Prose | Yang Lanqin: The Song of the Great River

The Great River Song

Text/Yang Lanqin

(Image courtesy of the author)

I stand at the tail end of this big river, watching her face the sun, toward the sea, and throw the journey of thousands of miles into the sea, but I can't help but let my thoughts go backwards, all the way to the source of her time and space, thinking of the legends and echoes of her time and space, thinking of the greatness and immortality of her feeding nation...

Who asks what "how" is there in heaven and earth?

Tracing back to the roots seems to be the best footnote to the Chinese nation's consciousness of returning to the roots. Where did this great Yellow River, which precipitates our national genes and rushes through the clouds of our homeland, come from and where did it start? It has always been a question mark that hits the bottom of our hearts. We have had a few pilgrimages that have gone up the river, just to explore the details of the "Yellow River water from heaven". The Yellow River is thousands of years old, but we know exactly that the origin of this national trunk vein has been painstaking. Perhaps the plateau herders who started with the scattered small streams of sheep did not know at first that the wang under her feet would eventually gather on the roof of the world, falling straight into the "nine days" of the Chinese territory, splitting the mountains and stones of China, chiseling the earth, and writing a "few" character on the territory of ten thousand miles, which was like a heavenly question, and merged into a blue. The Yellow River, stepping into the land of China, holds the mountains in the left hand and the sea in the right hand.

The progress of civilization and the development of science and technology give us an opportunity and perspective to approach the mysteries of creation, but they are only close. Now we know that the origin of this great river is in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, where she awakened and got up along bayankara; the small blue lakes of Jogu Dzonglequ, Zaqu, and Kazhiqu converge as a patch of stars and seas, and then bundled into a belt of majestic pouring down. The Yellow River runs all the way, connecting the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the Loess Plateau, the Inner Mongolia Plateau, and the North China Plain, which are the landmarks of China, flowing through one-third of China's provinces and finally into the Bohai Sea, with a total length of more than 5,400 kilometers and a basin area of 750,000 square kilometers. The Yellow River, looking at the snowy mountains and white clouds of the plateau, listening to the Shaanxi dialect of the Loess Plateau, talking to the green bison and sheep of the Inner Mongolian grassland, and painting the lower layers of wheat waves in the North China Plain.

The upper reaches of the Yellow River from Longyang Gorge to Qingtongxia, the Sichuan Gorge, contains rich hydraulic resources, this big river will replace the energy she collected in the sky into a trickle of electricity on the turbine of industrial civilization, lighting up the night of the city, flowing with endless power, and continuing the pace of civilization. Coming to her gentle and lingering section of the Ningmeng River, she flows calmly, irrigating the farmland on both sides of the river for the benefit of the local people. Therefore, there is a saying that "the Yellow River is full of harms, only the rich river loop"; the Yellow River easily built a plug in the arid land with her creation. Coming to her middle reaches of the river, she seems to have exhausted her tenderness and began to be unruly, a wang yang; she split the Wanling Mountain, broke through the bamboo, and bravely went forward through the Shaanxi and Jin Gorges. The thrilling nature of the earth is convenient for this stage: the Yellow River carved two river soul totems that are enough to shake the soul - Hukou Waterfall and the Yellow River Dragon Gate. Hukou Waterfall, the Yellow River with a thunderous momentum, rushing forward, roaring down, pouring down is the determination and courage of this long river vowing to break everything, you can hear the strong and unceasing cry of a nation. The Dragon Gate, according to legend, was carved out of the water in Jiuzhou by the first Saint Da Yu, so it was also called Yu Gate. The water here is turbulent, and legend has it that carp can leap over the dragon gate if they can take off the dragon. I think that perhaps in the cultural dictionary of the Chinese nation, this is the best string of words that proves that it is indomitable, a thousand times without regrets, and facing difficulties. In the long river of the ocean, how many tidemakers stood on the tip of the waves of their home country, rushing against the current again and again? The Yellow River came downstream, collected her from the high and low Wang Yang, strolled idly in the Yulu land of the Pingchuan River, spread the sediment brought by the Loess Plateau along the road, and quietly piled up the breathtaking "Hanging River". This is also the section of the river where she confesses her "true disposition", while she waters thousands of acres of fertile land and nourishes countless beings; she also destroys the embankment and dam from time to time, turning the land she feeds into a vast ocean. Several times in history, the mouth of the Yellow River has been accompanied by temporary disasters, upheavals, and displacement of the nation. However, in any case, this river has nourished the Chinese civilization, nourished trillions of beings, and witnessed the life of the nation. She let people take turns in Shengping and Uptown, she let the people of this great land continue to understand in the vicissitudes of reincarnation, continue to thicken, continue to be strong, continue to enlighten...

