Here it is
A turning point in the fate of hero Gesar's history
The starting point of the unification of the Lingguo
One of the five most beautiful wetland grasslands in China
It is the closest wetland grassland to the city
Plateau lakeside wetlands, swampy wetlands, alpine grasslands
Nature forms a unique landscape of multiple complexities here
The central production area of China's three most famous horses
The only breeding base for hequ horse breeding in China
The place of return of traditional Tibetan sports
The first Tibetan polo team was born
Cultural heritage "Historical Reproduction" Engineering Museum
Immovable revolutionary cultural relics of Gansu Province
A "general airport" for migratory birds
It is an important passage and stopover for international bird migration
Here it is
Maqu County, Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture
River Quma Scene Area
Located in Maqu County, Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, the Hequ Horse Scene Area was called "MaMai Yulong Songduo" in Tibetan meaning "open river valley after the confluence of the Yellow River and the Heihe River". It was the main place of activity of the Tibetan hero King Gesar in his youth and the starting point for the unification of the Lingguo. It is named after the establishment of the state-run River Curve Racecourse in 1958.
The hequma scene area covers an area of 4.5 square kilometers, which is one-tenth of the total area of Gannan. The average altitude is 3400 meters, the annual sunshine time is more than 3000 hours, the average temperature of the whole year is -3 °C ~ 10 °C, there is no severe cold in winter and no heat in summer, the scenery in all seasons is pleasant, beautiful and colorful, and the warm climatic conditions make it known as "Maqu Xiaojiangnan" reputation.
The Hequ Horse Scene Area is conveniently located only 12 kilometers away from the county seat of Maqu County, which is the closest wetland grassland to the city. There are many well-known attractions such as Gahai Lake, Flower Lake, Langmu Temple, Zagana, Lotus Treasure Leaf Ze and so on within more than 100 kilometers of the surrounding area.
The Hequ horse scene area takes the Gerqin wetland grassland and Gerqin Lake as the main natural landscapes, and is equipped with supporting facilities such as Shenju Square, Plateau Equestrian Activity Base, Pedestrian Street, Collector's Yard, Water Wetland Sightseeing Platform, Starry Sky Tent Hotel, RV Tent Camp, Hot Air Balloon Sightseeing Base, And Mati High-end Hotel. At present, the scenic spot has become the "window" of Maqu County's opening to the outside world and a boutique business card for display, showing its infinite charm to guests from all over the world!
In the "Beauty Pageant China" activity organized by China National Geographic Magazine, the wetland grassland within a radius of 200 square kilometers and the surrounding nature reserves such as Ruoerge, Manzatang, Gahai and Shouqu were rated as the first place in the "Five Most Beautiful Wetland Grasslands in China", with the Hequ Horse Farm as the core and the surrounding nature reserves in Ruoerge, Manzatang, Gahai and Shouqu. Relevant United Nations wetland experts say that this is the world's most beautiful, largest, most primitive and best quality plateau wetland grassland.
The tourism resources of natural geography and cultural landscapes such as wetlands, rivers, grasslands and woodlands in the Hequma scene area are very rich. Here you can not only appreciate the unique and comprehensive natural landscape of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, rich rare animal and plant resources, but also understand the splendid and colorful Tibetan culture.
From ancient times to the present, horses have been closely linked to the material and spiritual pursuits of tibetans. Loving horses is the nature of the Tibetan people, and their feelings for horses are so strong. Horses are the closest companions of the Tibetan people in their daily lives, and horses are the life in the hearts of herders.
Hequ Horse is one of the "Three Famous Horses of China"
Formerly known as the Southern Fan Horse, it is an ancient and excellent horse breed in China
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the party and the state attached great importance to the breeding and breeding of Hequ horse, and in December 1952, after the Gansu Provincial Department of Agriculture Ganping Temple Breeding Farm proposed to the Animal Husbandry Department of the Northwest Region a proposal report on "Nam Fan Ma renamed Hequ Ma", in May 1953, the Animal Husbandry Department of the former Northwest Military and Political Committee determined that "Nan Fan Ma was renamed He Qu Ma", and since then He Qu Ma has had a scientific name and is famous at home and abroad.
