"Son of Xihai Gu" - the famous writer Ji Dongliang's long-form reportage masterpiece
The original ecology reproduces the great history of the new era of China's great cause of poverty alleviation
A solemn tribute and deep love to the land of the homeland
The Central Propaganda Department selected the topic of key publications for the theme publication in 2020
Central Propaganda Department 2020 "Excellent Realistic Theme Literature Publishing Project"
The "14th Five-Year Plan" period of the national key book publishing special plan
Ningxia Xihaigu, named after the three counties of Xiji, Haiyuan and Guyuan in history, is called the "Three Wests" region together with Hexi and Dingxi in Gansu. Once "barren in the world", it was designated by the United Nations Food and Development Agency as one of the twenty-two "least suitable areas for human existence" in the world.
In December 1982, the state launched the implementation of the "Three Wests" agricultural construction poverty alleviation project, which set a precedent for China's regional overall planned, organized and large-scale "development-oriented" poverty alleviation. In 1996, the central authorities made strategic arrangements to promote east-west counterpart cooperation. In April 1997, Comrade Xi Jinping, then deputy secretary of the Fujian Provincial Party Committee and head of the Fujian Provincial Leading Group for Counterpart Assistance and Assistance to Ningxia, led a team to Ningxia to inspect and personally deploy and personally promote the important strategic decision of "Fujian-Nanjing Counterpart Poverty Alleviation Cooperation", and then set foot on this land three times.
For more than 20 years, the "Minning Counterpart Poverty Alleviation Cooperation and Assistance Group" has taken the initiative to shoulder the historical mission of counterpart poverty alleviation in Ningxia, expanded one-way poverty alleviation to the in-depth cooperation of the two provinces (regions) in all aspects, multi-level, and wide coverage of all fields, and created a "Minning Model" of counterpart poverty alleviation and cooperation and assistance in the east and west together with the people of Ningxia. The Xihaigu area has entered a well-off society at the same time as all parts of the country.
The writer Ji Dongliang is a native of Xihaigu and has a deep affection for this land. He clearly understood that the history of Xihaigu in the past half century is a history of poverty alleviation; the history of poverty alleviation in Xihaigu is the epitome of the history of poverty alleviation in New China. In "Notes on Xihaigu", he uses his own unique observations and delicate brushstrokes to express the vicissitudes and great changes of the land of Xihaigu in a panoramic and multi-directional manner, as well as the epitome of the times and the spiritual transformation behind the great changes, reaching the depths of history and people's hearts.
The works witness the great historical process of poverty alleviation with realistic creations, and select the most representative events, such as "hanging village migration", "terrace construction", "salt pond sand control", "Yanghuang irrigation", "well cellar project", "labor export", "fungal grass planting", "Tanyang Bank", etc., through real life changes, with a large number of detailed data and data, convincingly reflect the great changes in the Xihaigu area, and write out the major themes of the new era.
/ About the Author/
Ji Dongliang is a famous writer and vice chairman of ningxia writers association. He has published novels such as "Running Life", "Rouge Lane", "Shangzhuang Ji", "Spring Good of Wild Wheat Stacks", "Haiyuan Book", "Cangsheng", "Deep Scenery", "Splendid Embroidery", short story collection "Ancestors Plant Trees", "Night Is Longer than Day", "The Distance Between Me and the World", "Roaring Night", essay collection "Talking to Wood", "Population Hand", "Left Hand Meritorious Name Right Hand Beauty", "Returning from the Road That Will Leak", "Cangshan Distant Sunset" and so on. He has won the first prize of Ningxia Literature and Art Three times and won the title of "Virtue and Art Double Xin" literary and art worker in Ningxia. The essay collection "Talking to Wood" and the short story "Roaring Night" were shortlisted for the third and fifth Lu Xun Literature Awards, respectively. The novel "Shangzhuang Ji" won the 13th "Five One Project" Award for the Construction of Spiritual Civilization of the Central Propaganda Department and the "2014 China Good Book" and other awards. His works have won many awards such as the Selected Novel Award, the Beijing Literature Award, the Chinese Writers Literary Award, the Shuofang Literary Award, etc., and have been selected into the list of the Chinese Novel Society, the list of the Selected Novels and other lists and middle school textbooks, and have been adapted into movies and TV series, and translated into English, French, Russian, Japanese and other languages.
