In spring, southern Shaanxi becomes a tourist destination for the Shaanxi A army and even travelers from all over the northwest. Although the spring scenery of Chang'an ancient city is beautiful, compared with the three cities in southern Shaanxi, no matter how good the flowers are, they can only be regarded as one day to see, and they are tasteless.
If you start from Xi'an, the hub of Shaanxi, along the G211, G210 and many other "China's most beautiful highways" or the Xicheng high-speed railway over the Qinling Mountains, a mountain away, but a few hours away, the hustle and bustle of the city becomes a sea of peaks and flowers, Pingchuan Woye turns into southern spring light, Zhao Zheng Qin accent changes to a gentle Chinese tone, and the symphony of noodles on the table is also replaced by a carnival of bacon, mixed grains and wild vegetables. In one day, you have crossed the most three-dimensional north-south division in China.
Between the Qinling Mountains and the Daba Mountains, there is the most low-key area in Shaanxi - southern Shaanxi, which accounts for more than 1/3 of the total area of Shaanxi Province. For many people, this is a vague concept, Tong Xiangyu from Hanzhong in "The Legend of Wulin" is probably one of the few moments when southern Shaanxi appeared on the national stage, but that mouthful of "Foredrop God" is obviously a Guanzhong cavity, and as for Ankang and Shangluo, which are also located in southern Shaanxi, it is even more strange.
In fact, the three cities of southern Shaanxi located in the "center" of China - Hanzhong full of "Sichuan taste", the ankang of "Qintou and Chuwei", and Shangluo, which is accessible from north to south, are the most beautiful and colorful Shaanxi.
The "Little Gangnam" of the Great Northwest
In the Yangchun March of southern Shaanxi, more than 1 million mu of rape flowers dyed the entire Hanzhong Basin, and also spread to the Ankang mountains and rivers, which can be called the most magnificent battle in the northern expedition of the country in spring. And this, but the prelude to the spring in southern Shaanxi, the cherry ditch in Xixiang, the cherry blossoms in Liuba, the azaleas blooming in the foothills of Shangluo Mountain, the style is various, and when you arrive at Shangluo Dihua Town at the turn of spring and summer, you can also see the lotus water town of "lotus leaves He Tiantian"...
The Hanzhong Basin is rendered mottled yellow by rape flowers. Photo by Teng Hongliang
This back garden of Shaanxi will usher in its "golden age" in autumn, and whenever the Qinling Mountains are covered in colorful autumn colors, travelers will gather in Xi'an from all over the country, and then march to southern Shaanxi along the ancient road that was born after a thousand years.
In the Hanzhong rape flower field, the train to spring. Photo by Zhao Hongtao
On these roads, many historical sites from the Qin, Han, Three Kingdoms, Ming and Qing dynasties intermingle, and also have the fun of contemporary life, such as crossing the well-known Huanghualing-Guanghuo Street section of G211 National Highway, passing through Shangluo, you can see the boundary monument of "985 kilometers" near Ankang Xunyang, and from time to time students and parents come here to "seek a blessing".
In the mountains of southern Shaanxi, there are countless scenic spots such as "Little Ili", "Little Linzhi" and "Little Wudang", and if you look at the rich four-season landscape, this place is no longer like Jiangnan, but far better than Jiangnan.
Qinling, the "Chinese dragon vein" with its famous mountains, has created the temperament of southern Shaanxi. Qinling Mountains, which stretches for nearly 1,600 kilometers and has been greatly used for hundreds of millions of years, is separated by a mountain to block the northward movement of marine air masses, weaken the northern cold current to the south, and make most of southern Shaanxi like spring in all seasons.
The north side of the Qinling Mountains is lined with peaks, thousands of feet of cliffs, and many famous mountains such as Mount Hua and Taibai Mountain are steep "competing for peaks", while the southern slope of the Qinling Mountains is gentle and long, with dense vegetation and sufficient water vapor, turning into more than 70,000 rivers and streams, creating thousands of ravines. With green mountains and waters, warm seasons and many creatures, the crested ibis, a rare national treasure, was rediscovered in Hanzhongyang County at the southern foot of the Qinling Mountains and is now a shining business card here.
