In the hot land of the Corps, there is a rich cultural atmosphere everywhere, and the intangible cultural heritage is passed down from generation to generation here. Over the years, the Corps has attached great importance to the protection, inheritance and promotion of intangible cultural heritage. The client of the Cloud Corps launched a series of media works that tell the story behind the national "Intangible Cultural Heritage" project of the Corps, "Visiting the Corps' "Intangible Cultural Heritage Treasure"".
Today we launch the second article: "The Gift of the Earth: The Technique of Burning Earth Alkali". Let us walk into the "Intangible Cultural Heritage" together, understand the "Intangible Cultural Heritage", and jointly promote the inheritance and protection of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Corps.
▼
The origin of the earth alkali firing technique
Xinjiang has a dry climate and a large content of soil salinity
There is a species that grows here
Hardy, alkali tolerant, tenacious vitality
Wild plant - "Alkali Artemisia"
In the long-term labor practice, people have found that in addition to being used as firewood and fertilizer, artemisia alkali can also be used to burn a natural soda ash, commonly known as "soil alkali". The finished product of soil alkali is grayish white, which has more advantages than the edible alkali sold on the market, which can be used to wash clothes, wash hands, remove oil, and can also be hand kneaded with flour to make gray noodles.
Around the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century, the technology of alkali firing was born from people's accumulated production and life experience. At the Xinhu Farm and Yerba Buena Lake Farm of the Sixth Division, the technique of soil alkali firing has been passed down to the present day in the form of oral transmission.
In 2008
The Sixth Division of the Corps declared five canals
Soil alkali firing techniques are included
The second batch of national intangible cultural heritage protection list
"Intangible Cultural Heritage Food" Have you ever eaten?
By adding pure natural soil alkali, pasta is given a new taste. Have you eaten this "intangible cultural heritage food"?
Click Videos below
See how you can make a meal using earth alkali
▲The use of soil alkali and noodles
▲Hand kneading soil alkali ash surface
▲The soil alkali ash surface is made
The five major processes of firing soil alkali
The best time to burn soil alkali is in August and September of each year, before firing, the alkali artemisia growing in the Gobi Desert should be cut down and dried for a few days to prepare raw materials for burning alkali.
There are mainly the following steps in the firing of soil alkali:
1
Step 1: Dig the cellar
The cellar should choose a high, flat and humid place, and the cellar door should be aligned with the wind direction.
2
Step 2: Slotting
The cross-shaped ventilation channel in the cellar connects to the cellar door, and the cellar wall must open the air duct along the ventilation channel.
3
Step 3: Incineration
During firing, artemisia alkali seeds should be added above the cellar mouth and continuously burned.
4
Step 4: Cool down
After the alkali artemisia is burned, the vent at the bottom of the kiln is closed and waits for the cellar to completely cool.
5
Step 5: Take the alkali
Due to the high hardness of the soil alkali made by firing, a tool such as iron brazing should be used to pick up the alkali.
Tian Xiyun, the inheritor of soil alkali firing technology:
Let more people understand the burning technology of soil alkali
Tian Xiyun of Xinhu Farm in the Sixth Division is the inheritor of the national intangible cultural heritage project - soil alkali firing technique, in 2012, he won the "Chinese Intangible Cultural Heritage Inheritor Salary Award", and in 2018 he was also named "National Advanced Individual in Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection".
▲Non-hereditary heir: Tian Xiyun. Source/Wujiaqu TV
Tian Xiyun attaches great importance to the inheritance of soil alkali firing technology
Every season when artemisia alkaline seeds are growing
He was in various companies
Hand in hand for the masses of workers
Teach the art of firing soil alkali
▲Tian Xiyun, the inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage project, told the production technique of soil alkali on the spot. Source/Wujiaqu TV
In order not to put this long-standing skill at risk of being lost, Tian Xiyun has been committed to the work of "passing, helping and bringing" the soil alkali firing technique for many years. Up to now, he has organized 6 training courses for folk heritage artists, and the number of trainees has reached more than 500.
▲Students learn about soil alkali techniques in the activity. Source/Wujiaqu TV
As a non-hereditary inheritor of the earth alkali firing technique
Tian Xiyun's biggest wish is
More people study the value of soil alkali
Incorporate it into modern food culture
Let more people know about it and share it
Today Xiaobian will introduce it here
Stay tuned for the next issue
Visit corps "Intangible Cultural Heritage Treasures" series
Source/Cloud Corps client
Information and photos/ Shu Guoqiong, deputy research librarian of the Cultural Tourism Development Service Center of the Sixth Division, and Liu Xiaochen, assistant librarian
Cartography/Li Chuanjiang
Editor/Li Chuanjiang Editor-in-Charge/He Zizi Producer/Wang Zhiming
The "Cloud Corps" client is online!