No matter from which point of view, the Hetao area is unique in the history of the Yellow River's development in time and space. The Yellow River has been flowing for thousands of miles and for thousands of years, and has always been unruly and difficult to tame, but here "the Yellow River is harmful, but only one set of riches"; it is obviously located in the arid desert area of northern China, where there is little rainfall, but the water network is vertical and horizontal, just like the south of the Yangtze River.
This is the work of the great river, which comes from the unique gift of nature and the mother of the Yellow River, but more importantly, it comes from the hard work, hard work and wisdom of human beings themselves.
For thousands of years, the people of this land have explored the laws and conformed to nature, and then scientifically utilized and struggled to transform nature, "achieved" and coexisted harmoniously with nature, and infiltrated a rare oasis in the arid and desertified areas of northern China with vertical and horizontal water networks. During this period, it not only formed a unique spiritual core with rich connotations, but also made the Hetao area present a unique cultural picture in the vast and extensive Yellow River culture.
The power of the great river: from the ancient lake basin to the natural river loop
"It is the rare and unique geographical structure of the Hetao Plain that has laid a natural and rare geographical foundation for the Hetao Irrigation Area!" said Zhao Zhigang, head of the Cultural Section of the Cultural Department of the Water Conservancy Development Center of the Hetao Irrigation Area in Inner Mongolia, who told reporters about the evolution of the Yellow River in the Hetao area.
What makes the loop "rare" and "unique"?
Before the formation of the Yellow River, the vast Hetao Plain was a large paleolake basin. Later, with the movement of the earth's tectonic plates, the Himalayas and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau continued to rise, and China's topography was formed in the west and low in the east. About 100,000 to 10,000 years ago, the rolling torrent that originated on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau finally broke through many obstacles and flowed eastward into the sea, and an intact and young Yellow River was born.
There is a saying that the ancient Yellow River is bifurcated into two rivers in the north and south at the southwest end of the Hetao Plain, of which the Nanhe River is a tributary, which flows eastward along the southern end of the Hetao Plain; the Beihe River is the main stream, blocked by the Yinshan Mountain Range, and after turning a big circle around the west, north and east ends of the Hetao Plain, it conjoins the Nanhe River and continues its journey. Because it is completely enclosed by the north and south branches and the main stream, this plain is named "Hetao Plain". Later, due to the continuous eastward invasion and blockage of Ulan Bu and the desert, the main stream of the ancient Yellow River at the northern end was finally forced to divert to the south and move to the southern end of the current Hetao Plain. This major diversion event probably took place around 1850.
"This kind of geographical structure is extremely rare, and it is a great gift from nature and the Yellow River to the Hetao Plain. Zhao Zhigang said that due to the topography and geomorphological characteristics of the Hetao Plain, which is high in the west and low in the east, high in the south and low in the north, coupled with the fact that the main stream of the Yellow River in the south can facilitate water diversion, and the old road left after the diversion of the Yellow River in the north can be easily drained, it has laid a natural geographical foundation for the construction of a large-scale Hetao irrigation area with a seven-level irrigation and drainage system in the future. Zhao Zhigang introduced that it is such natural geographical conditions that have contributed to the prosperity of the Hetao Plain, which is also one of the sources of today's "Talent Hetao" brand concept.
"Recalling the past, the Qin and Han dynasties conquered the Northern Wei Dynasty, not only for the geographical advantage, but also for the Tang Dynasty to persuade cultivation and clear dredging, and also relied on the diligence of the people" The Yellow River Water Conservancy Culture Museum located in the Linhe District of Bayannur City clearly depicts the development history ......of the Hetao irrigation area for more than 2,000 years.
For thousands of years, the people of this land have never stopped searching. Historical records record that during the reign of Qin Shi Huang, 30,000 households were relocated to reclaim the Hetao, and "the head of the Qiantou ate his own fields" and began the first large-scale water conservancy development in the Hetao irrigation area; during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, "100,000 people were recruited to migrate to Shuofang" and the land was opened up for farming; during the first year of Tang Zhen, "the two canals of Xianying and Yongqing were dug and hundreds of hectares of fields were irrigated"; during the reign of Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty, Wang Tongchun dug eight major trunk canals, with an irrigation area of 66,700 hectares......
