Written by Zhu Haiyan
[a]
The first time I met Huaihe was in the 70s of the last century, when I was working for the command organization of Cihuai Xinhe in a small town called Kantuan in northern Anhui. On the way, in the place of Fengtai, I saw the Huai River, which was the dream of the day.
/Huaihe River scenery (picture source network)/
I saw the Huai River, and the big river rushed eastward!
At the wharf where I crossed the river, I don't know how wide the Huai River is. It was the widest river I had ever seen in my life, and its width struck me. Countless sailboats float on the river, and curved willow trees grow on the riverbed on the south bank of the Great River. Trees, not very regular, but very poetic. Some of them grow in the water, some are born on the bank, along with the Huai River to the east, the tree is like a guard of honor to see off the line, along the river bank to the distance. Due to the breadth of the riverbed, the Huai River does not seem like a river to me, but rather a section of a vast lake. The riverbank presents a quiet and natural form of a natural river. The water is soft and long, with a graceful and supple narrative style. The water level was high, and it was bright and white from afar. Boats walk on the water as if they were walking on the plains. The river breeze blows in, it is so breathtaking, it makes people feel comfortable.
On the west side of the ferry is a high platform, like the cliffside of a mountain, where ancient trees grow. Looking through the trees, you can see the old buildings on the platform. I don't know what this place is, but I thought to myself, maybe because there is this majestic high platform on the bank of the Huai River, Fengtai is called "Fengtai". Later, I went to Huainan or Hefei through Fengtai many times, but I never saw that ferry again. The mystery of the Huai River has been left in the distance of memory.
I beg your pardon, the river of my mother, at that time, I did not know where you came from and where you went......
/ This is the Huai River (picture source network) /
Rivers are the cradle of life and the homeland of human civilization. There is no ancient civilization in the world that did not originate and grow on a river. Open the map of the motherland, and you will see thousands of mountains and rivers, including the towering Kunlun, the Yellow River, and the Yangtze River...... Of course, there is also the mother river in front of me, the Huai River, which has aroused the groans and reveries of many literati and artists throughout the ages, and aroused how many people with lofty ideals have dedicated themselves to fighting for them.
Their resounding names contain not only a geographical entity, a landform type, and a regional concept, but more importantly, they express a soul, a cultural trait and a spirit of the times in which they are located.
When I grew up, I left my hometown, but walked into the Huai River.
Going south or returning north, I walked across the Huai River again and again, and thought about the Huai River. I discovered the multi-faceted image of the Huai River. When I met the Huai River for the first time in Fengtai, I found that the Huai River is alive and can speak, it is the most flexible and poetic geographical space in the countryside, and the vigorous flowing water, or beautiful or magnificent, embodies people's most lingering feelings.
/Bengbu Huaihe River scenery (picture source: network)/
Later, I crossed the Huai River many times from Bengbu on the Beijing-Shanghai line, and found that the Huai River obscured its poetry, the river water was so turbid, and the steamer cast a thin shadow, which rarely gave people romantic feelings. This is a dry river, the two banks of the river squeezed out the warmth of the "riverside", the scenery is very monotonous, the city's high-rise buildings, steel, soot, add a gray and heavy color to the river. As the writer Wang Anyi said: "The whistle reverberates on the lead-gray roofs of Bengbu, and the effect is completely different from the detour in the countryside of Wuhe. This whistle makes the sky of Bengbu even more oppressive and gloomy. The river passed under its feet, with a slow gait and a sluggish expression. ”
I think that the Huai River should always exist in the background of "the willow bank sand is bright to the sunset, and the Huai River grows up to fly". The river is a relatively independent rural space, and the people here have formed an inherent and unique way of life and production, including fishery, water transportation, ferry, etc., forming a water family. People can survive on the river by these production methods, and the environment forms a unique natural landscape and cultural atmosphere. "On the Qingjiang River of bamboo houses, there are four or five winds. The water garden is divided into leaves, and the adjacent boundary recognizes the reed flower. The rain is to the fish and the waves, and the birds are back to the sand. Where does the moon go, the piece of Xi Sai is slanted. These should be the river's desire for home and the sustenance of homesickness.
/Scenery on both sides of the Huai River (picture source network)/
Rivers are the mother of mankind, and the face of mothers should not be changed. Human beings thrive in the embrace of rivers and make history. For thousands of years, human beings were born in Si, grew up in Si, and the relationship with rivers is inseparable, "birds go to the mountains and birds come to the mountains, people sing and people cry in the sound of water", this is the inseparable portrayal of human beings and mountains and rivers.
A river is a moving story, a living history.
However, rivers are also changing, and sometimes they lose their natural authenticity. This is the case with the Huai River.
As the son of Huaihe, I still haven't read Huaihe. I think that the Huaihe River will not be named after Huaiyin, Huai'an, Huaibin, Huaiyang, and Huainan; but because of the Huai River, the city on the south bank of the Huai River will be named "Huaiyin," the small town on the north bank of the Huai River will be named "Huaiyang," and the small town by the river will be named "Huaibin."
