The temperament of a city remains in the long river of history, contained in the fireworks of generations of life, and hidden in the extension of unique landforms and regional development. Mention of Guahōu in the vast land of China, it is inevitable to confuse people, the southerners in the eyes of "Guazhou" (now part of Yangzhou, Jiangsu), the northwestern people in the eyes of "Guazhou" (now Gansu Guazhou), although it is a difference between the head of the side, but across the mountains south and north of the river separated by tens of millions of miles. They have long been stationed in the place where the Chinese nation lives and multiplies, and at the same time are engraved in poetry, and have been favored by literati and inkers since ancient times: the Southern Song Dynasty poet Lu You once wrote "Lou Chuan Ye Xue Gua Zhou Ferry, Iron Horse Autumn Wind Great Scattering Pass", and The Tang Dynasty Cen Shan also wrote "Jun from Ten Thousand Miles, Smell has arrived in Guazhou"... Guazhou in Jiangnan was once an important ferry port in ancient times, and soldiers must compete for military points, connecting the throat of the north and south of the great river; Guazhou in the north of Saibei guards the westernmost intersection of the Hexi Corridor and the fork in the north and south lines of the Silk Road, and it can be said that as long as you step on the Silk Road, you can't get around here. It can be seen that the name has an extraordinary past.
Although the name has "melon", but since ancient times, the real "melon" is the most closely related to the only Guazhou, as the only county-level city named after the "melon", Guazhou's "sweet" temperament is innate. Without modesty, guazhou melon, don't you boast! Where does this confidence come from? Look at "past lives and present lives."
Guatian "Past": A city, named after "melon"
The reason why Guazhou got its name is related to the opening of the Silk Road, according to legend, during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Zhang Qian was ordered to go to the Western Regions, and when passing through the Northwest Fortress, he was seriously ill, and there was still no cure for famous doctors. Later, a folk man sent two watermelons, and after Zhang Qian ate several pieces, the disease was cured. After Zhang Qian returned to Chang'an, in order to remember this, Emperor Enzhun sent people to build a city in Anxi and gave it the name "Guazhou". In the second year of the Western Han Dynasty (121 BC), Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty opened four counties in Hexi, from which Guazhou was established as a county. Therefore, most people in Guazhou are engaged in planting melons, and melons in Guazhou are also famous...
Zhang Qian was able to heal without treatment, and now the reason is that it can probably be cooled off with Guazhou honeydew melon, in addition to annoying heat, and thirst-quenching, which is a good product for summer heat relief, and eating Guazhou honeydew melon has a significant role in promoting human hematopoietic function, which can be used as a dietary therapy for anemia. Chinese medicine believes that the fruits of melon are cold in nature, and also have the effect of curing hunger, laxative, beneficial qi, clearing lungs, heat and cough, and are suitable for patients with kidney disease, stomach disease, cough and phlegm, anemia and constipation.
In fact, the history of melon cultivation in Guazhou is longer than Zhang Qian's mission to the Western Regions, and even has some legendary colors. Legend has it that when King Mu of Zhou toured the west, the Queen Mother of the West set up a feast of melons and fruits for generous hospitality. One of the fairies holding the fairy melon passed through Anxi, was attracted by the desert scenery below, so she fell into the clouds to watch, to the wonderful place, could not help but clap her hands, accidentally dropped the fairy melon into the world, since then the fairy melon has grown in Anxi, which is the later Anxi watermelon.
Legend has it that it must add a unique charm to the "melon" of Guazhou. However, its long history of cultivation is not an exaggeration, and Western melons were introduced to China around the time of the Western Han Dynasty. There are historical records that melon is native to ancient Egypt in the African desert, and later introduced to the Middle East, India and other places, so it was brought back along the Silk Road by the merchants, and was first planted in today's Guazhou, Gansu, and Hami, Xinjiang.