In 1958, the state-owned Hequ Horse Farm was formally established on this beautiful wetland intertwined with water and grass, mainly for breeding and breeding of Hequ horses; soon, the neighboring Aba County and Ruoerge County of Sichuan Province, Jiuzhi County, Gander County, and Henan Mongol Autonomous County in Qinghai Province all successively established "Hequ Horse Breeding Farm" to carry out the cultivation of Hequ Horse. At that time, the river horse was listed as a national four-class protected horse.
There are "three sections and one room" under the Hequ Racecourse Field Department, namely the production section, the finance section, the security section, the office and 5 animal husbandry production teams, and there are boarding primary schools, health clinics, shops, television broadcast stations, film broadcast teams, industrial and commercial offices, casein factories, feed processing plants, power stations and other service operation units, and there are Linxia reception stations, offices in Lanzhou, distribution stores in Lhasa and other units outside, which are subordinate to the Animal Husbandry Bureau of Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture.
According to the "Chronicle of Maqu County", in the "Sino-Indian Counterattack self-defense war" in 1962, Hequ Horse accompanied the officers and men of the First Cavalry Division to participate in the war at the Sino-Indian border of 5,000 to 6,000 meters, because of the timely closure of the encirclement circle, the Indian army that broke into the national border was divided and surrounded, and the battle achievements were outstanding, and other war horses, such as Mongolia and Shandan, had an alpine reaction under the same conditions and could not climb to the predetermined location, which greatly affected the combat requirements, so the state upgraded the Hequ horse from four types to two types of protective horses. And to this end, a considerable amount of financial, material and human resources have been poured into the improvement and breeding of hequ horses, so that the hequ horses have made epoch-making development regardless of their physique and quantity.
After the "Sino-Vietnamese Counterattack and Self-Defense War" occurred in 1978, Hequma went to the front line to participate in the battle and won a third-class battle achievement. In 1983, the state formally established the Gansu, Qing and Sichuan Seed Preservation Committees. In June 1984, the Gansu Provincial Standards Administration issued the "Hequ Horse Gansu Provincial Enterprise Standard", so that the cultivation of Hequ Horse began to have strict standards to follow. Soon, with the deepening of reform and opening up, the Hequ Horse Farm in Qinghai and Sichuan Provinces turned to the direction of cattle and sheep with good economic benefits, and the horse farms were abolished or dissolved, and by the end of 1990, the national River Qu Horse Breeding Farm was the only one left in the Maqu River Qu Horse Farm.
In April 1979, hequ horse farm and Gansu Hequ breeding cattle and sheep farm (Lanzhou Military Region Hequ Military Region) merged to form Gansu Province Hequ breeding farm, and was officially transferred to the management of the provincial agriculture and animal husbandry department by the Gannan Prefecture People's Government, and on June 21, 1980, in accordance with the spirit of the Provincial People's Government (1980) No. 161 "Notice on Delegating the Provincial Hequ Breeding Farm to the Leadership of Gannan Prefecture", on July 31 of the same year, the Prefecture People's Government handled the transfer procedures, and after the transfer, the name of the Gannan Prefecture Hequ Racecourse Farm was restored to this day. On July 28, 2006, in accordance with the spiritual requirements of the prefecture party committee and the state government to implement localization management, it was officially transferred to the management of the People's Government of Maqu County.
A turning point in the fate of King MamaiYulong Songdo Gesar
The Tibetan heroic epic "The Legend of King Gesar" is the longest heroic epic in the world. Maqu is the cradle of the world's longest heroic epic, The Legend of King Gesar, and the birthplace of the rise of the Tibetan hero King Gesar. The 11th Panchen Lama wrote an inscription for Ma Qu: "The first bend of the Yellow River under the heavens, Gesar originated and prospered."
