The City of Sand, Loulan's Hometown —— "Chinese Video Fangzhi" Xinjiang Volume, Shanshan County (3)

The city of Sand, the hometown of Loulan

——"Chinese Video Fangzhi", Xinjiang Volume, Shanshan County (III)

01 Property Notes

　　August is the busiest time for grape harvesting. In the grape fields of the village of Cagtor in the town of Kaizhan, foreign merchants driving heavy trucks from afar are busy reaping the long-awaited fruits. The shadow of the master could hardly be seen in the field. It turned out that people were singing and dancing to celebrate Eid al-Adha.

　　In recent years, as the reputation of the Cagtor Grape Cooperative has grown, the price of grapes has also risen. Today, the per capita annual income of Kagtor village is among the best in Shanshan County, and most of the villagers rely on grape cultivation to become well-off. However, who would have thought that a few decades ago, this would be a famous poor village within a hundred miles.

　　Li Yuancai, secretary of the party branch of Kagtor Village, said: "Kagtor translated into Chinese is 'where crows stay'. Now we call cagator no one knows, say thirty miles of the great mound wasteland, the older generation all know this place. ”

　　Thirty mile da dun, originally the name of the Tang Dynasty beacon tunnel outside the village, did not want to become synonymous with poverty. Li Yuancai was born in Kagtor's second generation of xinjiang aiders. In the 1960s, his father and a group of aspiring young people came to Xinjiang from the interior in response to the state's call to "support the frontier and build the frontier."

　　At that time, the state practiced collective ownership of rural land, and his fathers were deeply aware that in order to change the face of poverty, they must first transform the wasteland.

　　Li Yuancai said: "Our fathers were particularly poor at that time, there was no machinery, all of them were manual, using ox carts and donkey carts to clean up the upper layer of the saline-alkali land, and the better ones below attracted water, and it took three years to soak a piece of land." ”

　　The years do not live, and the bucket turns to the stars. With the efforts of the whole village, it took more than ten years to finally turn the desert into a good field. Today's Kagtor village has a population of only more than 400 people, but it has more than 1500 mu of arable land, and 3.74 mu of land per capita. This is a miracle in Shanshan County, where the per capita area of many villages is less than one acre, which cannot but be said to be a miracle.

　　In 2009, Li Yuancai, who was elected secretary of the village party branch, led the villagers to vigorously develop the grape planting industry by using the land adjacent to the Kumutag Desert, which has a large amount of water evaporation, a high soil sand content, and is suitable for grape planting.

　　Shanshan County has a long history of growing grapes, located at 42 degrees 56 minutes north latitude. Near this northern parallel, several of the world's most famous wine-producing regions have been bred. Shanshan County enjoys climatic conditions of more than 3,000 hours of sunshine throughout the year and a huge temperature difference of 10 to 20 degrees Celsius, which also creates a perfect micro-environment for grape growth.

　　It is the country's largest production base of seedless white grapes and table grapes, producing seedless white skins with thin skin, crisp flesh, and a sugar content of up to nearly 30%, exceeding the sugar content of any grape in the world.

　　In recent years, under the guidance of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Grape and Melon Research Institute, Shanshan County has introduced and cultivated nearly 500 grape varieties, becoming one of the most concentrated and complete grape varieties in China and even in the world.

　　The development of the wine industry was born in the high-quality grape region, the predecessor of which was the Shanshan County Winery, which was the first wine production enterprise established in Xinjiang after 1949. After decades of exploration, its brewing process has now ranked among the world's advanced levels.

　　Archaeology confirms that as early as the Wei and Jin dynasties, people here have already made wine from grapes. This fresco copied from the cellar was unearthed in the astana tombs. It truly recreates the life of the owner of the estate, showing the whole process from juicing to distillation.

　　A small grape can let people today know the past and the future. With the rise of Shanshan tourism, it will surely become a new economic growth point for tourism consumption.

02 Development Notes

The three bridge villages in Lukeqin Town are named after the three small bridges that once lined the main road in the village. Today, the bridge no longer exists, and a former home of a celebrity has been carefully restored by villagers.

　　Zaitong Guli Muyiding, a graduate of the Xinjiang Academy of Arts majoring in art and design, designed a statue for him.

　　The reporter asked: "Little friend, who is this?" The child said, "Avanti." The villagers followed, "Avanti." ”

　　Avanti, an image of a wise man widely circulated in Chinese folktales. Why would a fictional, or even not entirely indigenous, character appear in three bridge villages?