There are poems that fall into the river and cannot be fished out

"The source of China's rivers is in the hundreds, not in the blasphemy, and the river is the sect." The Yellow River has created what we enjoy, and it has flowed through what we have never had. At the time when the dawn of ethnic civilization had not yet shone into the barbaric history of China, the Yellow River might have been vast for thousands of years.

We, as far as nature and creation are concerned, are small. We barely know the source of the Yellow River, but we can't be sure of its origin. She is the messenger of the creation of heaven and earth, she is the giant of yin and yang, she has watered a great nation, derived a brilliant and colorful civilization, and then indifferently bowed her head, guarding her masterpiece, and the flow is endless...

The first saint Dayu, standing in the ancient world, full of muddy legs, holding hands, facing a vast ocean, his back, in the annals of national history is so tall and majestic. For the sake of warm fireworks and endless hope for life, he vowed to bind this untamed yellow dragon with his iron will and the wisdom of Ruoshui. And now, is there still a reflection of Xiang Xian engraved in this tumbling wave? Do the converging waves still follow the commandments of their ancestors? Time flows, the vicissitudes of the sea, the mulberry fields, this river through slash and burn, through the flames and wolf smoke, through the change of dynasties, through the song and dance, into the Tang poetry and Song Poetry. Facing the gushing river, Li Bai looked up and sighed: "The water of the Yellow River rises from the sky and flows to the sea and never returns." Facing the long river desert, Wang Wei stared far away and chanted: "The desert is lonely and straight, and the long river is full of sunsets." Wang Zhizhuo climbed the tower to Guanlan and couldn't help but pull the pen to write a strong book: "The day is at the end of the mountain, and the Yellow River flows into the sea." And the Yellow River only played a whirlpool in a corner of history and continued to move forward, flowing through the past of the Ming and Qing dynasties, through blood, tears, and wars; with determination and strength, with self-respect and faith; into the chorus of nationalities, flowing into the long song of the state!

The emperors and princes of successive dynasties have tried to spend thousands of generations in the grand plan of the dynasty, and at the same time have to put this great river related to the fortunes and people's livelihood of the country in an important corner. In the rolling and long stream of this great river, the famous scholars and literary heroes of the past generations have searched for the reflection of the spirit and the waves of literary connotations, pressed the thoughts of the present and the ancient times in the endless waters of passing, let them rise and fall, and washed the words that were destined to be eternal over and over again...

The bronze ware of the Shang Zhou dynasty once filled the water of the great river, dissolved the wild chaos, rippled in small steps, and fainted into the Yin Shang style song and the patriarchal Zhou ritual, and finally lifted the original and unchanging rotten cover, and the bright light of civilization and civilization instantly entered the title page of the Chinese national history book. The water of the Yellow River did not make any stops, and all the way forward, letting the vicissitudes of the sea and the mulberry fields rise and fall. The Spring and Autumn "Poems" and "Rituals" did not have time to give enough worship to this great river, and the smoke of the Warring States surrounded the two banks of this great river. And the Yellow River, as always, did not make a sound, entertaining the warhorses drinking water, washing the faces of the soldiers with blood stains, the sword and light sword shadow turned into a piece of broken light in the rush of the great river, and the people called horses to sink into a wind sigh in the thunder of the great river, accompanied by the endless roar of life and death, and suddenly stopped.

The Ancients of the Three Qins, who drank the water of the Yellow River, seemed to have melted the genes of the Yellow River into every bloodline. The Yellow River crossed the mountains and rivers, tying the territory of China into a belt; the Great Qin Empire, which seemed to be tired of the endless chaos, was long in iron armor and swept in the east, so that the Yellow River surface, the world was one. The Yellow River, in the lantern song of the Afang Palace, have you ever reminded the "First Emperor" who is proud of the world, the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty, and the heavenly movement is always? Will a generation of imperial industry eventually turn into a mercenary horse sculpture made of the yellow river soil and mud? The vicissitudes of the right path, the changes in the world are in your day and night flow; but there are only a few more transparency and willingness to sink the name of the floating world into the yangyang, turn it into a humble mud and sand, and with the same years, take refuge in the creation, cool down, sink down, sink down again...

