Text, Photography / Li Zhonghe
I recall that when I was thirty years old, I visited several scenic spots in Mount Taihua, and I still have palpitations in my heart, I am worried and uneasy, and whenever I think about it, I blame myself for being too hasty, too much to take life seriously, but I am often glad that I am blessed with a great life, although I have experienced all kinds of difficulties and dangers, I am still safe and sound, and I am even more glad that I had a good wish at that time.
The reason for this idea is because Mount Hua is standing, Mount Tai is like squatting, And Mount Song is like lying down, this WanlingHua Mountain is naturally famous for its towering and dangerous in the Five Peaks, plus when I was a child, I watched the comic strip "Wisdom to Take Mount Hua", which always can't be forgotten; moreover, after watching Mount Hua, you can undoubtedly hone your will and increase your courage. With this desire, I began to pay attention to finding partners who were willing to climb Mount Hua.
One morning in May 1983, my colleague Zhang Shemin and I took a shuttle bus from Shangzhou to Xi'an, and then from Jiefangmen Bus Station to Huashankou Yuquan Courtyard, bought tickets, and immediately headed for Huashanyu Road.
Along the way, the sky is blue, the mountains are verdant, there are not many people, and the Yudao is exceptionally refreshing. Because we were going to Xi'an to prepare for the class meeting, we both planned to go up the mountain that day and return the next day, and only choose a few important scenic spots in the middle to enjoy the scenery and feel the strange danger. Talking while walking, the mood is very good, and the whole way is like flying. At nine o'clock, I passed the Huixin Stone, and then climbed a thousand feet and crossed the 100-foot gorge. The mountain road is narrow, the steps are steep, the people behind are all on the buttocks of the people in front, and occasionally you can hear a few tourists complaining that the mountain road is difficult to walk, but we both grew up in the mountains and do not take the danger in front of us seriously. But the back of the ear cliff, ladder and other places still make us a little timid. When approaching Canglong Ridge, I saw a gambling winner on the side of the road, and I wrapped a stone around two small bowls to let tourists guess which bowl the stone was under. For a short rest, but also to ease the mood, I bet, the first one won, the second, the third lost, this is expected, but also not painful, no regrets, just two or three dollars.
The mood was relieved, and he began to go up the Canglong Ridge again, the stone steps of the Canglong Ridge were slightly wider and flatter, but the cliffs on both sides were also very dangerous, and it was impossible to watch. In order to save time, I omitted the middle peak and the north peak, and went directly to the left side of the middle peak around the east peak, planning to look at the chess pavilion before dark, then see the sunrise the next day, over the long sky boardwalk, and then go to the west peak, and return from the west peak down the mountain.
After walking through the Golden Lock Pass, you can go to the chess booth. It would be ten o'clock, and we would take a break, ask the people who had returned from the chess booth how to move, and then leave immediately. The chess pavilion is in the southerly position under the East Peak, as if it is in the position of the nose bridge under the forehead of the person, the road is convex and concave, when you go, you must first slip down from the "forehead", and then turn around, called "harrier turn over", turn over and then go down, in order to get to the same chess booth as the nose bridge. The danger is self-evident, and the average person who will take this risk.
The social people were in front, I followed behind, strong and courageous to sit down and slide down, only remember the left and right mountains, above is the sky, both hands grasped the left and right iron cables, one loose and one tightly leaned down, the sand grains slippery, at that moment, the whole body collapsed tightly, the palms of the hands sweated, the instep of the feet also sweated. When the harrier turned over, the left hand clenched, the right hand was lost, it flipped over, and the right hand quickly grabbed the right side of the iron rope, quietly, and then touched the lower foot socket with the tip of the foot. Keep touching, keep changing, three or five meters later, feet against the ground. Looking back, going to the junction of the chess booth, which was also surprisingly narrow, we skimmed gently.