Reading the history of human development, we understand that there have been indigenous people living there in the Jianghuai region for a long time, and they have multiplied for generations and created a distinctive ancient civilization. According to expert research, the ancestors of ancient China belonged to three major tribal groups: Huaxia Group, Dongyi Group, and Miaoman Group. The Jianghuai region should belong to the category of the Dongyi Group and is called Huaiyi. Most of the records about Huaiyi in historical documents are in the Shang and Zhou dynasties, and if they go back to the Xia Dynasty, the information about Huaiyi is really pitiful.
I wonder if the name "Huaihe" is because this big river passes through the land of "Huaiyi"? The life history of the Huaihe River is certainly far longer than the history of its name, and this is self-evident. After flowing for thousands of years under the name of "Nameless River", the Huaiyi gave it a name.
/Huaihe River scenery (picture source network)/
Regarding the origin of the name of the Huai River, there is another theory. Under the same night sky more than 3,000 years ago, a wild moon glowed silvery-white in the sky, and a large river flowed quietly among the reeds and weeds. A species of bob-tailed bird called Huai perched in flocks along the river, stopping the noise of the day, and the occasional call of a wild beast came from the covered forests of the mountains. The natural law of the jungle keeps mountains, waters, birds, and beasts in a state of balance and calm. The two banks of this surging river have become the hometown of "Huai Bird", and this river is named "Huai River".
Looking at the word "Huai" from the oracle bone inscription and the golden inscription, I can't help but feel poetic: one side is next to "water", and the other side is "good", which is really wonderful. "Sayings" said: "A bird with two legs and feathers is called a bird, and a short tail is better." "The sparkling waves of the Huai River are surging in it, and life is all in it. Therefore, a contradictory Huai River, a Huai River with sorrows and joys, although with endless tragic colors, puts those who interpret the Huai River in a natural state of harmony or opposition.
Huaihe is something to be proud of, it married its excellent daughter to Dayu
/Dayu sculpture (picture source network)/
The Xia Dynasty was the beginning of the civilized society on the mainland, and the legends and historical sites about the Xia are inextricably linked with the Huai River. Legend has it that Yu's father, Kun, was a descendant of the Yellow Emperor, whose ancestors moved from the Qiang region in the northwest to settle in Yishui and Luoshui, which are today's Luoyang. Yaoshi, Feng Yu Chong, that is, in Henan Dengfeng Chongshan. The official title given to him was "Chongbo", making him the leader of the Bochong tribe on the south bank of the Great River.
The Youchong clan is a tribe engaged in agriculture. Because he is engaged in agriculture, he has rich experience in water control. At that time, the surging flood overflowed the Central Plains, and Kun was ordered to control the flood, and he used the method of building embankments to contain the flood in an attempt to return the flood water, but the flood was too large and the embankment burst and failed to control the flood.
As a result, Kun was exiled and later killed.
Thanks to that era, there was no such thing as the Nine Clans.
The father had a problem, but the son was still entrusted with the task. Dayu adheres to his father's business and is entrusted in times of crisis. He was well-informed and trustworthy, meticulous and diligent, united many tribes, summed up the lessons of the failure of water control, and formulated a water control plan of "dredging the river and guiding the stagnation, and enriching the water".
This is a plan to turn water hazards into water conservancy, which can not only make the floods that flow everywhere from small to large without hindrance through dredging rivers, open and block them, and flow into large rivers, but also use some lakes and depressions to accumulate a certain amount of water to achieve the effect of "abundant things".
After years of hard work, Yu was not afraid of hardships, passed the door three times without entering, and finally subdued the flood demons and made a great contribution to the Chinese Shenzhou. Therefore, later generations praised Dayu, that is, "great Yu".
Dayu's water control is which one into which rivers of flooding, because of the different records in the ancient books, the saying is different. However, one thing has been confirmed by history: that is, Dayu went down the river from Tongbai Mountain, the birthplace of the Huai River, to Huaiyuan County, Anhui Province. He saw that a big mountain was blocking the way of the water of the Huai River, so he led the people to open a waterway from the middle of the mountain and let the Huai River take advantage of the situation. This mountain, which was split in two, is today's Jing
Mountains and Tu Mountains. "Water Jing Note" cloud: "Jingtu two mountains are connected as a faction, Yu to the flow of Tongbai, flooding is harmful, and digging the mountain is two to pass it." ”
/ Dayu controls the water (picture source, network, thanks to the author of the painting) /
In the process of digging Tu Mountain, Dayu harvested love. He married Nujiao, the daughter of the Tushan clan, and formed a marriage alliance with the Tushan clan. Later, Dayu and the princes of all parties agreed to meet in Tushan, which was the famous Tushan meeting. Tu Mountain, also known as Dang Tu Mountain, in the western suburbs of Bengbu City, there is a village, called Yuhui Village, which lives in the downstream of the mouth of the whirlpool. The meeting of Tushan announced the establishment of the authority of Dayu as the supreme ruler of the country and the establishment of the Xia Dynasty. Therefore, the exchange and collision between the ancient culture of the Central Plains and the ancient culture of Anhui have entered a new period.