After large-scale development in successive dynasties, especially in modern times, the Hetao has gradually become a place of vertical and horizontal channels, fields and domains, and mulberry and hemp. Nowadays, the original ancient water conservancy projects in the Hetao irrigation area are rarely preserved, but they have left a lot of water control technology and irrigation experience, as well as water conservancy poems, songs, folk tales, etc., which have become precious water conservancy cultural heritage.
Spiritual origin: a vertical and horizontal canal that can circle the earth's equator one and a half times
Today's Hetao irrigation area is 250 kilometers long from east to west and about 50 kilometers wide from north to south, with a total of 103,600 seven-level irrigation and drainage canals (ditches) and 183,500 buildings of various types. If the ditches that are vertical and horizontal and dense like spider webs are connected end to end, they can circle the earth's equator one and a half times.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, a series of large-scale water conservancy projects were constructed, which brought earth-shaking changes to the Hetao irrigation area, which not only became a veritable "rice grain river", but also condensed the great spirit of water control and injected a new spiritual core into the brilliant Yellow River culture.
In the world's largest artesian irrigation area and Asia's largest, water from the Yellow River is channeled from west to east through the head of the canal and a main trunk canal, and then flows into the Wuliangsuhai through a dense water supply and drainage system, and finally retreats into the Yellow River to complete the irrigation mission.
"The seven-level water diversion system in the Hetao irrigation area is like the arterial blood supply system in the human body, introducing fresh Yellow River water to the entire irrigation area, and the seven-level drainage engineering system is like the venous blood return system of the human body, effectively solving the flood drainage problem in the irrigation area. Zhao Zhigang likened the entire Hetao irrigation area to an organic life organism with both arterial and venous systems, continuously transporting the water of the Yellow River to every piece of land and nourishing all living things.
The vast project is the result of several generations and decades of continuous struggle -- the Sanshenggong Water Conservancy Project and the main trunk canal project, in which tens of thousands of people participated in the construction; the excavation of the 248-kilometer-long total drainage ditch, in which 150,000 people worked day and night; and the ever-expanding "capillary" ditch, it is impossible to calculate how many people participated in the construction and how much blood and sweat they had paid.
In the summer of 1967, after 10 years of arduous construction, the construction of the first water diversion project system, including the Sanshenggong Water Conservancy Hub, the main trunk canal, and the main trunk canal water diversion project, was completed. "This is equivalent to rebuilding a 'water diversion Yellow River' with a modern hub on the land of the Hetao, and it is also like the birth of a 'children's river' by the mother of the Yellow River, which the local people call 'the Second Yellow River'. Zhao Zhigang said.
In the construction of the Hetao irrigation area represented by the "Second Yellow River" project, countless singing and crying figures have emerged, showing the arduous entrepreneurial spirit of fearless hardship, selfless dedication, and courageous progress.
Working in the field, some dilapidated houses, cowsheds, sheepfolds, and even dog kennels and rabbit kennels have become people's shelters. If they didn't have any of this, they dug a big pit on the sunny slope, covered it with firewood, grass and soil, and spread some wheat straw on the ground, and then set up a "home". Drinking water is provided on the spot, and if there is well water, well water is eaten, and if there is no well water, canal water with poor sanitary conditions is eaten; every meal is either a few hard nests, or vegetable porridge made of millet rice, potatoes, and cabbage leaves.
Despite the difficult conditions, people are motivated. Gao Busheng, an old man in Wulahao Village, had great strength, and when he was digging the "Second Yellow River", he insisted on breaking a 10-centimeter-wide cane. The old man recalled that when he was working, his back often dripped, and his clothes were always wet. As the sun set, the order to call it a day was issued, but people did not want to stop what they were doing, but loaded the last load of soil and compacted it to the embankment. They called this last load of soil "Heroic Burden", and they secretly competed every day to see who could fill it up the most and be the most substantial. In order to dig the most difficult muddy water, people soaked their calves in ice water to work, and many people suffered from arthritis...... With the help of shovels and shoulders and trolleys, the people of Hetao have completed the historical feat of "shocking the world" and created the largest irrigation area in the Yellow River Basin.
Looking back at history, the touching and touching stories that happened in the Hetao Plain, the heroic triumphant song of the magnificent mountains and rivers, will further carry forward the spirit of water control that began with "Dayu to control water" and flow in the blood of the Chinese for thousands of years, and give new connotations, writing a wonderful and magnificent chapter for the Yellow River culture that has flowed through the ages.
