The Brahmaputra River is the longest plateau river in China and one of the highest rivers in the world. Her birthplace, Gemma Yangzong Glacier, is just off National Highway 219.
The "National Highway Journey: From the Snowy Mountains to the Sea" reporting group continued south along National Highway 219 and entered the territory of Zhongba County, after which the reporter left the national highway and turned into a simple road made of gravel. After nearly 100 kilometers, several tents appeared on the grassland - a herder grazing spot.
The reporter stopped the car, walked to a tent, and asked the herdsmen who were drinking butter tea about the specific location of the Gemma Yangzong Glacier. After the reporter identified his identity and intentions, a dark-faced old man put down the tea bowl in his hand and said loudly: "I'll take you there!" ”
A few minutes later, the old man walked out of the tent with a pair of binoculars around his neck and a yellow snakeskin bag in his hand, boarded our SUV, pointed his finger ahead and said, "Follow this gravel road, keep going." ”
The old man's name is "Nainai" and he is 60 years old this year.
The name "Nainai" is extremely rare among Tibetans, and the Tibetan reporters in the reporting team were also very confused about it. When asked, the old man said that after the peaceful liberation of Tibet, many of their local elders gave their children Han names to express their gratitude and affection for the cadres and PLA officers and soldiers who entered Tibet. He didn't ask his father why he had given him that name, but he guessed that a PLA soldier with "Nai" in one of his names inspired his father. Among the herdsman friends who grew up with him, there are those named "Yonghui", and some called "Zhonghua"...
After driving for more than 20 kilometers, several snow-capped mountains surrounded by heavy clouds appeared. Old Man Nainai's expression became solemn: "This is the Gemma Yangzong Glacier!" ”
There was no road, and the car could not continue forward, and at this time there was still about a kilometer from the straight-line distance of the snowy mountains, but there were steep slopes and ravines in front of them. The reporter got out of the car and saw a dark gray granite stele standing at the mountain pass, on which six large red characters were engraved: "The source of the Brahmaputra River"! It is here, the source of China's longest plateau river, the Gemma Yangzong Glacier.
The fierce wind mixed with snowflakes kept blowing the reporter to the ground, and the old man Nainai walked with difficulty to the top of a cliff closest to the glacier, raised the telescope hanging around his neck, looked at the snowy mountains and glaciers, and muttered as he looked: "Small, small, much smaller!" ”
The reporter also hobbled to the side of the old man Nainai and asked loudly: "What is small?" ”
"There is a lot of glaciation, and in the past, the glacier was very large, extending all the way to the bottom of the mountain, and now it has melted a lot." The old man said with a solemn face.
Glacier melting, a global problem, is caused by global warming, and in this environment, the Gemma Yangzong glacier and other glaciers in China have not been spared. In 2011, a scientific study by the State Key Laboratory of Cryosphere Science of the Institute of Environment and Engineering in Cold and Arid Regions of the Chinese Academy of Sciences showed that since 2000, the retreat rate of the end of the Gemma Yangzong glacier has accelerated significantly. The main reasons for the change of the glacier in Gemma Yangzong are the rapid rise in temperature, the significant decrease in rainfall, and the warmer and dry climate. In 2018, an internationally renowned environmental protection organization released a report pointing out that under the influence of global warming, China's glaciers have shown a comprehensive and accelerated retreat since the 90s of the 20th century. Compared with the 50s of the 20th century, 82.2% of China's glaciers are in a state of retreat, and the total area has shrunk by about 18%.
Nainai said that his family's summer pasture used to be next to the Gemma Yangzong glacier, and until he turned 40, he came to graze his cattle near the glacier every year, and in his opinion, the glacier did not change much from year to year. Because of his physical reasons and the high altitude on the side of Gemma Yangzong Glacier, he has not been here in the past 20 years. It turned out that this was the first time in twenty years that the old man Nainai had returned to the glacier of Gemma Yangzong.
In order to protect the Gemma Yangzong Glacier and reduce human activities near the glacier, the Zhongba County Government has taken measures to rest grazing, and the grassland adjacent to the Gemma Yangzong Glacier is the focus of grazing rest.
In recent years, national and local governments have successively issued various policies and regulations to protect glaciers. Tibet has taken multiple measures to minimize human activities, especially to avoid the adverse impact of tourism development on glaciers. In addition to the grazing rest measures in Zhongba County, the Puruogang Ri Glacier, located deep in the Qiangtang grassland, suspended all kinds of tourist reception services from June 1, 2018, and implemented strict protection measures. In order to protect the Rongbu Glacier in the Everest area, from 2019, tourists have been prohibited from entering the core area of the Everest Reserve, and tourists have withdrawn to the area around Rongbuk Monastery after their base camp; On April 26, 2023, the Second Session of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress passed the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Ecological Protection of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, which will come into force on September 1, 2023, providing a legal basis for glacier protection on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Article 20 of the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Ecological Protection of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau stipulates that the relevant departments of the State Council and local people's governments at or above the county level on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau shall establish and improve the protection system for the frozen soil of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and strengthen the monitoring, early warning and systematic protection of the frozen soil of the snow mountain glacier. The provincial-level people's governments of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau shall include large ice cap glaciers and small-scale glacier groups in the ecological protection red line, implement bans and protection of important snow-capped mountain glaciers, and take effective measures to strictly control man-made disturbances.
Old Man Nai stared at the Gemma Yangzong glacier quietly and from afar, like gazing at a friend he hadn't seen for a long time. Then, the old man picked up the yellow snakeskin bag he had brought from home and began to pick up garbage near the mountain pass. Although there are few people near the glacier, there are still bottles and cans left by tourists or plastic bags and pieces of paper blown by the wind... "There are twenty or thirty herders in the vicinity, and they all care about the environment as much as I do," Nainai told reporters. ”
The reporter and the old man Nainai waited at the mountain pass for more than 3 hours, but the Gemma Yangzong Glacier had been hidden in the wind and snow. As a last resort, the reporter embarked on the journey home. Although I could not see the true face of the source of the Brahmaputra River, I was more satisfied for the reporter to see people like Nainai who carefully guarded the glacier, and knew that from the local to the central level, they were doing their best to protect the glacier.
"The glacier is too important, the water of the glacier nourishes the grassland, feeds the livestock, feeds us, we must protect her!" The old man Nai Nai told reporters.
Yes, without glaciers, there are no great rivers. To protect glaciers is to protect rivers, to protect ourselves. I also hope that each of us will contribute our own efforts to protect the Gemma Yangzong Glacier, protect all glaciers, and make the glacier beautiful forever!
On May 31, the reporter drove on the way to find the Gemma Yangzong Glacier (mobile phone photo). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Fei Maohua
On May 31, the old man Nai Nai used a telescope to observe the Gemma Yangzong glacier in the distance. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Fei Maohua
On May 31, the old man Nainai gazed at the Gemma Yangzong glacier in the distance. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Fei Maohua