The Yellow River never hesitated to give her the most kind and sincere reminders and revelations of the land and creatures she nourished, but only the descendants of the Yellow River looked at the river religiously and listened to the sound of the waves. In the prosperous world of the Han and Tang Dynasties, the waves of the Yellow River were hidden everywhere, and when Emperor Tang and Song Zu raised a glass to the heavens, the Yellow River had already gathered gunpowder, compasses, papermaking, printing, Tang poems, Song Ci, and Yuanqu, which were shining civilization treasures, and continued to chisel the barrier of the change of times with the sharp weapons of these civilizations. Moving forward, the Yellow River is vast, she does not care about Yidi, the north and south of the great river, those who drink the water of the Yellow River, are her descendants, when the grassland fast horse of Jis Khan, the hunting flag array gallops throughout eurasia, in the accident and inevitability of history, let this "spokesperson" spread some of the colors of the Yellow River civilization to the world. Then, she continued to move forward, stringing together the two eras of The HanMing and Manchu Qing Dynasties, and continuing to write the chapter of civilization. The Yellow River still flows at the end of feudal civilization - the Yongle Canon and the Siku Quanshu are placed on the desk of civilization, the long wind blowing from the Yellow River turns the pages of paper and ink, and silently examines in the corner of the long river of history...

As history moves forward, the flames of modern times and the troubles of the nation will eventually be invincible to the backbone of the great river; external humiliation and internal turmoil, and Yin Yin's blood and tears have long been clouded in the roar of the nation's chest. And now a new chapter has come to an end... The rice and wheat on both sides of the Yellow River have been harvested again and again, and the civilization of the great river has flowed endlessly, growing strongly under the sickle of time, waiting for the harvest...

River, water, living hardness!

Life always interprets its tenacity by sucking the juice that survives in the dry; the ode often sublimates it by tasting the bitter tears in the midst of suffering. The life nourished by the water of the Yellow River is surprisingly stubborn and fearless, as if it can survive all difficulties and misfortunes.

I have seen the red faces of the highland herders at the source of the Yellow River, they are pure and calm. In the cold of the plateau, drinking the source water of the Yellow River, driving herds of cattle and sheep, grazing in the wild of life, through the changing seasons, never complaining, never expecting, never giving up, and never wandering. I have also seen devout monks in The Qingganzang Monastery, who pray holyly in the direction of the mountains and the great river. The wheel of prayer revolves around the soul of the great river of great virtue, and the scriptures of the Nagio's laws may be the unchanging faith in this mountain and river. Life and death alternate, hunger and abundance are intertwined, and in the repeated attacks of famine, poverty, disaster, and hardship, the descendants fed by this river have not lost the dignity of life and collapsed their stubborn shoulders. I have also seen my children and grandchildren on the Yellow River in Ninggan leaping over the zipline year after year, rushing on both sides of the Yellow River, painstakingly collecting the supplies of a stiff life. The ancient waterwheel representing the Yellow River culture by the river still swirls endlessly; the sheepskin raft, the oldest and farther away means of transportation on the river, still stubbornly cruises; and in the desert not far from the shore, the speeding train rumbles by, leaving the imprint of modern civilization and superimposing into the symphony of life in the past and the present...

In the yellow land where the Yellow River flows, the descendants of this river have been shaving food in the soil of a barren loess land for generations, and they have been able to feed their mouths and raise their homes, and the wrinkles on the face of the black vicissitudes have folded the ordinary days by the stove fire in the cave with their mother-in-law, dolls, and hot kilns. They are the men by the Yellow River, and in the face of difficulties, they will also shrug their shoulders and summon up their full spirits to face the billowing Yellow River water. With the tail note of the Qin Cavity, the Yellow River dragged her strong genes to the vast grassland. The tenacious Mongols "made their home in all seas" on the steppe, and the wind and snow in the north of Saibei had destroyed the herders' felt houses several times, but the horse head piano in the felt house was still stubbornly fluttering in the cold wind and the paint night, and the high horse whip had pointed to the wolves who coveted cattle and sheep, and the crisis of survival was ultimately just a cup of goat milk and a heroic grassland song boiled in the water of the Yellow River. Continuing forward, the Yellow River brought the blood of life to the vast North China Plain, so that the rice, wheat and sorghum that the living beings looked up to piled into a granary for the people downstream to be at ease, and at the same time, she hung a vast ocean above the heads of the living beings, so that the people of this land could hang a "line" in the hearts of the people. Historically, the Yellow River has repeatedly broken its mouth, destroying the wealth and happiness she created single-handedly, destroying the glory of human civilization that has been accumulated for generations, but the people here, the descendants of this river, immediately rose up on the devastated earth, without timidity, without confusion, and they continued to rebuild their homes on both sides of this great river of rice and wheat cooking. Yes, this is their beginning, here is their end, forever home!