A crested ibis waiting for its prey by the stream. Photo by Wu Xuewen
The Han River, the largest tributary of the Yangtze River, also emerged from the southern foothills of the Qinling Mountains, a large river with an average annual runoff of about 57.7 billion cubic meters, which imports nearly an entire Yellow River water into Hubei every year. The main vein of the Han River goes all the way east, flowing into the Danjiangkou Reservoir, which has become the main water source for the middle route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, allowing the water of the Qinling Mountains to reach Gyeonggi and moisturize the world.
The tributaries of the Han River are thousands of rivers, so southern Shaanxi also has many rivers and lakes born of water conservancy projects, such as Ankang Ying Lake, known as "Shaanxi Thousand Island Lake", people grow tea and mulberry in the surrounding area, and even built "Suzhou Garden". But the Qinba Mountains add a magnificent atmosphere to this beautiful water town, such as Shangluoxian Goose Lake, with strange rocks on both sides, like bonsai between heaven and earth, which is a divine stroke written by manpower and natural creation everywhere.
The Shangluo landscape in the Qinba Mountains is both dangerous and beautiful. Photo by Li Hai
Qinling and Dabashan, together with the Han River, Jialing River and other rivers, outline the basic appearance and spiritual heritage of the "Northern Jiangnan" in southern Shaanxi.
How does the northernmost south connect the heart of China?
The so-called "northern Jiangnan" is only the first impression of southern Shaanxi, if you visit personally, although the three cities in southern Shaanxi all have the style of southern Shaanxi, they also have their own merits.
From the topographic point of view, Hanzhong "two mountains and one river", Ankang "three mountains and two rivers", and Shangluo is "eight mountains, one water and one field". If you look at the meteorological phenology, the Hanzhong rape flowers in the west are all over the mountains and the spring is bright, and the temperature in Shangluo in the east is lower than that of Xi'an every day in all seasons, and it has even snowed heavily recently, enjoying the treatment of "heating delay".
Ankang Nangong Mountain is the scenic victory of Daba Mountain. Photo by Li Wenbo
The painting style of southern Shaanxi people is more diverse. Southwest Mandarin is the basis of the rural pronunciation of southern Shaanxi, but the northwest of Hanzhong and Gansu hometown are seamlessly docked, and most of the north of Shangluo speaks a Guanzhong dialect, and when you get to Ankang and southern Shangluo, you will also meet fellow villagers who speak Jianghuai official dialect, Xianggan dialect and even Cantonese and "sweet potato dialect"... Even in southern Shaanxi, communicating in Mandarin may be the best solution.
As a result, a southern Shaanxi who is proficient in eight languages walks out of his hometown and is always caught in the entanglement of "am I a southerner or a northerner" when faced with the ultimate question of "where are you from?"
The characteristics of the three southern cities of Shaanxi "neither south nor north" can be found in the water system that flows from east to west and the many pores on the mountains in the north and south.
Around southern Shaanxi, the most important political, economic and cultural places in ancient Chinese mainland - northwest and southwest, are the twin stars of Xi'an and Chengdu, the "country of heavenly prefectures". Southern Shaanxi is the hub of many Shu roads in history, and it still profoundly affects the traffic pattern of Shaanxi, Gansu and Sichuan.
In the northeast, Luoshui reached Luoyang, the ancient capital of the thirteen dynasties on the Yiluo Plain; In the southeast, the Han water nourishes the diamond hub "Greater Wuhan" on the Jianghan Plain. Therefore, the strategic position of the three cities in southern Shaanxi is self-evident, and troubled times are a place of contention; Prosperous times became an important commercial and trading town.
There are many "dams" in the valley of Hanzhong, which are very suitable for survival. Photo by Zhang Yongfeng
Therefore, Hanzhong, Ankang, and Shangluo either became their own side in history, or belonged to Bashu or belonged to Chudi, and then became part of Lao Shaanxi due to the deformation of mountains and rivers and the pattern of intertwined canine teeth. Several important surrounding places have risen and fallen in the long scroll of China, and the fate of the three southern Shaanxi places has also been magnificent, shining on the historical stage in turn.