Of the more than 120 copies of the Gesar Biography that have been published, more than 40 have repeated place names for maqu. In the depths of the vast grassland, there are 77 places with Gesar legends, of which seven of the nine sacred mountains in the headquarters of the Lingguo are in the territory of Maqu, the Gesar horseshoe imprint on the Ora Quhe River, the Tianzidi City of the Orashu Makarke ridge country, the Tianzi Coral City of the Zezh Maxiha Ridge, etc. are the most famous, and it is the county with the most dense distribution of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau style, relics and Gesar wind and legends.
As early as 1985, Mr. Jiayang Zhezan Gat Lobsang Huadan, a well-known Tibetan scholar and researcher of Gexue, participated in the "First National Gesar Seminar" held in Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia, and submitted a paper entitled "The Relics of Lingguo in Maqu County" and "A Brief Discussion on Mamai Yulong Songduo", which was widely praised and affirmed by experts and scholars.
The famous scholar Xiabian Gyatso pointed out that the "first song of the Yellow River" Maqu County", the "significance of the study of gexue" cannot be underestimated. In 2002, Professor Xiabian Gyatso, president of the China Gesar Research Association, said after inspecting maqu County, Gansu Province, the "first song of the Yellow River", that the upper reaches of the Yangtze River are the birthplace of Gesar, and the first song of the Yellow River is the place where Gesar grows and develops.
Not far from the Hequ Racecourse, the exhibition hall of Labrang Monastery, known as the "World Tibetan School", still houses king Gesar's sword and saddle. According to relevant sources, "The sword and saddle were handed down by a living Buddha named Lingcang, whose real name was Dunzhu Gyatso, who served as the tenth Dharma Platform of Labrang Monastery. He is a descendant of King Ling".
△ Master Walgon, a marquophon singer
The experts' investigation in Maqu County not only found Mamay Zheduo, which appears many times in the epic, but also discovered the place where Gesar went to glory - MaMaiYulong Songduo, thus proving that the first song of the Yellow River where Maqu County is located is the place where the legendary Gesar won the horse race.
At the variety show on the millennium anniversary of the Tibetan heroic epic "Gesar" sponsored by the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, maqu county's singing and performance programs "The Place where Gesar Originated" and "Rap Ma Mai Yu Long Songduo" won high praise, and Raidi, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, and Chen Kuiyuan, vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, watched the performance and gave it affirmation. In the comprehensive information submitted by China to the United Nations on Gesar, the performance of a thousand people in Maqu County and the information on related customs and objects were used.
In the "Birth of King Gesar", in order to avoid persecution, Gesar moved with his mother to Mamai Yulong Songduo at the age of 5, according to the famous Tibetan scholar, Gexue researcher, former deputy county magistrate of Maqu County, and vice chairman of the Gannan Prefecture Literary Association, Jiayang Zhezan Ka Lobsang Huadan examined that Ma Mai Yulong Songduo refers to the area around the present-day Hequ Horse Scene Area. Originally a "treasure gate", the water and grass are rich in birds and flowers, which is not only a natural pasture with cattle and sheep, but also a peaceful paradise full of animals.
When Gesar's mother took out the "subway shovel" given to her by Gyallow Dongpa Gyaltsen and dug around the tent, she found that "the fern on the east side is the size of a horse's head, the fern on the south side is the size of a bull's head, the west side is the size of a cow's head, and the north is as big as a sheep's head." "The land is fertile and the grassland vegetation is excellent.
