The news that the Maowusu Desert, one of the four major deserts in China, is about to disappear is exciting, just a few lines, but behind it is the efforts of generations and decades, which is a miracle created by hard-working Chinese people.
Image from @Observer.com
Loess, wind and sand, and drought seem to be people's inherent impression of Shaanxi. In fact, the Loess Plateau is only a part of Shaanxi, Shaanxi also has a place with abundant water and grass, the Guanzhong Plain is fertile for thousands of miles, the leisurely Wei water runs through it, for thousands of years, people have multiplied and lived here, how many emperors will sleep here, this land has bred a long history and culture.
There is an oasis on the Weibei Plateau, where the Xuanyuan Yellow Emperor tribe originated, where the ancestors planted mulberry weaving, where the Shang Dynasty life star Peng Zu spent his old age, where the Ghost Valley Zi preached and taught for Sun Zhen and Pang Juan during the Warring States period, and where the martyr Meng Jiangnu of the ages dripped tears. This is Yijun.
Yijun is located in the north of Tongchuan City in central Shaanxi Province, at the junction of the Guanzhong Plain and the Loess Plateau in northern Shaanxi, and the 210 National Highway and the Tonghuang Grade I Highway pass through the border. Starting from the county seat of Yijun County, in the eastern part of the county, the legendary ancient Luo trees planted by Xuanzang, the Great Wall of the Warring States through the vicissitudes, the Blessed Land Lake with clear water, the Yunmeng Mountain full of fairy spirit, the colorful corn terraces, and the majestic and quaint Golden Lock Guanliulangtai are scattered, and a little-known and novel and interesting Weibei is discovered.
Driving on the 210 National Highway, you can see the top of Guishan Mountain, where the ruins of Yijun Ancient City are located, and there is a brightly colored antique building - Qingyun Pavilion.
Surrounding QingyunGe is a stone carved gallery of changzu stories, with 40 carved pictures telling the history of Yijun. Although the story of the ancestors raising silkworms is prevalent in this area, in fact, due to thousands of years of climate change, Yijun no longer has a life scene of cultivating mulberry silkworms, and these carvings have become the only information we can read.
On the first floor of Qingyun Pavilion is a small historical museum, which is both a collection place for cultural relics and a exhibition hall of literature and history, which packs the small Yijun up to 5,000 years into it, stands on the top of Guishan Mountain, and examines the last 5,000 years.
The tree is more than 1300 years old, more than 20 meters high, more than 600 square meters of canopy area, the thickest part of the tree circumference of 3.8 meters. After thousands of years of ups and downs, this lush ancient tree, which is full of Buddhist roots, still has inexhaustible vitality, and the people under the tree come to pray and pray continuously. In 2013, it was selected into the List of Ancient Trees Conservation in China. You would never have imagined that this perennial tree, native to the rainforests of South Asia such as India and the Malay Peninsula, would grow so thick and bloom so vigorously on the Loess Plateau.
This is the only ancient tree in China that Xuanzang has planted, but what cannot be explained is why this one has survived and grown on the Loess Plateau for more than a thousand years. The ancients attributed most of the things that could not be explained to Providence, which also reminded people of the mysterious legends about the dragon vein and the king's qi in the Qinling Mountains.
"When the two trees and flowers bloom, the rich will sigh and sigh." Four small white petals bloom freely, the seven orange-red flower buds in the core of the flower spit out the fragrance, the faint yellow on the petals makes the small flowers more beautiful, and the bunches of flowers are white and purple, as if covered with a mysterious veil, wonderful.
Leaving Yijun County, continue north along National Highway 210, along the Pengzhen Partial Bridge, you can see a fenced mound, which is the famous Warring States Wei Great Wall site. At present, the remaining ruins of the Wei Great Wall in the county are 2993.5 meters, which is one of the earliest Great Walls in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, dating back more than 2300 years. In 2014, it was announced by the Shaanxi Provincial Government as the sixth batch of provincial-level cultural relics protection units.
Located in the middle of the bridge, this beacon site is the most complete preserved ancient beacon tower site on the Great Wall of Wei in the Warring States. After more than two thousand years of wind and rain, coupled with man-made destruction, the existing city wall is no longer tall enough to reproduce the heroic posture of a thousand years ago, but in ancient times it was two or three meters high, and it was built on the highest point of the mountain beam, so it became an insurmountable barrier.
Fudi Lake, which has mountains and water, is a well-deserved "blessed land" of the Qinchuan River for eight hundred miles. Spring to walk green, autumn autumn leaves, winter to enjoy the snow, and the most pleasant is to find a cool in the hot summer, feel the magic of natural landscapes to purify the body and mind. Climbing mountains, splashing in the water, watching flowers bloom like cotton, listening to birds chirping, forgetting the return date.
The unique mountains around Lake Fukudee is a natural loess plateau geological museum and an institute of alternating coniferous broad-leaved plants of the Tropic of Cancer. Standing on the embankment of Lake Fukuji, the first thing you see is the island in the middle of the lake. Located halfway up the mountainside, the Northern Wei Grottoes were built in 446 AD and are still sporadically carved during the Sui, Tang, Song and Qing dynasties.
The water of Fudi Lake is replenished by the Wangping River and the Zhongyi River, don't look at this on the Loess Plateau, but the clear lake water is not inferior to that of southern Shaanxi. Tens of thousands of grass carp and carp are swirling like a parade, especially at the time of feeding, and you can see the spectacular scene of the lake boiling.