　　Zaiguli Muyiddin, assistant designer of the Three Bridges Beautiful Countryside Construction Project, said: "His real name is Mullah Zhai Ding, a famous Uyghur literary artist, funny and humorous performance artist. He is recognized as the archetypal figure of Nasreddin Avanti. ”

　　Mullah Zhai Din was born in 1815 AD in the village of Togra in the town of Lukqin. Togra Village is the predecessor of the three bridge villages, and the formation age of the village is difficult to verify, but from these vigorous ancient mulberry trees, it can be concluded that it was formed at least no later than 1736, that is, the first year of the Qianlong Qing Dynasty.

　　About four kilometers west of the village is the town of Lukqin. During the Qing Dynasty, it was once the political, economic and cultural center of Turpan. In 1835, at the age of twenty, Mullah Zhai Ding was summoned to serve in the Turpan County. Judging from his biographical literature, he was straightforward and unabashed, mocking those dignitaries at every opportunity. His witty humor is helpless, and there are many stories about him in Uyghur folklore. These stories later became the source of the Chinese version of the Avanti story.

　　An ancient village that was recorded in the history books by Mullah Zhai ding gradually lost its vitality after entering the middle of the twentieth century.

　　"Before 2016, our village was one of the five autonomous region-level poor villages in Shanshan County. Because there are so many people and so little land, the people in the village have gone out to work. Hundreds of years of ancient mulberry trees are dying because no one protects them, Uyghur characteristic houses can not see the original appearance because of their disrepair, and the village feels dirty, chaotic and poor. ”

　　Three years ago, he and Guli Muyiding quit their jobs in Urumqi and returned to their hometown. At this time, it coincided with the proposal of Shanshan County to build a "beautiful Shanshan" as the goal, full mobilization, the whole people to work, the whole society to participate, focusing on the construction of beautiful villages. Together with Guli Muyiding, he became the assistant designer of the beautiful rural construction project of three bridge villages.

　　With the support of the government, they started a "makeover" change from design to construction and began a "makeover" of the living environment. After nearly two years of hard work, the village has a new look.

　　The environment is beautiful, there are many people who come to visit, but they are in a hurry, why can't people slow down? Then begin to reflect with Guli Muyiddin.

　　Eihindin Islayli, 63, retired from Sanqiao Elementary School three years ago and has been fascinated by Adelaide silk since he was young, is determined to learn this ancient weaving technique.

　　Adelaide is a Uyghur word meaning "tie-dye.". It is an ancient silk fabric of the Uyghur people.

　　In order to learn the art of weaving silk, he studied under Aytichem, who was 20 years old at the time. Although the girl is young, she is a master weaver, and her home is in the village of Muqam, which is not far from here. It is an ancient village that continues ancient folk art to this day.

　　It is said that the village of Sanqiao also had a tradition of weaving Adelaide silk before. Not only that, but people here also make a very old mulberry paper from mulberry bark, but later because there is no market, the craftsmanship is gradually lost.

　　In the view of Re-tong Guli Muyiding, these ancient handicrafts are actually the code of an ancient village civilization, a rare cultural resource, and the restoration of ancient skills is the restoration of the cultural memory of the ancient village.

　　The idea of joining Guli Muyiddin was unanimously endorsed by the village cadres. So she invited old artists from Hotan, the hometown of mulberry paper, and taught the skills to the villagers by hand. At the same time, it also helped Ai Yinding to set up the Adelaide Silk Studio for the villagers to observe and learn.

　　Driven by Ai Yinding, the villagers gradually became interested in ancient skills. Villager Shatar Ismail, who used to work outside the home for many years, has never wanted to leave his home since he mastered the art of mulberry paper making, and now there are 43 families in the village engaged in mulberry paper making. The mulberry paper they made was often ordered by some people who were engaged in calligraphy and fine art.

　　The villagers of the three bridge villages have not only recovered their ancient skills, but also recovered their nostalgia for the past. Visitors can not only sing and dance with the villagers, but also experience the charm of national handicrafts.

　　More than 1700 years ago, merchants on the "Silk Road" brought the seeds of mulberry trees to the western region. To this day, Shanshan is still full of mulberry trees, green shadows, like the three bridge villages aimed at the "green economy" there are many villages, people according to local conditions, explore the road of green development, but also continue to depict a better tomorrow.

Source: Turpan Media Center