Walking up to the chess pavilion, there is no pavilion, just a small platform, about a few meters long, not wide, the surrounding with a steel bar thicker than the thumb erected, and then surrounded by a circle as a railing, with hand shaking, shaking badly, simply can not rely on things. Opposite are flush peaks, gray and gray. Left and right around the air, is not able to see the low deep ravine, in order to see clearly, we climbed down, put our heads out of the fence, confused, faint, still can't see clearly, only feel dizzy, very scared, had to shrink our heads back, lying quietly on our backs. The heart was thinking that such a dangerous peak cliff had only been seen in the painting, and only the gods would appear in the clouds. Why did that Chen Zhuo LaoZu and Emperor Zhao gamble here? Thinking about it, there is also a bit of fun in the Heaven and Earth Immortal Gaoshi. If ordinary people such as me can even visit here, wouldn't it be a blessing in three lifetimes! Thinking of this, all the fear and timidity had long since disappeared, and suddenly became much calmer. As for the return, it really doesn't matter.
Back under the South Peak, still in high spirits, hurried to the only small hotel to register for accommodation. Walking into the hotel, the place is small, the counter man said that it was full early, let's go to the West Peak. Let it be good to say evil, only do not agree, I think, there are many climbers, even if they reach the West Peak, they may not be able to live, and there is a section of road to go, hungry, sleepy and tired, there can be movement! Suddenly, I had a plan, pretended to be limping and was very painful, and pushed the social people again, he would smile, hurriedly supported me, and told the registered person that I had accidentally broken my ankle bones, and it was really difficult to move. I said, give a reed mat, and the place under your feet will be done overnight, almost pleading. The person who registered looked at me again and again, and finally moved his heart of compassion. We paid the money, went through the formalities, and went out to find a restaurant for our first meal.
After eating, he returned to the hotel and was arranged on the second floor. On the second floor, the light bulbs were dim, and more than twenty people on the bed were lying down one by one, and we both inserted them like turnips, and fell sideways, occupying only two fists. I had a large stone bun under me on my waist, which made me very uncomfortable, but I couldn't take care of much, so I slept.
At five o'clock in the morning, I pushed the residents to get up, wipe their faces, and hurry to the East Peak to see the sunrise. Giant pine trees covered their heads, and dozens of people sat facing the balcony, facing the white place of fish belly in the east, eating and talking, looking forward to the sacred and wonderful moment when the sun showed its face. In a moment, the morning light first appeared, and the east turned red. After a while, the sun came out, and in an instant, the press could not be stopped, and the red was thrown into the air, and the mighty light shone on all corners of the world, and also reflected the faces of everyone around them. Huashan sunrise, not twisted at all, not shy, and very different from what you saw later in Taishan.
After watching the sunrise, he returned to the north side of the South Peak and prepared to cross the "Long Sky Boardwalk". Suddenly seeing the hotel where I stayed the night before, I vacated on the edge of the cliff of the South Peak, thinking that we slept in such a dangerous building last night, if Lei Gong sneezed, or coughed, I am afraid that it would scatter in the air with the sound.
To go to the "Long Sky Boardwalk", you have to enter the cliff side and go down a hundred and ten meters. This section of the road has pedals and handrails, which is not dangerous. After a detour, a temple appeared inside the cliff, and when I walked in, there was only one statue sitting on the shrine in a space of about ten square meters, as if waiting for tourists to burn incense and worship. We both bowed our heads respectfully, then moved toward the east end of the boardwalk.
At the east end, looking west, the boardwalk is attached to the cliff wall, extending westward in the air, and on the slippery cliff wall, an iron stake is stretched out every other inch, and two wooden boards one foot wide are laid on the top, and at shoulder height, an iron cable passes through the cliff surface every other section. Standing in the sky in the south, the abyss below, it is impossible to see to the end, it is really frightening and dare not face it, and can't help but be afraid and worried. If you have the heart to retreat, will you not live up to the original intention of the expedition, and if you do not fail, if you really want to stop, it will leave permanent regrets! Think again, the chess pavilion has passed, the boardwalk can not fall, shopping must be thorough, have to come up with a little courage, all danger can not be avoided, ten thousand deaths can not resign, not to say that there is no danger scenery in the dangerous peak, in order to see the dangerous peak, so put the heart a horizontal, over!