However, when Gesar's mother and son first set foot here, this was indeed the place where the demons were fierce and the gods were rampant, especially the place where they were occupied by the nine-headed rat demon. "The black soil at the top of the mountain is turned over, the thatch on the mountainside is bitten off, the grass roots of the great beach are eaten, people who want to come here will be buried in dust, and livestock will come here to be tortured to death for hunger... so that the happiness of the shepherds is lost." Thus, a man-mouse war began, and Gesar sang "Heroic Roar" while destroying the gopher:
There is a proverb among ancient Tibetans: rats destroy fields, robbers disrupt villages, and women break up families. The rat spirits that you have harmed have done countless bad things. Look at your bad idea today, it is to destroy all the big tribes. It is difficult to rob the grassland pasture to raise livestock, and it is difficult to destroy the upper flower fields to worship the Buddha. The happiness of the steppe shepherds is lost, and all the bad things are done by you.
He hit the gopher with the "opal flower snake catapult bag" and "three ghost soul stones as big as a sheep's loin". Only to hear a loud crack in the landslide, the rat king tailless rat, the multi-eyed gopher and the green-eared rat minister were stoned to death at the same time. All the other rats, their ears pierced by the sound of stones being thrown, also died at the same time, and their souls were led to liberation. "The rat king Zawa kache, the zawami, and the gopher minister Zavan were killed with a stone thrower, and all the gophers died.
Three years after the stone-throwing and killing of the rat demon, Gesar managed the Mamayyulong Songdo into a dark green hillside, purple and black plains, beautiful flowers blooming on the tips of the grass, dew in the grass waist, and ghee juice in the grass roots. There, there are avenues where heroes gallop, there are markets for men and women shopping, there are grass beaches where horse racing rest... The pastures of the mountains and rivers, the rich land where the cattle, horses and sheep of the six parts of the Lingguo could not eat for three years.
△ In July 2020, Yu Minhong, founder of New Oriental, visited the Hequma scene area
It is also recorded in the "King Gesar" that when Gesar was 12 years old, in order to exclude Gesar and compete for tribal power, Chao Tong selected the best horse in the Lingguo for his son Dongzan, made a bet with Gesar's great Berggie, and planned to hold a horse race in all areas, so as to establish the supreme kingship of the Lingguo, and used Senjiang Zhumu as the "bet" of the game. Chao Tong thought that his son Dong Zan would definitely win the race, and before the horse race in Lingguo, in order to prevent Chao Tong from usurping the throne and so that the people of the territory could live a happy life, Rongchacha and Jiacha sent Zhu Mu to bring back Gesar's mother and son, because in Lingguo, only she could do this job. After many hardships and hardships, Zhu Mu finally found Gesar's mother and son, and then went with Gesar's mother to catch the Thousand Mile Treasure Colt to help Gesar race horse and become king." It was gesar riding the river song BMW and his extraordinary courage and wisdom that he finally won the victory and won the throne, while marrying Senjanjum.
From then on, Gesar began to exert his heavenly might, conquering the east and the west, conquering the four directions, surrendering the northern demons that invaded the Lingguo, and successively surrendering dozens of tribes and small gang countries. After Gesar's merits were completed, he returned to the Celestial Realm with his mother Guo Mu and Princess Sen Jiang Zhum. Its content covers the history and culture of the Tibetan nationality, folk culture, folklore, military, values and other aspects. The nomadic life of walking into the grassland can always make people feel the profound history and culture in the primitive simplicity, which leads to deep thinking.
Today, Gesar's juvenile growth history has undoubtedly become a precious spiritual heritage, with an important inheritance and reference role. It was the young Gesar who lived in Mamayyulong Songdo, that is, in the area of Hequ Racecourse, which sharpened his strong will and laid a good physical and psychological foundation for his future reign. As a result of careful treatment, the environment has been improved, the raging rat infestation has been eliminated, a trade castle has been built, and a series of public facilities have been improved. Through these actions, it proves the extraordinary ability of the lion king Gesar, won the trust and recognition of the vast number of tribal people, and catered to the progressives of the country who hope to appear a fair, honest and promising throne condition, and reasonably become a competitor for the throne. Gesar's boyhood is the embodiment of a spirit of hard work, struggle, indomitable pressure and pioneering spirit, and also reflects the spirit of the people of all ethnic groups in Maqu County to transform nature and unite and forge ahead.
