China News Service Kunming, August 22 Title: What is Awa Mountain?
Author Hu Yuanhang Xiong Jiaxin Luo Jie
"I am very relieved to learn about the profound changes brought by poverty alleviation to Mount Awa and to feel the sincere feelings of the People of Wa to the party and the country." Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, president of the people, and chairman of the Central Military Commission, recently replied to the old branch secretaries of the border villages of Cangyuan Wa Autonomous County in Yunnan Province, and cordially encouraged them. This made Mount Awa in southwest Yunnan boil up again.
What kind of mountain is Awa Mountain? What kind of profound changes has the poverty alleviation brought to Mount Awa? Why do the Wa people have a strong national identity? On the 22nd, a reporter from The China News Agency interviewed the representative of the old branch secretary who wrote a letter to General Secretary Xi Jinping.
"The villages and villages are full of drums and gongs, and Ah Wa sings new songs." In the 1960s, this song "The Wa People Sing a New Song" sang the great river north and south, and also let the ancient, simple, enthusiastic and unrestrained Wa people living in the southwest border area enter the national vision.
The wa people live in the Wa area, the Wa settlement centered on Cangyuan and Xi'an in Yunnan, and is known as "Awa Mountain". It borders Myanmar with undulating mountains and greenery. At the beginning of the founding of New China, most of the people here still lived a primitive life of slash-and-burn farming, lack of food, and carved wood.
"In the past, we didn't have enough to eat, wear, or warm, but it was the Communist Party that brought light to Mount Awa." The 71-year-old old branch secretary Of Banhong Village in Banhong Township, Cangyuan County, and Sai Jin, the old branch secretary of Ban LaoXiang's old village, witnessed the vicissitudes of Mount Awa.
When they were young, they lived in thatched huts, where people lived above and livestock were kept below, and water leaked when it rained. The cut-and-burn harvest of corn is only enough to eat for a few months, and when there is a shortage of food, everyone has to go up the mountain to dig up yams to fill their stomachs.
Later, with the help of the party and the government, the Wa people gradually lived in asbestos tile houses, "no longer afraid of wind and rain, and no longer hungry." Today, the Wa people have achieved poverty alleviation, everyone has long moved into the building, washing machines, televisions, refrigerators, induction cookers and other household appliances are readily available, and many people have bought cars.
Driving a car, but even the Wa leaders did not dare to think about life. In 1950, La Meng, the leader of the Wa ethnic group in Ximen County, was invited to participate in the National Day ceremony, and traveled from the tribe to Beijing for three months. Sometimes I walk, sometimes I ride a horse, I have to go to Yunnan Yi to have a car to get to Kunming, and finally I take a plane from Kunming to Beijing. But now, it only takes half a day to get from Western Union to Beijing.
In recent years, the traffic of Awa Mountain has achieved a historic breakthrough: at the end of 2016, Cangyuan Wa Shan Airport was completed and opened to traffic, and the distance between Awa Mountain and the world is no longer far away; at the end of 2020, the Dali-Lincang Railway was put into operation, and Awa Mountain stepped into the era of trains; by the end of 2020, the Lincang Highway mileage was 19,800 kilometers, an increase of 3,560 kilometers over the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan".
Now, the Wa people have not only realized the dream of "eating and wearing" that people expected, but also more dreams have been illuminated into reality. More and more Wa people are coming out of the mountains and breaking out of the world in all walks of life. Dong Xiuying, Imo Mahogany and a number of Wa writers have created many touching and profound works, Ni Chengcheng, a member of the Southern Expedition and northern war group who is active in the music world, is a Wa boy who came out of Mount Wa, and the Wa signed author of "Lonely Planet" Ni Lao returned to his hometown Cangyuan after many years to promote this secret place to the world...
"The Wa people love the country and their families and value themselves as a member of the People's Republic of China." Yan Weng said that this spirit has been confirmed in history. In 1934, in the face of the British army illegally mining in the BanHong and Ban Lao areas, the Wa people fought to the death, and after more than four months of fighting, they basically regained the lost land. "Now we must still guard our frontiers, guard our land, and give the people a happier and happier life."
"Looking back, we are grateful for the Communist Party. So everyone wrote a letter to the general secretary. Saikin said.
After receiving the reply, the Awa shan people sang the song "The Wa People Sing a New Song". The end of the song is still "Jiang Sanmu luo", which represents "fairness and justice".
Wang Lianfang, an ethnic worker of the older generation, once wrote in his memoirs: "In 1951, when the Central Committee visited the Pu'er Special Area, the local cadres told us that it was necessary to send one piece of things to the Wa compatriots, so we gave each of the Wa leaders who came to the meeting a set of clothing to make a set of clothing. ”
For the Wa people, "Jiang Sanmuluo" is a heartfelt praise and joy. (End)
Source: China News Network