and children in the county.

In 2009, Song Zizhen approached Wang Xudong, then deputy director of the Dunhuang Academy, and applied for funds to buy a commuter car. On the day it was opened to traffic, all the staff happily set off firecrackers spontaneously, with joy and tears in their eyes. Everyone cheered together that they could finally go home every day.

A group photo of all the employees of Yulin Cave in 2009

Initially, the commuter bus was a minibus with more than ten seats. It took two hours on the washboard road to get to Guazhou County and back. It took four hours, and many employees had to leave early and come back late, which was very hard. Nowadays, not only the road conditions have improved, but commuter buses have also been replaced by buses. There is now an endless stream of self-driving cars coming to Yulin Grottoes. Travel problems have been greatly improved.

Although the Yulin Grottoes are accessible by car, there are still no telephone connections. In an era when the outside world has been contacted by mobile phones, the Yulin Grottoes still rely on shortwave communication like "I am the Yangtze River and you are the Yellow River". "There is no phone, no TV, no signal, nothing at all." So Song Zizhen found the telecommunications bureau in Guazhou. With the support of the hospital and the assistance of "bargaining", she finally installed optical fiber in the institute. For a time, not only did everyone in Yulin Cave use mobile phones, but everyone spontaneously bought computers. Not only could they watch TV, but they were finally able to connect with the entire world.

"Overnight, it feels like the space gap between us and the outside world has suddenly narrowed. We can go home and access the Internet again. Suddenly our life has caught up with us. There is no difference from the outside world. Everyone suddenly I feel much more comfortable." Song Zizhen said with a smile that she was busy doing these things in the first three years.

A group photo of all employees of Yulin Grottoes in July 2020

3. Staff Home

Three years have passed since I started working in Yulin Grottoes. Song Zizhen ran to ask Wang Xudong, the deputy dean in charge, has the agreed time to go back come? "In the end, he pretended not to know. When I saw that he didn't want me to leave, he just stayed there."

During this period, Dean Wang Xudong would often come to Yulin Cave, and the two of them would often be together. After having a heart-to-heart talk in the earthen house and then talking about work, Song Zizhen asked again, it has been five years and the time has come again, what should we say next? "In the end, Dean Wang said, why do you keep mentioning this matter? You see, this place will develop in the future, and there are still many things to do. Who will complete it if you leave? You are the best candidate. When I heard it, I said, That’s fine, I’ll keep going.”

“I haven’t mentioned the transfer since then.”

Old photos from the 1940s.

Last year, after years of planning, design and infrastructure construction, the entire environmental look of Yulin Grottoes was completely renewed. In addition to cultural relic protection and display facilities, various tourism supporting facilities have also fully kept up with the times. The earthen toilets that left many Japanese tourists scratching their heads in and out have now long since become history. They will be replaced by brand-new tourist public toilets and visitor centers, as well as cultural and creative shops and foreign restaurants that will be opened one after another. While retaining the unique simple beauty of Yulin Grottoes, the infrastructure conditions of the entire cave area have been comprehensively improved and upgraded.

But Yulin Cave in the desert canyon still retains its tranquility.

Even though the number of tourists in the past two years has reached 77,000 and 56,000 respectively, when the tourists disperse, the staff here still have to face the eternal starry sky, river turbulence, and unexpected sandstorms and heavy winter snow. For young people, the loneliness and insecurity of working here seems to be more profound than that of previous generations.

It has always been Song Zizhen’s wish to allow employees to have a safe home here. To this end, the newly built "Yulin House" was built brick by brick with the support of all parties, and he and all his colleagues worked day and night. “We are really building this place as our home.”

In this staff home, there are clean and beautiful canteens and tea rooms, reading areas with glass skylights, simple and modern conference rooms and exhibition rooms, and beautiful and modern small single rooms in the staff dormitories. Bring shower facilities. Walking in here, you feel like an oasis in the desert, comfortable, peaceful and unique.

While walking around in this "Yulin House", Song Zizhen felt that the contrast was a bit big. I remember when I first came here, the small earthen house was leaking and had plastic sheets everywhere, making it even impossible to take a bath. But now, young people can say goodbye to that life completely.

But after all, times have changed. Song Zizhen feels that the thinking of young people today is different from that of their generation.

"We really talked about dedication at that time, and there were no conditions to negotiate with the unit. Those who could stay were those who had feelings for this place. Today's young people

are the same, They think more about things, and maybe themselves, so they are more likely to feel lonely and desolate here.”

There are also many staff members who have deep relationships with each other, even generations of descendants. This grotto has a connection. "We have an employee who has been working in this Yulin Grottoes for 43 years. He has been here since he was 16 years old. His father was a policeman guarding the Mogao Grottoes before liberation. After liberation, he followed his father to guard the caves here. Now his son He also works as a guide here, and three generations of people have guarded this place. They are truly an aristocratic family who have an indissoluble bond with this grotto.” In Song Zizhen’s view, only love and dedication to Yulin Grottoes can protect this place. The key to good protection.

Panoramic view of Yulin Grottoes

4. Family

In the Dunhuang Academy, many people "choose one thing to do for the rest of their lives." It is also normal to leave home and career behind.

Song Zizhen is also a typical example. Although he seems open-minded, he admits that he feels guilty about his family.

My family is supportive of me. But there are also complaints, pain, and conflicts. Song Zizhen said that the guilt for his son, his wife, and his family always flooded his heart, and these pains could not be resolved. "It's normal to complain. Anyway, there are trade-offs. You have to pay more attention to your side of things, and you can't take care of your family. You always have to choose one of the two, and you can't have both."

Fortunately Fortunately, his son didn't let him worry, his studies went smoothly, and he is now studying for a Ph.D. at Fudan University in Shanghai. Usually, my son opens a stove in Shanghai, he opens a stove in Yulin Cave, his wife opens a stove in Dunhuang, and the family of three has three stoves. The warmest and happiest time for the whole family is when they gather together at Yulin Cave every winter to celebrate the New Year together. Song Zizhen remembers every year clearly: "Our family of three spent 11 Spring Festivals here in one go."

Family portrait

On the wall of the brand new conference room of "Yulin House" hangs a calligraphy handwritten by Zhao Shengliang, the current director of the Dunhuang Academy: "Stick to the desert, be willing to contribute, Have the courage to take responsibility and forge ahead.” The 16 big characters are "Mogao Spirit", which is also like the comments of the cave keepers in the Yulin Valley for this thousand years.

Proofreading: Liu Wei