Excerpt from The Notes of Xihaigu
Chapter One: The Famous Xihaigu
The famous Xihaigu
To this day, the people of Ningxia are depressed by their own subordination in the eyes of the people of the whole country. In letters or conversations, "Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of Gansu Province," "Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of Qinghai Province," and "Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of Inner Mongolia" often appear, and even Ningxia has been transferred to Xinjiang. As for Yinchuan, it is even more common to call it "Yinchuan City in Gansu Province," "Yinchuan City in Qinghai Province," and "Yinchuan City in Inner Mongolia," and there are also cities that go to Xinjiang as a whole, which is said to be a city in Urumqi, and even worse, it becomes "Linxia Yinchuan City in Gansu Province," and so on.
When I attend national conferences, there are always people who talk to me with "you Gansu," "you Qinghai," and even "you Xinjiang." "Ningxia is not in Gansu", "Ningxia is not in Qinghai", "Ningxia is not in Xinjiang", I can only correct it like this. People are not happy, think I am not friendly, and raise the bar with others.
Just last year, a counterpart unit in a certain southern province wanted to come to investigate, and the director of the department who docked with me asked me what weather you have in Gansu, how cold it is, and what clothes you need to bring. I knew he didn't mean it, but subconsciously, because the letter he faxed clearly stated that it was ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, and he communicated with me according to the schedule on the fax.
Ningxia is small, but it is also one of the 5 ethnic autonomous regions in the country. If you want to talk about history, in 1038, Li Yuanhao of the Dangxiang clan established a divided dynasty with Ningxia as the center, the Western Xia, whose ruling territory was "as far as the Yellow River in the east, to Yumen in the west, to Xiaoguan in the south, and to control the desert in the north, with a vast territory", and it stood side by side with the Song, Liao, Jin, and Mongolia, and died out in 1227, existing for 189 years.
In 1929, Ningxia was established as a province. On September 23, 1949, Ningxia was liberated, and Ningxia Province was established on December 23, inheriting the original name of Ningxia. In September 1954, Ningxia Province was abolished and merged into Gansu Province. In 1958, the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region was established.
As for Yinchuan, as one of the more than twenty provincial capitals (capitals) in the country, it was once the capital of the Western Xia Dynasty, called Xingqing Province, and now it is known as the "Ancient Capital of Western Xia". In the whole country, there are not many provincial capitals (capitals) that have been the capital of the dynasty.
In the 1990s, Ningxia was really depressed, and specially carried out a vigorous discussion on "where is Ningxia" in the media to correct the audio-visual, however, the regional cognitive errors about Ningxia are still lingering, even in recent years, such things are still frequent. On May 13, 2013, when the CCTV news channel reported on the Helan Mountain rock painting incident, the subtitle was still wrongly "Yinchuan, Gansu". After this news was broadcast, Yinchuan netizens sent an invitation letter on Sina Weibo, hoping that CCTV staff would come to Ningbo as a guest and have a deep understanding of Ningxia and Yinchuan. On September 27, 2014, the famous writer Mr. Zhang Xianliang died of illness, and the media reported that some media still wrote it as Yinchuan City, Qinghai Province, causing netizens to complain fiercely. In 2015, after visiting Shapotou, a tourist wrote a travelogue and posted it in a central media, unfortunately writing about Zhongwei City in Gansu. On July 29, 2016, when CCTV reported the 15th Ningxia Zhongwei Stage of the Qinghai Lake International Road Cycling Race, it was once again said to be Gansu Zhongwei, causing netizens to complain, some netizens sighed, the Lake Race has entered Ningxia for the fifth year, CCTV is the whole process of reporting the media, there is such a mistake, please respect us Ningxia ... Even today, on the Internet search engine Q&A, there are still questions about "which province does the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region belong to?"
However, the prominence of "Xihaigu" is much greater than that of Ningxia and Yinchuan. As long as Xihaigu is mentioned, everyone is not confused at all, "Isn't Xihaigu in your Ningxia?" Now what? "Therefore, when someone asked me what specialties Ningxia had, I said Xihaigu, but it fell into a humorous reputation.
In particular, Ningxia's high-profile announcement and the country's synchronous run to a well-off society, for a time "Xihaigu" set off an explosive shock wave, becoming a "net red", as long as you search on the Internet, whether baidu, Sogou, or 360, etc., "Xihaigu" has hundreds of thousands of pages of display, and there are several pages of new content every day.
Why is Xihaigu famous
poor!
Everyone knows this 100 percent.
Enter "Xihaigu" on the Internet, and have not yet clicked on the search engine, "How poor is Xihaigu", "Xihaigu, where there is poverty you can't imagine", "The poorest area in China, the living environment is unimaginable", "Xihaigu: Farewell to the 'Bitter World'" and other search hot word entries that prompt you have been impressively presented. In daily life, friends and colleagues from other provinces and cities often talk to you about the poverty of Xihaigu, and the spread is varied.