When the scarce product of "melon" first entered the land of China, Guazhou became its place of rooting, which must have its unique natural advantages. The geomorphological characteristics of ancient Western Guazhou may be different from those of today, but the overall regional characteristics and climate should have many similarities over the past thousand years. Guazhou is a typical continental climate, with little precipitation, large evaporation, strong sunshine, small humidity, dry and windy, large temperature difference between day and night, and a relatively short frost-free period. This unique climatic characteristic, which is very suitable for the growth of melon in Guazhou and the accumulation of sugar in melon, is the most important factor in the formation of the quality characteristics of melon in Guazhou. In addition, Guazhou is flat terrain, water conservancy resources are extremely rich, the territory of the Qilian Mountains snow water confluence of Shule River, Yulin River and other major rivers, there are many springs downstream, converged into 11 spring ditches, the total annual flow of 56,000 cubic meters, good water quality, pollution-free, creating Guazhou honeydew melon juice, delicious characteristics. With its unique natural characteristics, Guazhou seems to be a place where heaven has kissed, making it a natural "raising house" for melon and fruit cultivation.
Melon "sweet" Yang "famous": the brand that has lasted for more than two thousand years "walks" the world
In the Hexi Corridor in July and August, the sun was scorching, the Gobi seemed to be burning, from Jiayuguan to Dunhuang, when a blue sign of "National Anxi ExtremeLy Dry Desert Nature Reserve" appeared in the field of vision, Guazhou, almost arrived. Walking in the Hexi Corridor, in the scorching heat of "dry clouds flying in the sky and burning in the sky, the day is like sitting in Zhen", stepping into Guazhou and meeting Guazhou is a fortunate thing.
In the middle of summer, running on the country roads of Guazhou or shuttling through the fields, you can see melon fields everywhere, and the ground is covered with large areas of green melon seedlings, and on the melon seedlings lie chubby melon dolls. Watermelon with green skin, cantaloupe with yellow skin, melon with yellow and white skin, milky white melon... The melon seedlings nodded and swayed with the wind, swaying layers of ripples, and the melon body faced the hot sun and wind and rain, revealing a wave of indomitable and tenacious strength of the People of Guazhou. Admittedly, this is a scenery in the summer, find a place to buy a melon, while eating, listening to the melon stall owner tell the little-known past of the melon field, there is a different flavor.
Some people say that in Guazhou, what you eat is melon, what you listen to is history, and what you taste is culture. Four thousand years of long history and four thousand years of thick cultural accumulation have made Guazhou immersed in the breath of history and culture. Melon "sweet" can be "famous", which has become an unquestionable mark in the journey traveled by Guazhou.
The "Book of Han and Geographical Records" records that "the ancient Guazhou land is born with beautiful melons", "its land is now a big melon, and the elder foxes eat it in the melon, and the head and tail do not come out". At the beginning of the Common Era, Dunhuang (the old name of Guazhou) melon was used as a royal tribute for the imperial family to eat, according to the Taiping Guangji: "Emperor Yang of The Hanming Emperor, dreaming of eating melons, very beautiful, the emperor asked for the kingdoms, when offering different melon seeds, the name Qionglong." In 525 AD (the sixth year of the Northern Wei Dynasty), dunhuang town was deposed and Guazhou was placed, which was named "Guazhou" because of the real estate of Meigua. The Western Jin Dynasty's "Guangzhi" also has: "Guazhou big melon is like Hu, Royal Melon is also, and Gansheng is like honey." It can be seen that the melon in Guazhou at that time was of excellent quality and had become famous.
During the Han and Tang Dynasties, Guazhou honeydew melon was already famous, crossing the Green Ridge in the west and entering Chang'an in the east, becoming a pump for countries in the western region and a rare treasure dedicated to the imperial family.
Guazhou, since ancient times, has been famous at home and abroad for its abundant production of "beautiful melons". Guazhou honeydew melon has 4 series of more than 30 varieties, crisp and juicy, sweet and delicious, refreshing and pleasant, is a good product to quench the heat and thirst. There is a poem that praises: "The ice fountain is soaked in green jade, and the sword breaks through gold; Cool and cold to quench the heat, clear the thirst and thirst."