If the lake is cool in the summer, the main attraction is the continuous sky and lotus. Lotus Pond District is like a painting of everyone's style, a large area of lotus leaves rolling with crystal clear water droplets, lotus canopy in the lake water emits the fragrance of lotus seeds, large lotus petals stretch, "out of the mud without staining, Mao Qing Lian without demon", with a dignified atmosphere, but also permeated with natural gentleness.
Paddling in a boat, wandering slowly in the middle of the lake, circling around the lotus pond, mistakenly entering the depths of the lotus flowers, and startling a flock of flying water birds. When the wind rises, the falling lotus flowers are on a bunch of lotus leaves, like a fine work of art, which makes people marvel; when the rain falls, the lotus leaves and rain are all wet, and the beauty in the smoke and rain is like Danqing ink dyeing, which makes people intoxicated and do not know the way back.
On the shore of Fudi Lake, there is a century-old soap horn tree, which is still leafy and proudly twisted towards the sky. Not far from the soap horn tree, as far as the eye can see, you can faintly see a row of earth kilns, which is the original Fudi Old Village, the earth kilns and the building houses constitute the typical pastoral life of the northern people living in the Loess Plateau.
15 kilometers north of Yunmeng Township in Yijun County, there is a mountain called Yunmeng Mountain, whose main peak is 1535 meters above sea level, which belongs to the meridian ridge of the Qiaoshan Mountain Range and one of the peaks of Jiaoping Yanmen Mountain. This Shandong is connected to the Yanmen Gate, the west is surrounded by lacquer water, the peaks are thousands of feet high, and the forests are green. The south side of the main peak stands on the wall, like a knife splitting an axe.
Speaking of Yunmengshan, there is one person who has to mention, that is, The Ghost Valley, who is regarded as the teacher of Sun Bing and Pang Juan, is said to have taught all the disciples here, so Yunmengshan is also known as the location of "China's first military academy".
The Ghost Valley Cave of Yunmeng Mountain is located between the cliffs, with green trees and clouds covering the fog, and it seems that there are wisps of fairy qi surrounding. From a distance, there are about seven caves of this Ghost Valley Cultivation, and between the original caves, there is a boardwalk corridor, and the steep and majestic Yunmeng Mountain contrasts with each other, which is even more magical and ethereal. According to legend, the Seven Eyes Cave forms the pattern of the Big Dipper on the cliff wall, so it is called "Seven Star Cave". But with the passage of time, there are only 6 holes left in the Seven Star Cave, one of which is difficult to find due to rock weathering or whatever.
Yunmeng Mountain is high, every summer the clouds are steaming and foggy, in it, do not know where to live, like a dream feeling, Yunmeng Mountain is also named after this. It is far from the downtown, there is no silk bamboo mess, no case of labor, it is the best place for cultivation.
At the turn of spring and summer, yijun's special film corn has reached the sowing season. Standing on the high ridge and looking out, on one side of the hillside are freshly sown corn fields, layer after layer of terraces, the newly covered film under the bright sunlight, reflecting a series of silver light, like layers of silver waves surging between the mountains, by the photographer image as "God's fingerprint", "the music of the earth".
The scientific name of these mulch corn fields in Yijun is "dry farming terraces", in fact, as early as ten years ago, Yijun began to plant mulch corn. From the initial experiment to the later large-scale promotion, I did not expect that while agricultural development, it unexpectedly created a magical land landscape. In 2014, Yijun County's Weeping Spring Township was also selected into the list of "China's Beautiful Countryside" by the Ministry of Agriculture.
Regardless of the north and south, to reach The Weeping Spring Township must pass through G210, and the national highway is lined with layers of terraces. There is an observation deck in Weeping Spring Township, which is known as "a popular travel destination for photographers". Looking around, the surrounding scene can be seen from all sides, hidden in the forest farmhouses, cooking smoke, cascading field terraces, shining silver. The fields are long and horizontal, the white mulch film stretches mulberry, the green crops are layered with mountains, and the ecological homeland created by the farming civilization is picturesque.
The best time to come here to photograph the lines of the terraces is between 4 and 6 p.m. every day, and it is even better if it rains and the first sun is clear. When the terraces are shrouded in a faint mist, like a fairyland, there is a feeling of soaring clouds and driving fog; the soil is soaked in water and makes the color darker, so that it has a huge color contrast with the white mulch film, and the lines are clearer.
There are many interesting and wild histories handed down in Guancheng in the south of Yijun, especially the story of the "Yang Family General" in the Song Dynasty is the most famous, according to legend, Yang Liulang was stationed in Jinsuoguan Tunbing, and the Zhaizi Mountain between the East and West Water Passes was rumored to be the place where Yang Liulang Tun soldiers were located. In order to better inherit this historical culture, Yijun County built the Golden Lock Guancheng Liulang Terrace on the basis of tracing historical allusions.
All the way to Liulangtai Xiongguan, there is a sculpture in front of the pass, the base is engraved with Yang Liulang three big characters, on which is the horse galloping Liulang. This place was specially built by the Yijun Tourism Bureau to carry forward yang Liulang's spirit of "being righteous and loyal to the door", and complements the four cliff inscriptions of "Xiongguan Tianyan" inscribed by Ye Boying of Shaanxi Province during the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty.
In the distance, the majestic Guancheng City Gate, the quaint LiulangTai, and the tall Yang Liulang sculpture all seem to tell the stories of the golden iron horse and the heroic and loyal martyrs to passers-by.
Author: Ruo Lin