The reason why Xihaigu is famous all over the world is that there are two "conclusions" like Taishan: First, more than 150 years ago, when the Qing Dynasty minister Zuo Zongtang crossed the land of Xihaigu, he was full of "thousands of miles of red land, ten rooms and nine empty spaces", and sighed in the compromise to the Tongzhi Emperor that "bitter barren armor is in the world"; first, in 1972, after the United Nations Food Development Agency entered Xihaigu for investigation, it determined that Xihaigu was one of the 22 "most unsuitable areas for human survival" in the world. These two "conclusive conclusions" speak for Xihaigu, and as long as Xihaigu is mentioned, people will use these two sentences. When it comes to poverty in Xihaigu, it is always called the highest in China.
The poverty alleviation story of "Minning Town" behind the popular drama "Mountains and Seas" in 2021
Second, since the founding of New China, the poverty of Xihaigu has always affected Zhongnanhai.
In 1983, the Central Committee established the State Council's "Three West" Regional Agricultural Construction Leading Group to solve the problem of poverty in Ningxia's Xihaigu, Gansu's Dingxi and Hexi regions (also known as the "Three West" areas), and the "Three Wests" poverty alleviation set a precedent for China's regional overall planned, organized, and large-scale "development-oriented" poverty alleviation.
In 1994, the State Council promulgated the "National "Eighty-Seven" Poverty Alleviation Plan, and the "Eighty-Seven" Poverty Alleviation Plan kicked off. 8 counties (districts) in Xihaigu were listed as "national-level poverty-stricken counties", and the "Three Wests" poverty alleviation plan was extended for 10 years.
In 1996, the central government made a decision to cooperate with the east-west poverty alleviation cooperation, Fujian helped Ningxia, and 8 cities and counties (districts) with developed coastal areas formed a pair of help and support with 8 counties (districts) in Xihaigu.
In 1997, the "Three Wests" Regional Poverty Alleviation and Development Work Conference put forward the call for the "Three Wests" region to take the lead in solving the problem of food and clothing for farmers, that is, by the end of the 20th century, the problem of poverty alleviation in the mountainous areas of southern Ningxia was generally solved, and the 8 counties (districts) of Xihaigu had a timetable to solve the problem of food and clothing.
In 2001, the Outline of Poverty Alleviation and Development in China's Rural Areas (2001-2010) was promulgated, and the poverty alleviation and development work in the new era was fully deployed, and 1026 administrative villages in Xihaigu were included in the "Thousand Villages Poverty Alleviation and Development Project".
In 2008, on the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, the State Council issued the Several Opinions of the State Council on Further Promoting the Economic and Social Development of Ningxia in order to solve the problems of Ningxia's economic and social development, pointing out: "Improving the basic living conditions in this region (Xihaigu) is not only a long-term strategic task, but also an extremely urgent people's livelihood project." It is necessary to intensify efforts to help the poor and take the solution of the problems of survival and development in this region as the most important task in promoting ningxia's development. ”
In 2011, the Outline of Poverty Alleviation and Development in Rural Areas of China (2011-2020) was promulgated, listing 14 contiguous areas with special difficulties in the country, and Xihaigu ranked first among the contiguous special hardship areas in the Liupan Mountains.
In 2013, to promote targeted poverty alleviation, Xihaigu was mentioned more than once.
In 2014, the "Work Plan for Poverty Alleviation and Development and Documentation of Archives" was issued, and more than 800,000 people were organized nationwide to carry out poverty identification village by village and household, and all poor villages, poor households and poor people in Xihaigu were registered and established.
…………
Since the founding of New China, hundreds of party and state leaders have inspected and investigated Xihaigu many times, and have made many decisions and instructions on the issue of Xihaigu.
After the establishment of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Chairman Mao Zedong was very concerned about and concerned about the development of Ningxia, and in 1961, he wrote the "Qingping Le LiupanShan" written in 1935 when he led the Central Red Army to cross the Liupan Mountain, which was given to the people of Ningxia and inspired the people of Ningxia.
In March 1964, Deng Xiaoping, then general secretary of the CPC Central Committee and vice premier of the State Council, inspected Ningxia and pointed out: Ningxia, as an ethnic region, especially the Xihaigu area, must be well built.