The first Tibetan polo team was born at Hequ Racecourse
Equestrianism is the most common form of competition in Tibetan folklore, and polo is said to be a famous equestrian competition of the ancient Tibetan people. The origin of polo, as we all know, has the highest popularity that the reason for the "Tubo theory" is very simple, polo is "polo" in English, which is very similar to the Tibetan pronunciation of "Bolang" or "氆氇"; another proof is from the Tibetan epic from the 3rd to 6th centuries AD, and the only epic in the world that reflects the nomadic tribal society, "Gesar", which depicts the polo movement between King Gesar, the ruler of the Bon kingdom, and King Bajardai of Khotan.
Polo, known as "Bolo" in Tibetan, is mainly popular among the wealthy classes in Europe, the Middle East, South America and other regions, and is considered an "aristocratic sport". Before the establishment of the Hequ Racecourse Polo Team, the sport had disappeared for hundreds of years in the Maqu Grassland and even in Tibetan areas.
In 2010, in order to promote the traditional Tibetan polo culture, Maqu County, Gansu Province, established the first Tibetan polo team in Hequ Racecourse, and specially invited senior coaches from Inner Mongolia to train and guide, so that polo, a long-standing traditional sport, could return to Tibet.
Although polo is an "aristocratic sport", the polo team of Maqu does not have the shadow of "noble sports", which is completely the original ecology of the Tubo people when they founded polo, but the simple military training has become a sport. The blue sky, the grassland with green grass, the thick roar, and the roar of horses accompanied by a sound, masculinity and majesty collide with an almost primitive passion.
It is reported that there are currently 7 polo teams in Maqu County, and as a traditional national sport, polo is being restored and returned to the masses in Tibetan areas. It has injected fresh blood into the traditional ethnic sports in Tibetan areas, and also brought a visual feast to the masses in Tibetan areas and guests from all over the world. Today, polo matches are included in the Gannan State Intangible Cultural Heritage List.
Hequ Racecourse is a "universal airport" for birds
There are more than 9,000 species of birds known internationally, of which 4,000 are migratory birds and the rest are resident birds. In general, unless there is an accident such as a climatic anomaly, billions of migratory birds participate in migration activities every year, constituting the largest biological migration on the earth.
There are 1414 species of birds living in China, and 730 species have migratory habits. Migratory birds migrate over distances ranging from a few kilometres to the nearest, or simply flying from the south slope of the mountain to the north slope. As far away, it can fly tens of thousands of kilometers. The river qu horse scene area in the first bend of the arm is an important passage and stopover for international bird migration.
The water area of Hequ Racecourse is 8396 acres, during which there are many rivers, the larger ones are Langqu River, Jiaqu River, Saizhiqu River, Darqin River, Xike River, Maiqu River, Orvas River and so on. The good natural ecology makes it an important "transit point" on the bird migration route, and tens of thousands of birds pass through here every year, between Australia and Siberia, with a migration journey of nearly 10,000 kilometers.
Hequma Scene Area is committed to the construction of ecological scenic spots, conscientiously implement the strategic requirements of the "ecological state" put forward by the state party committee and state government, and the number of bird species in round-trip transit is also increasing, a large number of national first-class protected animals such as black storks and black-necked cranes, as well as rare birds such as spotted geese and red-hemp ducks that can be seen everywhere in the scenic spots, making this an important habitat for the internationally endangered species of black-necked cranes.
In early November 2020, news of more than 30,000 migratory birds gathering in the Hequma scene area was also broadcast on CCTV. Flocks of migratory birds gather in Lake Gerchin in the Hequ horse scene area, circling and dancing in the warm winter sun to prepare for the winter of the southward migration, adding infinite vitality and vitality to the scenic spot.
