Taiyuan, 7 April (Xinhua) -- "This is the peach blossom flood of Hukou Waterfall that I photographed in 2005, and the water is very muddy; This is the peach blossom flood taken in 2015, and the water flow is obviously much clearer..." Photographer Lv Guiming's photos of the peach blossom flood of Hukou Waterfall taken for more than ten years have witnessed the change of the Yellow River from "turbid waves rolling" to "white waves rolling in the sky".
The picture shows the peach blossom flood of the Yellow River Hukou Waterfall in 2012. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Lv Guiming)
Hukou Waterfall, known as the "world's largest yellow waterfall", is an iconic attraction of the Yellow River. Lu Guiming, a 51-year-old native of Ji County, Linfen City, Shanxi Province, grew up on the banks of the Yellow River and came to the Hukou Waterfall tourist area in 1999 to take pictures of tourists and engage in photography creation. From film cameras, to digital cameras, to professional SLR cameras, he recorded the changes of Hukou Waterfall with his lens.
"I personally think the main reason is that the ecology has improved." Lv Guiming said that he still planted 3 acres of apple trees, and over the years, he clearly felt that there were more and more trees on both sides of the Yellow River.
The picture shows the peach blossom flood of the Yellow River Hukou Waterfall in 2017. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Lv Guiming)
In recent years, a number of important ecological protection and restoration projects have been implemented in the Yellow River Basin, such as returning farmland to forest, improving the quality and efficiency of economic forests, and restoring wetlands, with remarkable results. Data show that the area of soil erosion in the Loess Plateau has been reduced from the most serious 450,000 square kilometers since monitoring to 231,300 square kilometers, while the amount of sand transported by the Yellow River has been greatly reduced.
The picture shows the peach blossom flood of the Yellow River Hukou Waterfall in 2019. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Lv Guiming)
Shanxi Province is located in the middle reaches of the Yellow River, with a 965-kilometer main stream, accounting for nearly one-fifth of the total length of the main stream of the Yellow River Basin. In recent years, Shanxi has adhered to systematic governance and made outstanding achievements in ecological environmental protection. The forest coverage rate of the province increased from 18.03% in 2010 to 23.57% in 2020, of which the Yellow River Basin increased to 25.25%.
Located at the southern end of Lüliang Mountain on the Loess Plateau in western Jinxi, Hukou Waterfall is located, and the soil erosion area once accounted for 79% of the total area of the county, which is one of the most serious areas of soil erosion in Shanxi Province. After years of large-scale and high-standard ecological construction, soil erosion in the county has been effectively curbed, the ecological environment has improved significantly, and the production and living conditions of farmers have been significantly improved. According to data from the Jixian Water Conservancy Bureau, by the end of 2021, the degree of soil erosion control in the county had increased from 51.83% in 2010 to 73.11%.
In the Hukou Waterfall Tourist Area, in the past three years, Ji County has invested more than 23 million yuan to plant more than 15,000 evergreen tree species, more than 20,000 flowering shrubs, more than 17,000 forsythia, more than 50,000 creepers, about 100,000 precious seedlings, and planted (planted) more than 40,000 square meters of root flowers and plants.
The picture shows the peach blossom flood of the Yellow River Hukou Waterfall in 2021. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Lv Guiming)
"When I first took pictures, there was a lot of wind and sand, mud and mud on my clothes, and I broke five cameras one year. Now, you see how clean this drone is when it flies back. Lu Guiming said.
The picture shows the peach blossom flood of the Yellow River Hukou Waterfall in 2023. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Lv Guiming)
With the improvement of the ecological environment, the Hukou Waterfall Tourist Area has also become a "bird paradise". Black storks, herons, egrets, black-winged sandpipers, wild geese... The subjects Lv Guiming photographed are becoming more and more abundant.
Source: Xinhua News Agency