When Premier Zhou Enlai heard that the people of Xihaigu "had no overnight grain at home and no warm clothes for winter," he couldn't help but burst into tears and said at the meeting of 7,000 people in the organs directly under the CPC Central Committee: "Decades after liberation, the people of Xihaigu are still suffering, and I, the premier, have a responsibility!" The State Council quickly dispatched medical teams and drought-fighting teams to Xihaigu, and then Premier Zhou convened a special meeting to study and solve the problem of "lack of food and clothing" of the people of Xihaigu, and instructed the relevant departments to speed up the implementation of the plan to divert water from the Yellow River to irrigate Xihaigu. In 1974, the drought was still raging in Xihaigu, Dingxi and other places, and another disaster report was handed to Premier Zhou, who wrote on it: "There is not enough rations, insufficient relief funds, insufficient seeds, insufficient feed and forage, the most lack of clothing, no sideline industry, not enough agricultural tools, insufficient fuel, insufficient drinking water, insufficient supporting facilities for drilling wells, production funds and agricultural loans do not seem to be distributed according to the key points, medical teams are not enough, medicine and health are even worse, and so on, which must be solved immediately." Otherwise, there will be more outflow, dead people and dead animals, which will greatly affect the labor force! ”
Since the beginning of the "Three Wests" poverty alleviation, Hu Yaobang, Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao, and other central leaders have successively inspected and guided the work in Ningxia with the care of the party and the state.
General Secretary Xi Jinping went to Xihaigu for investigation and investigation 4 times, and personally decided to deploy Xihaigu poverty alleviation.
Third, "Xihaigu literature" is indispensable. Since the 1980s, Xihaigu, a land of ten years and nine droughts, has grown up a particularly vigorous "crop" - "Xihaigu Literature", and a large number of outstanding writers and works have attracted widespread attention in the national literary circles. Xihaigu writers have won the "Five One Project" Award, Lu Xun Literature Award, Ethnic Minority Horse Award and other national literary awards, Xiji County has become the first "Hometown of Chinese Literature" in the country, and Tongxin County and Yuanzhou District have become "Hometown of Chinese Poetry" (it is worth mentioning that Longde County has become the "Hometown of Chinese Painting and Calligraphy"). The "Xihaigu Writers Group" has more than 700 writers at all levels, and more than half of the peasant writers.
Critic Zhao Bingxin put it this way in the article "How Is Xihaigu Literature Possible": "The harsh natural conditions and the closed and conservative humanistic ecological environment have made Xihaigu literature have the nature of 'suffering narrative' from the beginning... 'Suffering' seems to have become a tradition of Xihaigu literature. Most of the writings of Xihaigu writers are based on suffering, and "the survival of the bottom, the torture of the helpless environment, and the incomprehensibility of many characters" have almost become a topic that Xihaigu writers cannot get around, and have also become their literary mindset. ”
The poverty and suffering of the writer has attracted wide attention, writers, poets, photographers, painters, Internet experts, as well as volunteer teaching teams, charity enthusiasts... Pilgrimages generally come, experiences, interviews, writing, sketching, photography... Xihaigu is "told" through newspapers, magazines, Weibo, WeChat, and self-media...
The writer Haijie, who was born in Xihaigu, wrote in the article "Xihaigu: Sinking in the Image":
"Xihaigu" has become a fashion symbol, it is no longer the 5 counties of Guyuan City in southern Ningxia: Guyuan, Xiji, Jingyuan, Pengyang, Longde, it is the collection of suffering aesthetics, has become a hot word in communication, the composition of these three words constitutes the photographer's beautiful imagination, simple and catchy voice rhythm has a popular element, and through the continuous flow of teaching armies, charity enthusiasts, backpackers with romantic and determined to travel, began to be widely known, The people of Xihaigu under their lens all have a sympathetic look, children wearing tattered clothes carrying buckets of water on the way to fetch water, living conditions and desolation are magnified into a hunting product. More photography enthusiasts are using light and shadow to express the profound and sculptural sense of the residents of Xihaigu.
Poverty penetrates deep into the marrow of Xihaigu and becomes an ancient and heavy label of Xihaigu!
A successful Boss Xihaigu is very helpless, saying that when others hear his accent, they want to rescue him when they look at his eyes.
............
Xihai gushi name
"Where is Xihaigu?" Why can't I find it on the map? ”
When people flock to the West Sea like pilgrimages, this question is the first to be asked.
If you look for Xihaigu on the map according to the custom of looking for an administrative division, you will not find it. Because "Xihaigu" is no longer an administrative division name.
Many people will give you this explanation: Xihaigu is now Guyuan City.
This is not accurate.
In August 1949, the Pingliang Prefectural Committee of Gansu Province, which was established after liberation, established a "Xihai Gugu Suppression of Bandits and Bandits Working Committee" composed of three county party committee secretaries in order to eliminate the remnants of the Kuomintang and bandits in Xiji, Haiyuan and Guyuan counties. The name "Xihaigu" was born.