Historical hypothesis: If there is no Hetao irrigation area
Walking in the Hetao irrigation area of the river canal, the green trees are shady, the fertile fields are thousands of miles, and the gulls are flying and the water is beautiful. The beautiful scenery in front of you makes one wonder what it would be like if there was no Hetao irrigation area.
Consider a historical hypothesis.
Without the Hetao irrigation area, this section of the Yellow River would not be able to settle down. The Yellow River is "good at silting, good at decision, and good at migration", and in history, it has "two rupture in three years and one diversion in a hundred years". Before the adoption of the one-song system, the Hetao irrigation area directly diverted water from multiple mouths of the Yellow River, and the phenomenon of "difficulty in diverting water from drought and floodplain" often occurred. After the adoption of the first-class system, i.e., one mouth to divert water, the Hetao irrigation area has become the largest flood discharge area in the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River, and the "Second Yellow River" is the largest flood discharge channel.
If there is no irrigation area of the Yellow River, there is no way to talk about the "granary of Saibei" with abundant products. The large-scale water conservancy project has turned the dream of the people of Hetao to ensure a bumper harvest in drought and flood into reality. In ancient times, the irrigated area here was only a few hundred thousand mu, with an annual output of several million catties of grain; before the founding of New China, it developed to 3 million mu, with an annual output of 300 million catties of grain; now, it has expanded to more than 11.5 million mu, with an annual output of about 6 billion catties of grain, which is supplied to the whole country and even exported overseas.
If there were no Hetao irrigation area, there would be no such rare oasis in the desert. Judging from the satellite cloud image, the Hetao Plain is surrounded by desert areas, but this one is verdant. It is bordered by Ulan Bu and the desert in the west, with an average annual precipitation of less than 200 mm and an average annual evaporation of more than 2,000 mm. Through thousands of channels, the water moistens the river loop, so that the barren land is lush with vegetation, and the forest coverage area reaches 21%, which not only prevents the eastward invasion of Ulan Bu and the desert, but also builds an important ecological barrier for the Beijing-Tianjin area.
History cannot assume that for thousands of years, the people of Hetao have created historical miracles with blood, sweat and wisdom through continuous water conservancy development. The history of economic and social development in the Hetao area for more than 2,000 years is a history of water conservancy development flowing from the Yellow River, and it is also a history of water conservancy culture that has been accompanied by the construction of water conservancy projects.
Spirit is the core of culture.
The water conservancy culture of the Hetao not only contains the spirit of water management of "dare to think and dare to work, work hard and do well", but also covers the scientific spirit of exploring the law and following the law, as well as the ecological civilization concept of respecting nature, conforming to nature, protecting and living in harmony with nature in the transformation of the Chinese for thousands of years, which is an important component of the Yellow River culture.
Today, the Hetao Irrigation Area has embarked on the road of informatization and intelligence. Modernization is the future of the Hetao Irrigation District, and it is also the mission of the Hetao Irrigation District.
In the water information monitoring center of the Hetao irrigation area, the real-time monitoring video of the Hetao irrigation area is clearly displayed on the 50-meter-long digital wall, and more than 1,000 collection nodes continuously transmit water level, flow, meteorological and other data. Informatization is continuously improving the level of fine management of Hetao irrigation area, promoting the green and efficient use of water resources, and continuing to write a new chapter of harmony between man and water.
The water vein is linked to the cultural context. In recent years, the irrigation area has built the Yellow River Water Conservancy Culture Museum, published a large number of books, documentaries and TV dramas, etc., and continuously promoted cultural construction and enhanced the influence and popularity of the Hetao water conservancy culture.
The long river pulsates, and it lasts forever.
On September 4, 2019, at the plenary session of the 3rd World Irrigation Forum and the 70th Executive Council of the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID), the Hetao Irrigation Area of Inner Mongolia was included in the World Heritage List of Irrigation Projects. Experts from various countries praised it as a "living heritage with vitality" and "wisdom for sustainable irrigation".
As a model of harmonious coexistence between man and nature, the Hetao Irrigation Area, the foundation of the millennium, has not only material but also spiritual ...... among the precious wealth left to the future
Source: Inner Mongolia News Network
Editor: Hu Mengying
Editor: Zhao Zongjie
Final review: Li Enguang
Director: Zhao Huiru
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