In recent days, due to the death of four missing expedition members, it has been searched on the Ailao Mountain.
Ailao Mountain, a place that feels like a prison sentence from its name, is infinitely sad.
As long as those who understand the knowledge of history and geography, they all know that the mountain of Ailao is named after the ancient Ailao State, and is located in the eastern boundary mountain of the ancient Ailao State.
It is located in the central part of Yunnan Province, from Chuxiong City in the north to Luchun County in Honghe Prefecture in the south, with a total length of about 500 kilometers. The Ailao Mountains as a whole show a northwest-southeast trend and are the watershed of the Yuan River (the main trunk of the upper reaches of the Red River) and the Amo River (the red river system).
, and is also the dividing line between the two major geomorphological regions of the Hengduan Mountains and the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau,
The highest peak, Big Millstone Peak, is 3,166 meters above sea level, and 9 peaks are all more than 3,000 meters high, with an average altitude of about 2,500 meters.
The core area of Ailao Mountain, that is, the Ailao Mountain National Nature Reserve, covers an area of 503.6 square kilometers. Ailao Mountain's
Plant resources are very rich, there are more than a thousand kinds of higher plants alone, and even forests have different types, and some forest types are endemic to Yunnan.
As you can see,
The Ailao Mountains are rugged and the national nature reserves are uninhabited tropical rainforests.
Due to its high and dense forests, many streams and cliffs, the terrain is very complex, and it is difficult to go out once lost. Especially in the tropical rainforest, there will be different degrees of injury when walking on cliffs and thorns.
The tall and dense trees of the tropical rainforest also obscure the sky and have low visibility. Coupled with the heat and humidity of the tropical rainforest climate, it is easy to have miasma diseases,
In the tropical jungle, there are also poisonous snakes such as king cobras and cobras, which is also a dangerous place.
However, it is this dangerous terrain and uninhabited Ailao Mountain,
Historically, there have also been establishments that can compete with the Eastern Han Dynasty in the Central Plains Dynasty against the powerful Ailao State. Unfortunately, this mourning country eventually disappeared into the long river of history.
at
When mentioning the Ailao Mountain in the ancient Ailao State, it is also necessary to mention that the Ailao State and the Ailao Mountain are located in Yunnan, which in ancient times was a place where ethnic minority tribes were lined up and mixed, due to the backwardness of culture, the history books of the Central Plains Dynasty were called "Southwest Yi"
。 In Yunnan, there are twenty-five ethnic minorities such as dai, Zhuang, Hani, and Bai, and these ethnic minorities have historically established a Dian state in Kunming, Yunnan, and the other is the Ailao State, and the center of the Ailao State is located in Baoshan, Yunnan Province today. Whether it is the State of Dian or the State of Ailao, the founding time is in the Warring States period.
The ancient kingdom of mourning, also known as the land of dragons, comes from a myth and legend, and this myth and legend comes from the Dai people.
Legend has it that in ancient times, there lived a woman under the Ailao Mountain, who one day often came to the river to fish, accidentally touched a sinking wood in the river, and then returned home and became pregnant, and gave birth to ten sons.
After that, the agarwood that the woman encountered turned into a huge dragon. When the woman washed her clothes by the water with ten children, the dragon floated on the surface and asked the woman, "Where are the ten children you have given birth to me?"
Due to the loud sound of the dragon, nine of the ten sons were scared away by the appearance and voice of the dragon. Only the youngest son was bold and courageous, daring to turn his back on the dragon. The dragon also saw that this young son had courage and courage, but was a malleable talent, so he licked his back,
And named this little son back sitting. Later, according to the accent of the dragon, the locals called this young son Kulong.
Later, the ten children born to this woman were married and multiplied, so there were various tribes, which were also the tribes of the ancient mourning prison country. Since the youngest son, Kulong, was licked by the dragon's father, he was naturally elected as the head of the country.
Since the head of the state was the son of the dragon, the ancient kingdom of Alai was also called the Kingdom of the Dragon.
Of course, this is also a myth and legend, the woman gave birth to ten children to breed as a tribe of the ancient mourning prison country. However, from this myth, we can see that due to the multi-ethnic characteristics of Yunnan,
It also makes the ancient Ailao State a country that is a confederation of different ethnic minorities and tribes, but the main body is the Dai ethnic group in Yunnan, and naturally the legend of the founding of the Ailao State is spread among the Dai people.
Through this myth, we can learn that the birthplace of the Mourners is closely related to water. At that time, the Dai people were self-sufficient in fishing in the valley area and survived among the valleys. From the woman's ten children only know that the mother does not know the father, on the surface is not yet out of the matrilineal clan society. When Jiulong grew up, he married and had children,
Thus there were tribal peoples, which attested to the transition from matrilineal clan society to patrilineal clan society.
Among them, the son named Jiulong may have been highly respected and capable, and was naturally elected as the leader of the tribal alliance, that is, the founding king of the Ailao Kingdom, who was the "Chosen Son".
According to historical data, it also shows that before the early years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was no formal contact between the Ailao and the Central Dynasty in the interior.
In fact, according to the literature, Baoshan Dam in Yunnan Province, the center of the Ailao State, is warm in winter and cool in summer, and the four seasons are like spring, known as "Baoshan Climate Jia Tianxia", and it is also a happy land for human survival and reproduction.