Guazhou County has a long history of planting honeydew melons, and a thousand years ago "special offerings" are different, the mysterious color of its scarce products is still radiant, but "flying into the homes of ordinary people" is no longer difficult, in the sixties and seventies of the last century, Guazhou honeydew melons, especially white melons, Yellow River honey and other varieties of melons began to be popular in the market, becoming people's favorite summer "holy products".
On August 17, 2011, the Ministry of Agriculture of the People's Republic of China decided to implement the protection of geographical indications of agricultural products for agricultural products of "Guazhou honeydew melon", thus becoming a geographical indication protection product and a geographical indication product of agricultural products. In addition, "Guazhou Honeydew Melon" also won the "Sweet Taste" regional public brand of agricultural products "Good in Excellent", and was listed in the list of China's top 100 regional brands, and the popularity and reputation of Guazhou Honeydew melon have been improved again.
In recent years, Guazhou honeydew melon has attracted many merchants from all over the country to come to buy, and it is exported to the north, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Japan and South Korea, Europe, America, Southeast Asia and other places. This year, 85% of guazhou's honeydew melons have achieved order sales, and the total output is expected to be 151,500 tons, and the total output value will reach 358.5 million yuan.
Guatian "net" matter: policies to support the enrichment of the people's industrial development forward
On July 30 this year, Guazhou Honeydew Melon entered the "Oriental Reserve" live broadcast room under New Oriental for the first time! The Oriental Selection Team yoyo live broadcast, through live eating and broadcasting, detailing culture, counting products, etc., to tell the "past and present life" of Guazhou honeydew melon.
Baofeng Honey, XiangfeiMi, Jin Yinti, Mei Long, Brazilian Throat Clearing, Meteor Shower, Jin Xiangyu... As the name suggests, just by listening to the name, you have already felt the sweetness, deliciousness, refreshing and pleasantness of "Guazhou Honeydew Melon".
As a well-known melon town in the country, Guazhou County aims to create a national honeydew melon industrial park, adheres to the development direction of "wrong stubble planting, melons in all seasons, loud brands, high quality and good prices", continues to expand and strengthen the high-end melon industry cluster, launches the "Guazhou melon" brand, and makes the melon industry a "sweet" cause for the people to increase their income and get rich. In the development of the melon industry, Guazhou County closely relies on the advantages of facility planting, based on the revitalization of the melon industry, boldly breaks through the traditional planting mode, through the innovative application of new agricultural technologies, plants the characteristic melon of "early spring, postponement of autumn", and achieves the industrial development goal of "annual production, melon in all seasons, staggered peak sales, high quality and good price", and realizes the fragrance of melons and fruits throughout the year.
The fragrance of melons and fruits helps people to get rich. In accordance with the industrial development idea of "strengthening characteristics and doing high efficiency", Guazhou County has accelerated the construction of high-tech circular agricultural industrial parks, built a strong village in the melon industry, expanded the scale of high-quality melon planting, and strived to achieve more than 10,000 mu of facility melon planting area, built 5 thousand mu of facility melon bases, and standardized planting area of green melons to more than 60,000 mu. At the same time, we will adopt methods such as outreach and internal breeding and regional alliances to make melon cooperatives bigger and stronger, create a technical service team of "industry,300," "experts + cooperatives," and "experts+ large households," build demonstration sites for new varieties of melons and new technologies, improve the standardized production and scientific and technological level of melons, and form a pattern of distinctive, standardized, branded, and industrialized development, so that the melon brand in Guazhou will go to the high-end, and promote the increase of agricultural income and empowerment of rural revitalization.
With the rapid development of the melon industry, Guazhou County has gradually formed an "online + offline" melon marketing system through the signing of investment projects and the negotiation of agricultural product purchase and sales.
A bright pearl on the ancient Silk Road, named after Guazhou, she is called - Guazhou!
Sweet as honey, beautiful as jade! Without modesty, after eating the melon in Guazhou, there will be no melon in the world!
Correspondent Wei Jinlong, Ma Jingjing, Jiang Haibo