The first to shine is the very Shaanxi, full of Sichuan flavor of Hanzhong.
One of the characters "Han" deeply engraved in the blood of China originated here. At the beginning, Liu Bang, the king of Hanzhong, rose here, first along the Qin-Chu ancient road to conquer Guanzhong, and then performed the Ming Xiu plank road in the Chu-Han dispute, darkening the wonderful battle examples of Chen Cang, and finally took "Han" as the national name and set the capital Chang'an. Since then, Hanzhong has always been an important place in the world, and in modern times, due to the prosperity of waterway commerce, it once became the "second city of Shaanxi" after Xi'an.
The second to leave a mark was Shangluo, who looked north to Chang'an and east to Bachu.
Shangluo, named after Shang Mountain and Luo River, once belonged to Chu and later returned to the Three Qins, and was the key place of Gyeonggi during the rise of Chang'an. The Shang Yu Ancient Road starts from Shangluo, runs to Nanyang and even Jiangnan and Lingnan, connecting the cultural context of the Central Plains and the southern country. A literati walking through this "Shangshan Fame and Fortune Road" will inevitably leave behind "Chicken Sound Maodian Moon" and "Where is the Yunheng Qinling Home" and other life sighs.
At the time of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the historical symphony of "lakes filling Sichuan" rolled in, and one of the roads along the waterway of southern Shaanxi rippled the afterglow of "lakes filling southern Shaanxi". As a result, Shang Luo and Ankang, who had become "a metropolis of Qintou and Chuwei" as early as the Warring States period, rose up during this great migration. Southern Shaanxi, officially connected by the Shudi and Guanzhong Province, has become the pivotal point of China's heartland.
Compared with the mighty water flow of the Yangtze River and the Grand Canal, southern Shaanxi seems to be surrounded by the Qinba Mountains in a closed "horn" shape, but the mountains and rivers are strange and not dangerous, there are many water networks, the benefits of boats, and the cars and horses are accessible, not weaker than the big rivers, from the ancient town of Qingmuchuan in Hanzhong at the western end of the "Jiming Three Provinces" to the Longjuzhai and Manchuan Pass at the eastern end, the endless southern ancient towns, embellished with pearl chains in the Qinba mountains and rivers.
If you start from Hanzhong and head east to visit these ancient towns of water towns, which are still full of life, you can see the green tile houses in the south gradually transformed into the powder-walled Dewa of Hui-style architecture and the foundation archway of Jingchu architecture. Villagers from all over southern Shaanxi are still close to water. Get up early to swim on the banks of the Han River and practice in the morning, singing the gentle Chinese tune of Jingchu Water Town, and every festival, I like to row dragon boats and grab ducks, showing the majesty of the residents of the water town.
Ankang, dragon boat racing, duck grabbing. Photo by Shao Xiangdong
Southern Shaanxi, between this ancient town of land and water, welcomes people sent to the ancient world and collects the cultural essence of all directions. The people of this place also have a spiritual show in their hearts and are determined to be thousands of miles.
For example, Zhang Qian, who set out from Hanzhong Chenggu, had to experience several times in the thousands of mountains and ravines of the Qinling Mountains before achieving the feat of hollowing out the western region and opening up the southwest. Another example is Shang Luo Danfeng's Jia Pingwo, who reconciled the landscape of his hometown with the taste of Xiao Shu in the ancient capital Xi'an, and with his strange and ethereal style, the simplicity and thickness of Chen Zhongzhong, a native of Guanzhong and the courage and enterprising of Lu Yao, a native of northern Shaanxi, he forged a sensational literary "Shaanxi Army Crusade".
Han tune two reeds are also popular throughout Hubei. Photo by Shao Xiangdong
Since the beginning of a thousand years, in the road network corridor of southern Shaanxi, flowing with cars, ships, goods and people's hearts, deposited ancient towns, pavilions and splendid chapters, with both the majesty of the north and the warm temperament of southern Shaanxi, if formed, it still strongly affects the cultural style of the three cities.
Southern Shaanxi taste, how to concentrate China?