As an administrative division, "Xihaigu" appeared in October 1953, when Gansu Province established the Xihaigu Hui Autonomous Region under the Pingliang Special District of Gansu Province, with jurisdiction over the three counties of Xiji, Haiyuan and Guyuan. In November 1955, it was renamed Guyuan Hui Autonomous Prefecture, and "Xihaigu" existed as an administrative division for only two years, and then sank into the depths of history. In 1958, the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region was established, and the Guyuan Hui Autonomous Prefecture was transferred to Ningxia, adding a total of 5 counties, Longde and Jingyuan counties, which originally belonged to the Pingliang Prefecture, to form the Guyuan Prefecture Administrative Office. In July 1983, Guyuan County divided the eastern townships of Pengyang and Wangwa to form Pengyang County. However, although "Xihaigu" as an administrative division name has only existed for two years, the poverty it represents has made the word "Xihaigu" like a birthmark implanted in people's memories, becoming a well-known name for the land and a permanent name for a region.
In 1982, the State Council held a special meeting to study the poverty alleviation of this land, and the title "Xihaigu" emerged from the depths of the years, appearing in the oral pen of the decision-makers of the CPC Central Committee and in the red-headed documents of the state ministries and commissions. However, although "Xihaigu" appeared as a "region" at this time, it was still not an administrative division, but included the entire Ningxia Guyuan area of Guyuan, Xiji, Longde, Jingyuan, Pengyang, Haiyuan 6 counties and Yinnan district (the retreat area was set up as Wuzhong City) Tongxin County. What needs to be explained here is that in the sense of administrative division, Tongxin County belonged to the Yinnan area at that time, and Ningxia was initially divided into mountainous areas and Sichuan districts according to natural conditions, and the conditions in Sichuan areas were much better than those in mountainous areas, and Yinnan districts belonged to Sichuan districts.
In March 1994, the State Council promulgated the "National "Eighty-Seven" Poverty Alleviation Plan, and the territory of "Xihaigu" was expanded again, covering 9 counties and districts in Ningxia, including Xiji County, Haiyuan County, Guyuan County, Pengyang County, Jingyuan County, Longde County, Tongxin County, Yanchi County, and Hongsipu District, covering an area of 43,000 square kilometers, accounting for 65% of the total area of Ningxia, with a population of 2.563 million people, of which the Hui population accounted for about 49.8% of the total population of Xihaigu area. It has also become the area with the highest concentration of Hui people on the mainland.
In July 2001, the State Council approved the abolition of Guyuan District and the establishment of a prefecture-level Guyuan City, and Guyuan County was renamed Yuanzhou District. In 2012, the administrative division of Ningxia was adjusted again, and the "Hai" (Haiyuan County) of Xihaigu was separated from Xihaigu and assigned to the newly established prefecture-level city of Zhongwei, marking the complete disintegration of "Xihaigu", which has a special meaning in people's consciousness concept.
It is worth saying that when the decision to disintegrate the "Xihaigu" was made, some people questioned: Is it really going to disintegrate? This has a profound meaning, because poverty alleviation has become the greatest people's livelihood project in China in the 21st century, and the name of poverty is also a kind of "wealth", which can enjoy many supports in national policies and funds. In fact, this kind of questioning is completely unnecessary, and Haiyuan County has not taken off the hat of a state-level poverty county because of the regional division away from "Xihaigu".
/Related Books/
Title: Notes on Xihaigu
Author: Ji Dongliang
Publisher: Beijing October Literature and Art Publishing House
Publication date: February 1, 2022
Co-produced: Palm Reading Technology
"Notes on Xihaigu" is a long-form reportage by the famous writer Ji Dongliang, and is the most complete record of the author's expression of his hometown feelings. This book does not use too much rhetoric, completely takes a raw approach, and tells the story in its original style. The author is rooted in the deep Xihai Gudi of Ningxia, going deep into the most grass-roots social organization, capturing the most subtle social cells, so that the works maintain the breath and vitality of the earth, the thickness and improvement of poetry. The great cause of poverty alleviation in the new era is not only to get rid of poverty economically, but also to change and spiritual baptism in the vast countryside, of which the most important thing is the change and growth of people. The author stepped into the soil of life, close to the realistic characters, to discover the details, feel the details, think about the details, keenly capture and express the new factors and new atmosphere in the cause of poverty alleviation, write a new era of "entrepreneurial history", record a large number of new people emerging in the cause of poverty alleviation, and the light of the spirit of the times shining on them.