The Yellow River is a mother who has witnessed the national crisis and suffering in modern times. She shed a river of blood and tears for the Chinese nation and hundreds of millions of descendants; but she, the great mother, also sang indomitable songs and shouted the trumpet of progress for the home and her children of the nine-and-a-half million square kilometers. Facing the Yellow River, swearing an oath to this mother river, facing the enemy, the children of the Chinese nation vowed to hand over the swords and guns defending their homeland at the same time as the stubborn blood...

Foreign enemies came from the sea, but this river witnessed all the humiliations, from the Opium War to the Sino-Japanese Flames, from the Eight-Nation Alliance to the Japanese invasion of China, the Yellow River roared to see for itself whether the descendants it had nurtured had a backbone of steel, and whether there was a backbone contained in five thousand years! In the arrogance, barbarism, and cruelty of airplane cannons and sharp knives and guns, the children of the Chinese nation straightened their backbones, clenched their fists, and broke free of the shackles they had thrown; with full of enthusiasm, they defended their mothers and the motherland. I think any enemy should also soberly understand that the rivers and mountains of China are steel, and the will of the Chinese people is steel. Anyone should also know that when the hearts of hundreds of millions of Chinese children gather into a long river of national spirit and roar out the chorus of unity and progress, they will go all the way forward, desperately fighting to break everything!

Let's go, to a brighter place!

At the beginning of the pen, I had to hesitate to think about what kind of pen and ink could be used to live up to the Yellow River, which had irrigated five thousand years of civilization and nourished countless beings. Now that I think about it, all this is futile and superfluous, because the Yellow River is not in the words of one person, nor in the pen and ink of anyone. Because, as for the Yellow River, any ripple of the river can pave a poem; any bunch of river sand will split a piece of Huazhang. This river and this water are not in the pen of someone, she is where she has always been, she is in front of your eyes and mine, in the hearts of every Chinese child!

Standing on the bank of this great river, the long stream rolling, I seem to feel the heartbeat of history and the past, and I can't help but sigh at the overturned vicissitudes of the mulberry field; at present, only this river is still watching time and space, carrying the faith and dreams of a nation resolutely forward in the eternal flow. This great river is a flowing epic, a magnificent monument written in the land of China and poured through the upper and lower 5,000 years. This great river is the backbone of the Chinese nation, flowing with the strong blood of China, carrying the genes of hard work, kindness, perseverance, peace and courage to snake out the most magnificent and brilliant imprints in the picture scroll of human time and space, intertwined into a brilliant totem of the East - brilliant, sacred, guiding...

Bayankara in the southern branch of the Kunlun Mountains is still towering, and the long-flowing Yellow River on the border of the country is still running east to the sea. Along the waves of the Yellow River, we look back at time and space, and what we find is the living song of an ethnic group, a great legend of civilization. Looking forward to the future along the long river, what we foresee is the colorful dream of a country and the grand plan of the rejuvenation of a nation. The rolling river continues to move forward in the midst of hardship, indomitability, expectation, and dreams; the Chinese nation, which is standing on the water of the Yellow River, is also carrying the banner of the "Great River Totem" on the new journey of human progress, standing up a strong backbone, taking firm steps, accompanied by the gushing sound of the soul; towards the light, toward the beauty, toward the future - forward!

【About the author】 Yang Lanqin, male, bachelor of arts, master of management, public institution work in Xinxian County, Shandong Province. The "Carved Self-Hall" personal literature platform for free creation. Works such as "Fushui Long Song, Dream Spring City", "Dead Country, Tan Sitong", "One Palm Autumn Sun", "Westbound Wind Song", "Finger Like Ruo", "Thick Soil", "Rodin's Carving Knife", "Return", "Old Copper", "Cloud on top", "See a Tree" and other works have won awards or published in the theme essay.