Hequ Racecourse is an important ecological protection monitoring site
The Gannan grassland is mainly distributed in the territory of Maqu, Xiahe and Luqu counties, and the vast natural grassland is a huge natural barrier to protect the ecological security of the Yellow River and Yangtze River basins. According to the wetland classification system of the International Convention on Wetlands (Dugan et al., 1990), Hequ Horse Farm is classified as a shallow water herbaceous swamp type of wetland.
The flat and low-lying terrain and humid and rainy climate not only form a very characteristic grassland wetland landscape in the Hequma scene area, but also greatly provide a strong impetus for the ecological protection of the upper reaches of the Yellow River. It plays a role that cannot be underestimated in flood storage, water conservation, and soil erosion prevention, and is an important green ecological barrier in the upper reaches of the Yellow River, which has unique value; it is conducive to maintaining the stability of regional ecological balance and promoting the harmonious development of man and nature.
There is an inconspicuous courtyard in the Hequma scene area, who could have imagined that this humble place is exactly where the "Ruoerge Plateau Wetland Ecosystem Research Station" (referred to as "Ruoerge Station") of the Cold and Arid Areas Environmental and Engineering Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences is located, which covers an area of about 7 acres, the station area is 3434 meters above sea level, and it is 18 kilometers away from the county seat of Maqu County. It is a comprehensive research station with typical plateau wetlands and grasslands as the research object, and the succession of plateau wetlands and grassland ecosystems and their interaction with the atmosphere under the background of global change and human disturbance.
△"Ruoerge Plateau Wetland Ecosystem Research Station" located in the Hequma Scene Area
Ruoerge Station, formerly known as the "Comprehensive Observation and Research Station of Climate and Environment in the Yellow River Source Area", began observation in July 2005, began long-term continuous monitoring in Maqu Grassland in June 2006, was approved as a station in 2008, began infrastructure construction in July 2009, completed the construction of living areas and laboratories in August 2010, and unveiled in September 2010. In order to make the research area and research direction more condensed, it was changed to the current name in May 2012.
Hequ Horse Farm is also the location of the Maqu Alpine Grassland Observation Field, which mainly includes surface turbulence circulation, radiation component, soil temperature and humidity, photosynthetic effective radiation and other conventional meteorological elements. These monitoring data will provide effective data support for the dynamic changes of grass yield and nutrient content during the growth period of alpine grassland and the approval of suitable livestock capacity.
The Hequma scene area is 7 kilometers east of the main stream of the Yellow River, with unique climatic and geographical conditions and diverse ecology, and belongs to the main fish habitat area in the upper reaches of the Yellow River. In order to protect the unique fish resources of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the state has specially established a national aquatic germplasm resources conservation area for endemic fish in the upper reaches of the Yellow River.
The total area of the reserve is 13,289 hectares, of which 7,501 hectares are in the core area and 5,788 hectares are experimental areas. The special protection period for the core area is 4 and 8 months. The reserve mainly protects the spawning grounds, bait and wintering grounds of the catfish plateau loach, the thick-lipped heavy-lipped fish, the flat-throated toothfish, the spotted naked carp, the Yellow River nudibranch, the bone-lipped Yellow River fish and the Yellow River Plateau loach, which are rare and need to be protected.
Lin Duo, vice chairman of the Overseas Chinese Committee of the National People's Congress and former secretary of the Gansu Provincial CPC Committee, also made an on-the-spot inspection of the ecological protection of the Hequ Horse Farm Wetland and the development of the tourism industry. He stressed that it is necessary to firmly adhere to the people-centered development ideology, focus on ecological protection, do our best to maintain the wetland ecology and water environment, rely on the original ecology to develop the tourism industry, realize the ecological benefit, ecological benefit, and ecological people, and let the wetland become a green space shared by the people.
A collection of beautiful natural scenery and profound cultural heritage
After years of meticulous carving
The park will officially open in May next year
At that time, stop at the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and travel to the wetland grassland
The Tsema River curves the god horse, looking up at the blue sky
The wonderful journey of life will begin gorgeously in the Scene Area of Hequ Horse