Editor's note: If you understand the past of the Mohe camel farm and approach the immortal epics written by ordinary people, you will firmly believe that even if more than 70 years have passed, the hustle and bustle of the past has gradually fallen silent, and the greatest camel team in human history will not be forgotten every time the camel bell rings again. With this series, I would like to pay tribute to the revolutionary ancestors of the Qinghai-Tibet camel team, as well as every hero who engraved the spirit of "two roads" and the spirit of camel workers in the blood.
I am Wei Haizhu, chairman of the Mohe camel farm trade union, and I am the "second generation of camels" who grew up in the camel farm. Camels may seem strange to you, but they are the animals I have known most since I was a child, and it is not an exaggeration to say that they are friends and family.
The picture shows camels foraging freely in the wilderness at the Mohe Camel Farm Photo: Wang Qian
In 1957, my father was recruited from Gansu to work in the Mohe camel farm and participated in the transportation of camel teams. His work has never left the camel farm.
When I was a child, I often didn't see my father for many days in a row, so I knew that he had traveled far away to transport supplies. I once heard adults chatting about all kinds of thrilling things that happened on the way when the transport team went to the Yushu Guoluo area to deliver supplies.
The materials transported are generally grain, salt, coal, etc., and sometimes there will be bad weather on the road, and even the danger of bandits and robbery, and it is the greatest wish to go home safely.
I once heard my father tell an incident about passing through the grassland during a certain transportation, and the camel workers buried the pot to cook, because the sky was dark, the cooking master accidentally poured the mung beans into the pot to the ground. In those days, food was a precious thing, how could it be wasted? He fumbled and picked up the beans from the ground and put them in the pot. When it was time to eat, everyone found that there were a lot of sheep dung eggs floating in the bowl. When I was a child, I only listened to it as a joke, but now when I look back, I only feel sad, it was really difficult to complete the camel transportation task at the beginning!
Later, I learned more about the history of caravans. The old camel workers of Mohe encountered many difficulties when they dragged camels into Tibet with the troops stationed in Tibet, escorted the 10th Panchen Lama back to Tibet, and participated in the Tibet Transport Corps to transport grain to Tibet. I heard from the elders that when they crossed Tanggula Mountain, because of the severe cold, some people's hands and feet froze, some people froze their ears, and even their noses froze! One can imagine how bad the environment and climate were at that time. Even so, they didn't ride camels, because their weight was already large enough, so in order not to fall behind, people had to hold the camel's tail and move forward step by step when their physical strength was exhausted.
Perhaps it was those experiences of hard work that exercised his father's strong will, and also cultivated his qualities of self-improvement, thrift, and diligence.
At that time, my father was considered a literate person among his peers, and after graduating from elementary school, he was particularly fond of reading. Perhaps it was because of his influence that I also liked to read, which helped me a lot when I later participated in the work to dig up the historical materials of the Qinghai-Tibet camel caravan, and many historical facts were found by my colleagues and I in many books.
In my opinion, camels are very gentle animals, and they have a lot of affection for people. In July 2014, one camel became very sick. I immediately called the veterinarian and rushed to treat him. I went to the sick camel first, but it was so sick that it could not walk at all, and I tried again and again to drive it to the veterinarian's car, but it looked back at me, and tears were falling down its eyes, and it was very pitiful, as if begging me not to let it walk. I couldn't bear it, so I called the veterinarian to check on the condition on the spot, because I couldn't be sure how to treat it without a full examination, so I had to temporarily decide to draw blood and take samples to send for testing. However, after the camel was put down to draw blood, it was never able to stand up. At that time, its eyes were very sad, as if it was nostalgic for life and unbearable pain, which still makes me feel distressed when I think about it.
Camels that were once fed still recognize themselves a few years later, pictures that Wei Haizhu has been in his collection Image courtesy of the interviewee
In 2018, when preparing to establish the Mohe Camel Farm Tourism Company, the camel team brought in the baby camel lambs abandoned by their mothers in Sanfeng (probably because they had to give up because of insufficient milk). My colleagues and I raise them with powdered milk. Since then, they have grown up in the field very close to humans, and follow us to and from work every day. It wasn't until three years later that they were released to the pasture in order to adapt to the environment. I don't know where they end up in the herd. Until 2023, a filming event will require camel farm camels to be brought together. I also went with me for work. In front of the herd, a camel suddenly came up to me and rubbed its head and mouth against my chest. When I returned to the company and took out the photos to talk about these things, my old colleague told me in surprise: "This is a camel!" "Camel" is one of the original three-peaked lambs. I was amazed that he had been back in the herd for almost three years, and he still recognized me!
The picture shows the Qinghai-Tibet Camel Caravan Historical Exhibition Hall Photo: Wang Qian
The story of camels and caravans has always been with me growing up and throughout my work. With the development of society, the transportation function of camels has become history, but camel farms are still in operation and have a very important historical value. In recent years, the popularity of the cultural tourism industry has given us a lot of inspiration, and we have realized that our unique camel and precious red history are good resources. Therefore, we began to plan to build a history museum on the basis of the Qinghai-Tibet Camel Caravan History Exhibition Hall, and dig deeper and more comprehensively into the dusty history. We must protect, make good use of, and manage these precious red resources, so that more people can understand the precious spiritual wealth of Mohe Camel Farm, always remember the great achievements of our ancestors, carry forward the spirit of camel workers and the spirit of "two roads", and let the red gene be passed on from generation to generation. (China Tibet Network Qinghai-Tibet Line Reporting Group/Wang Qian, Wu Jianying, Yao Haoran, Wu Shanyan)