Therefore, the site of Pumiao Tangzigou, which is separated from Baoshanba by a mountain, is likely to be the place where the "Pumiao people" of the ancestors of the Mourning Prison lived. The "Pumiao people" are early Homo sapiens dating back about 8,000 years, a civilization created during the Stone Age.
Judging from the historical records, the Ailao State is a tribal alliance state, and in addition to the Ailao King, there are 77 kings, indicating that this tribal alliance state is composed of 78 tribes.
The ancient Ailao State appeared in the middle of the 2nd century BC, that is, more than 300 years BC in the Warring States period, originally a small Dai tribal state with the "Mengpao (Elephant Kingdom)" as the center of the alliance state, and the leader of the "Mengpao" became the leader of the entire alliance state, thus forming the Ancient Ailao State.
And then
The prosperity of the ancient Ailao State was located around the Qin-Western Han Dynasty, and there were also hereditary tribal chiefs, which can be described as a long history.
The Ailao State that arose during the Western Han Dynasty, the territory of the Eastern Chuxiong Area in Present-day Yunnan, and the West to India,
Bordered by Liangshui County (present-day Honghe) to the northeast and Jiaotong (present-day northern Vietnam) to the south, the range was far more extensive than the "three thousand miles from east to west, and 4,600 miles from north to south" recorded in the Huayang Guozhi.
According to the two statistics, the population of the Ailao State in its heyday was 54,660 households and 571,370 people, and the territory of the heyday was expanded to 3,000 miles from east to west, 4,600 miles from north to south, and the land area was about 1.38 million square miles.
From the Ailao Mountains in the east, to the Minjin Mountains in northern Myanmar in the west, to the Southern Mirror of Xishuangbanna in the south, and to the southern foothills of the Himalayas in the north, it can be described as a vast country with strong national strength.
Because it is located in the fertile area of Yunnan, it is also the fertile land of the ancient country of Ailao, abundant water sources, pleasant climate, rich minerals, a wide variety of animals and plants, and the conditions for the development of agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, minerals and various handicrafts
。 For example, in the Huayang Guozhi and the Book of the Later Han Dynasty, it is recorded that:
The ancient country of Ailao is "Yi wu grain silkworm mulberry", "copper, iron, lead, tin ...", especially gold, light beads, amber, jade, crystal, agate and other strange treasures and rare animals.
Judging from the current archaeological excavations, the ancient country of Ailao is very rich and unique in terms of stone tool culture, bronze culture, farming culture, clothing culture, food culture, marriage and funeral culture, music, dance and other ethnic and folk cultures.
Therefore, the industrious people of the ancient country of Ailao have created a splendid culture of the ancient country of Ailao in the long river of history.
During the "Western Han Dynasty", Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty opened up territory and expanded his territory.
The territory of the Central Plains Dynasty continued to expand, and the Han culture spread to the Ailao State, which also promoted the development of the productive forces of the Ailao State.
In the era of Emperor Xuan of Han in the middle and early first century BC, the state of Ailao was in a new era of prosperity.
Since the pronunciation of "Lai Prison" is very close to the Dai word "AiLong", the Chinese translation is "big brother" or "boss", and can also be extended to "central" or "center"
Therefore, the "mourning state" is the "central state" or "central state". The king named the name of the nation and the name of the country after the mountain of Ailao, symbolizing the strength of the country.
because
The opening of the Silk Road in the southwest region, the introduction of Han culture in the Central Plains, and the application of advanced agricultural production technology made the King of Ailao deeply feel that he must keep pace with the times in order to obtain peace and prosperity in the country.
Therefore, in the twelfth year of Yongping (69) of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Liu Mao, the king of the Ailao State, led the 77 kings of the Ailao State, more than 50,000 households, and more than 600,000 people to submit to the Eastern Han Dynasty, when the Han Ming Emperor set up the two counties of Ailao and Bonan in the land of the Ailao State, and set up Yongchang County together with the six counties in the western part of Yizhou.
Therefore, the return of the mourning to the Han was a landmark event at that time, so that the mourning state stepped from a slave society to a feudal society.
At that time, Liu Mao, the king of the Ailao State, was credited with leading the people to the Eastern Han Dynasty, and The Han Ming Emperor awarded him the "Ailao King's Medal" and held a grand court celebration for him.
Since then, the Culture of the Central Plains has rapidly entered the ownership, and the once powerful Ancient Ailao State and the Ailao Culture have been lost to the Cultural Identity of the Central Plains Han Culture.
Later in 76 A.D.,
The ancient mourning prison suddenly and mysteriously disappeared. According to the calculation of time, the ancient Ailao Kingdom has been less than a hundred years from its appearance to its disappearance, and people have not been able to find the "Seal of the Ailao King" of the Ailao King.
Some people think that
In the 7-8 years after the Han Ming Emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty set up Yongchang County, the State of Sorrow suddenly disappeared
。 It may be that the heir to the throne of Ailao at that time, Gu Lao, had a conflict with the Eastern Han Commandery, and in anger, he called a large army to attack the Eastern Han Dynasty, but was finally destroyed by the more powerful Eastern Han army. The king of the Kingdom of Sorrow was killed in the war,
After that, no one succeeded to the throne of the Kingdom of Sorrow. In this way, the mourning country has gradually disappeared into the long river of history.