Just like this, trembling and frightening forward, the moment I stepped on the boardwalk, I was always worried about whether the plank under my feet had become rotten after being peeled by wind and rain, and whether it could withstand our trampling was really full of doubts. At the beginning of the ten meters, I only felt like chicken feathers, the soul flew out of the sky, the heart was like a dustpan beating, and the palms and feet of the hands and feet sweated again. We encouraged each other and tried to be calm. At that moment, I handed the footsteps to the eyes, handed the weight to the rope chain, tried not to look down, even the afterglow did not dare, held my breath, concentrated on moving forward, the front foot was stable, only dare to change the back foot, the previous one grasped firmly, only dare to change the back one, move the hand, slowly forward. Occasionally, I saw the stone skin wearing iron cables, so thin that I was afraid that I would break if I dragged it hard!
In fact, it is not so suspenseful, the designers have long tested the weight it can bear, and our worries are completely superfluous, adding some unnecessary mental burden. Step by step, I walked about twenty or thirty meters, and finally arrived at a small platform with a fluffy weed in front of me, and to the west of the platform, there was no boardwalk, which was considered to be the end of the boardwalk. People say that when we swim to the edge of the sky, we turn back, and when we reach the edge of the sky, our hearts return to the same place, and suddenly we are calm and relaxed. Looking behind you, it seems to be a small Taoist temple, but there is nothing else inside except a few piles of dried feces, which is a bit of a small scenery, but at least it shows that there are very few people who go to the "Long Sky Boardwalk". We both smoked a cigarette, took a sip of water, and carefully returned to the South Peak.
Standing on the peak of the South Peak, the sun is the head, the breeze is blowing, blowing people exceptionally cool, we hug each other, celebrating the two attractions to play both happy and exciting, crazy shouting: "Only the sky is on the top, and there is no mountain and Qi!" After the passion was vented, after eating a fast food, he turned to the West Peak.
In Xifeng's place, it was considered to be a sloppy look at the flowers, only to see the "Splitting Mountain to Save the Mother" and Han Yu's crying nose, and then he went back to the house. The other seventy-two caves, twenty Taoist temples, strange stones, strange trees, hanging springs, waterfalls, it is impossible to see them one by one, and the whole tourism of Mount Taihua has come to an end in such a tense hurry.
2022.5.3 Supplement
(Li Zhonghe is a professor of Chinese language and literature at Shangluo University.) He has presided over three provincial-level research projects of the Shaanxi Provincial Department of Education and led the construction of provincial-level high-quality courses of "University Language". The editor-in-chief of "Shaanxi Province's New Textbook for the 21st Century", "University Language", won the second prize of the Shaanxi Provincial Department of Education Textbook Competition. There are books such as "Poetry Corner Talk", "Heart Voice", "Ancient Chinese Strange Children's Strange Stories" and other books. Editor-in-chief of Shangluo Review. Participated in the compilation of Yuan Shishuo's "Yuanqu Encyclopedia Dictionary" and other bibliographies. He has written and published nearly 80 essays, prefaces, reviews, essays and other articles. He has created ancient poems, essays, lexicographs, and works of Yang Lian, totaling nearly one million words. He was rated as the first batch of "Teaching Famous Teachers" of Shangluo College and the third "Teaching Famous Teacher Candidates" of Shaanxi Province.
He is a member of the Chinese Prose Literature Society, a member of the Chinese Classical Opera Society, a member of the Chinese Poetry Society, and has served as the president of the Shangluo Branch of the Shaanxi Provincial Old Professors Association, and is currently the chairman of the Shangluo Literary and Art Critics Association. After his retirement, he was employed by the School of Applied Science and Technology of Shangqiu University in Kaifeng. ）