Qinling and Dabashan Mountain bring out the beautiful face of southern Shaanxi, the Han River, Jialing River, Luo River and other long flowing waters, moisturizing its cultural roots, and the most diverse and rich Shaanxi is hidden in the human flavor of southern Shaanxi.
If you are lucky enough to meet a fellow from southern Shaanxi, there is no shortage of surprises in his/her bag throughout the year. In spring, there are Hanzhong Xianhao, Shangnan deer tea, Ziyang hair tip, early summer there is the "first best fruit in Jiangnan" loquat, in autumn there are kiwi fruit, chenggu mandarin oranges and jujube shaped like chicken feet, and in winter there is the taste of mountain wild. The abundance of southern Shaanxi products can be seen from this.
The tea garden of Mian County also has the fragrance of flowers. Photo by Zhao Hongtao
The daily delicacy here connects every Chinese's stomach. The pulp water and oil poured spicy seeds flowing in the veins of northwesterners, the bacon ribs and corn dumplings in the southwest mountains, and the heroic noodle bread cakes in the north are not less delicious than the southern rivers and seas, and even the Lingnan Laoguang eat a bite of Hanzhong hot noodles here, and they can't help but think of the soft and smooth taste of hometown pho and intestine flour.
Speaking of staple food alone, it brings together the essence of northern Shaanxi grains and Guanzhong noodles, whether it is the type, eating method or combination with other flavors, there are many changes. After all, southern Shaanxi has a diverse terrain, with rice and wheat in the valley dams, and potato bud valleys (potatoes and corn) and various grains in the mountains.
Photo 1 Photo by Shao Xiangdong
From top to bottom, they are ankang steamed noodles and Shangluo wreath buns. Photo 2 Photo by Kang Hui
Hanzhong hot noodles, to be served with pulp and water vegetable tofu; Ankang steamed noodles, seasoned with sesame sauce for the most authentic; When Shangluo, which has many mountainous areas, there are fried buns filled with multigrain vermicelli with soy milk or thin soup. In addition, there are many pastries such as walnut buns, kang buns, wreath buns, etc., which are thick and solid with a bit of dexterity.
Eating in southern Shaanxi, you can also see the connection between this place and the surrounding cultural customs. Let's just say that the representative of Hanzhong cuisine, hot noodles, if you look at the way of steaming rice flour, is simply the "half-brother" of Longnan rice peel in Gansu and hot cold noodles in Guangyuan, Sichuan, next door, but the key seasoning of oily spicy seeds (oil spicy seeds) is as subtle as a cocktail.
The raw material is Hanzhong hot dough made of rice flour refining. In the local dialect, "noodles" refers to a fine powder. Photo by Hu Wenkai
The flavor of southern Shaanxi is close to Sichuan and Chongqing, so every family is a pig master, a bite of pig in a variety of ways to eat, but also hang into bacon to increase the taste. In the area of Foping, Mian County and Ankang in Hanzhong, there is a ruthless vegetable blood dumpling (blood tofu) made of pork, tofu and pig blood. This dish is widely spread, and travelers as far east as Shaoyang in Hunan and south as the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau can get a surprise of hometown flavor here.
Figure 1: Dried bacon
Picture 2: Kneading blood tofu. Photo by Shao Xiangdong
The humid climate of southern Shaanxi has also blessed the local taste for a long time. The people of southern Shaanxi are the masters of winemaking in Shaanxi, and the mountain grains and fruits of the four seasons are all the best materials in their hands. For example, the sugar cane wine, grain wine, and pole wine filled in large barrels and small barrels, although the degree is not high, but in the hands of the fellow villagers in southern Shaanxi who uphold the principle of "home from home, the Lord does not deceive guests", one or two glasses will make the visitor's emotional concentration break through the limit, and "can't bear it" (Shaanxi-Gansu dialect, can't bear it). At this time, what difference between the north and the south is no longer important, only the clouds and mountains of southern Shaanxi wonderland in my mind, I don't know where it is.
Resources:
Ming and Qing Dynasty Shaanxi Commercial Geography Research Zhang Ping
Research on the Regional System of Human-Land Relations in the Han River Corridor in Southern Shaanxi in the Historical Period Tao Weining
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