With the footsteps of Dayu, Huaihe began to enter the poetry of ancient culture. In the later "Book of Songs", Huaili and the river, river, and Ji are listed as one of the "four desecrations", with a source, a process, and its own estuary. Therefore, the people on both sides of the Huai River once praised their mother river so enthusiastically: "It is better to walk thousands of miles than on both sides of the Huai River." ”
[b]
The Huai River, known as Huaishui in ancient times, has been listed as one of the seven major contemporary rivers in the mainland. The Huai River originates from Tongbai Mountain in Henan, flows through Hubei, Henan, Anhui and Jiangsu provinces, and joins the Yangtze River in Sanjiangying, Yangzhou, with a total length of 1,000 kilometers.
Let's go to the source of the Huai River.
Halfway up the Tongbai Mountain, there is a village, there is a water curtain hole in the village, and a string of spring water hangs on the water curtain hole. It is not far from the Huai River. The villagers say that this is the source of the Huai River.
It just so happened that on the day I visited "Huaiyuan," a cadre from the town went to this village to inspect the work, and he said to me: "You can't listen to their nonsense, they all want to bring guests from other places to eat at their farmhouses, and this place is not Huaiyuan." There are many sayings about "Huaiyuan", you might as well walk around Tongbai Mountain and take a look. ”
So, I came to the second place called "Huaiyuan". This is the Huaidu Temple of Tongbai Mountain.
Zhang Ben, who served as the instructor of Tongbai County in the early Qing Dynasty, wrote a poem entitled "Confessing to Huai Desecration Temple". From the poem, it is not clear that there was no spring water flowing out of this place back then, but from the poem, the scenery here was very beautiful at that time. Poetry Cloud:
Gu Bai forced Cui Wei, and Long Jing embraced Cui Lai.
The crane flies thousands of trees, and the monument lies on the moss of ten thousand years.
The source of the publication wood is far away, and the rock is opened by the chacha.
So far, the traces of Yu have been traced, and the platform has been retired.
Is this Huaiyuan?
/Henan Tongbai Huai River Birthplace (Image source: Internet)/
Tongbai Mountain ten thousand springs flow, say which water flow is Huaiyuan can be reasonable, say which water flow is not Huaiyuan, there is also its reason, it seems that there is water may not be able to be called "source".
Here I met a water conservancy expert, and he told me that Huaiyuan is an old crow fork at the top of the Taibai pole in Tongbai Mountain. "Tongbai County Chronicles" contains: "Huai, began in Dafu (Dafu Peak, Taibai Peak), in the undercurrent, seen in Yangkou. "The Unification of the Ming Dynasty" contains: "Tongbai Mountain and Huaishui are out of it". From the source of the Huai River, 58 tributaries flow. The identification of the source of rivers generally follows the principle of "high position is the source, and far location is the source". There is a place called "Huaijing" on the top of Taibai, which is known as the source of the Huai River. It has three reasons: first, it has the highest water level among the 58 tributaries of the Huai River, which is 1140 meters, which is the farthest from the East China Sea; second, the Huai Temple was established here in the era of Qin Shi Huang, and it is the place where the imperial court of the past dynasties worshiped the Huai River; third, the chronicles: Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty sent officials here twice to explore the source, and the political envoy Jiang Lan and the governor of Henan, Bi Yuan, both explored the true source of the Huai River here.
Taibai pole top, the mountain is steep, the winding path is secluded, along the line of clear streams, to the end of the mountain, to the rare place of human traces, in the cracked stone tooth protrusion, the grass is draped, see a broken cliff, there is a spring on the cliff, the spring water leaks out from the rock cracks, the beads are round and jade, the multiplicity is like Qiong, the flowers are splashed down like crystals, the stone is roaring, its sound is like a piano, gathering in the low-lying place, into a lively number of waterholes, the light and moon mirror are in general, the lake waves are condensed and blue, the bottom is clear, the sweet and delicious, overflowing, the placket is leading, the jade wrist is plain, one pulls and one carries, and pulls out a big river。 (To be continued)
Introduction of Zhu Haiyan
Zhu Haiyan, a native of Lixin, Anhui Province, enlisted in the army in 1976 and served as a soldier, platoon commander, deputy instructor, and cultural officer of the division's Political Department in the Seventh Division of the Railway Corps.
In 1983, he was transferred to the "Railway Soldier" newspaper, and in February 1984, he was transferred to the "People's Railway" newspaper and served as a reporter, chief reporter and chief reporter. In 1998, he served as editor-in-chief, president and editor-in-chief of China Railway Construction News, and a senior reporter. In March 2010, he was transferred to the Engineering Management Center of the Ministry of Railways as the deputy director at the bureau level, specializing in the writing of railway construction reports.
The winners of the 6th Fan Changjiang Journalism Award are the "four batches" of talents in the national propaganda system, leading figures in China's press and publishing circles, and senior experts directly controlled and contacted by the central government. He has won the China Journalism Award eight times, won the first and second prizes of provincial and ministerial news awards more than 90 times, and won the "Five One Project" award of the Central Propaganda Department for his long-form reportage "There is War in the North". He has published 40 collections of various works, with a total word count of 20 million words. He enjoys the allowance of the State Council and is a member of the Chinese Writers Association.
Edit: Have fun