Fan Yangtze River State trip - Lu Shimo

Fan Changjiang (1909-1970) was a famous journalist in China. During the War of Resistance Against Japan, his press releases reported the truth of the War of Resistance Against Japan and propagated the all-round line of the Communist Party of China, which had a wide impact at home and abroad. After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, he was the foreign spokesman of the CPC delegation headed by Comrade Zhou Enlai. After liberation, he served as the director of the People's Daily, and was persecuted to death by Lin Biao's "Gang of Four" in 1970. In 1935, in the name of a special correspondent of the Ta Kung Pao, he made a ten-month investigation tour of Sichuan, Shaanxi, Qingdao, Gansu, Inner Mongolia, and other vast areas, published dozens of travelogues, and made vivid disclosures of the hardships and hardships of the people of all nationalities in the northwest region at that time. The account of the situation in Hezhou is real and vivid, and full of interest.

Hezhou not only left a good impression on visitors with its magnificent scenery and long history, but also the people of Hezhou touched visitors from afar with their wise and brave character. Fan Changjiang said, "The people of Hezhou are brave and aggressive, martial and light-hearted, and have the style of the spartans of ancient Europe." He described in detail: "In Xixiang, Hezhou, there is also a custom of catching pheasants and hares with bare hands. After the snow falls in winter, pheasants have nowhere to forage, and it is not easy to hide, so they go out of thin air to catch pheasants. Another way is to unite dozens or hundreds of people, and everyone will spread out on horseback, around a mountain, or a large grass beach, as a temporary hunting ground. The vastness of this hunting ground, the number of miles or tens of miles is uncertain, after everyone is surrounded, shouting loudly, startling the pheasant or rabbit in the grass, who finds the chicken or rabbit, who will ride a horse and chase, at the same time, the east, west, south and north chase together, do not let the chicken and rabbit have a chance to rest for a moment. Gradually, the chickens and rabbits were tired of running, hiding their sleepy bodies under the grass or between the stone crevices, and when the chasers encountered this opportunity, they would desperately pounce from the galloping horse. Whether it is water below, mud, ice, thorns, branches, they are full of strength, straight to the object of purpose, otherwise they are afraid of falling behind. When chasing, regardless of the flat land, river beach, mountain cliff, their angry horses always go straight up and down, rampage, so there is often a phenomenon of two horses colliding and killing at the same time. After the chase began, although the brothers, fathers, and sons did not give in to each other. Whoever catches a chicken and rabbit will tie the hunt to the saddle he is riding on, no matter how much, he will never be carried by others, and those who have many prey on the saddle will be on their toes, and those who return on the empty horse will be discouraged. After returning home, he placed rabbit skin chicken feathers on the snow outside the door, proud of the many, neighbors gathered and called beautiful, no fur people's homes, straight out of the door. Those who bravely win can be loved by the whole family when they go home. "This is simply a hunting map, a genre painting, how vivid and interesting!"

In April 1936, Fan Changjiang took a cowhide raft from Lanzhou and raced down the Yellow River to Ningxia. On this waterway, "the coolies who manipulate the raft are nine times the Hui people of Hezhou, Gansu." The raft owner of the reporter happened to be a Hezhou person, "their body is strong and strong, because of the training of religious dogma, they have developed several habits of life that are very beneficial to the body, such as getting up early, bathing diligently, observing time, not eating afterlife, etc., especially not eating opium, which is very important to their physique." "The Yellow River waterway from Lanzhou to Yinchuan is winding and steep, with stone gorges standing on the wall and rafts crossing dangerous gorges, which are the most prone to danger. But the Hezhou "gorge handle" stood on a high place on the raft, stared at the water streaks with all its strength, commanded the sailors before and after, and flew through the rapids with all their efforts. When the rafts reached the gentle surface of the water, the sailors "often sang their native mountain songs, which sang loudly and shook the valley, and the content was more about the love between men and women." Like ' Brother's meat! You didn't have it when Brother came, the fat lamb in your hand'. This is to say that a man brought fat lamb to see his beloved woman, and the woman was not at home, and the man sang the emotion in disappointment. The bold and open-minded character of the Rafters of Hezhou, the yearning for a new way of life, and the warm and sincere hospitality customs deeply touched the reporter, who wrote: "The consciousness of the raft customers gives us great interest. They grew up in Hezhou in the Daxia River Basin on the northwest side of China, which is very close to the Tibetan herding place. They were not interested in their indigenous herding and early agricultural life... They envied the progressive convenience of food, clothing, shelter and other lifestyles, and did not show the slightest nostalgia for their traditional special way of life. As soon as they arrive in Baotou, they always do their best to buy new industrial manufacturing products in the Baotou market. After returning to their hometown, the kind of people who have more new knowledge and more new tools for life can be greatly respected by their townships. From this we draw a rule of 'forward life dominates backward life'. "One day, as the sun set and the spring was unexpectedly steep, suddenly a rafter went down into the Yellow River in a red stripe, swimming around, seemingly looking for something, making the reporter inexplicable. Later, when I inquired, I learned that the sailor had accidentally dropped the lid of a small teapot less than an inch in diameter into the river. He went into the water to get it back. The reporter thought that this was tantamount to finding a needle in a haystack and persuading him to get on the raft, but he resolutely refused. After a while, he grinned and came up with the lid of the teapot. The reporter understood, "The main reason why he went into the water to find the lid of the teapot despite his pain was mainly for the face problem between their companions." Hezhou Muslims have a common character, that is, they are unwilling to show their incompetence in front of others. What a man has lost, no matter how hopeless he is, can find it by all means, and in the eyes of his companions, this behavior is of supreme brilliance! When the journey was over and the reporters said goodbye to the raft, the rafts seemed to fall into the cold and silent air together.

Fan Changjiang reporter, only a short stay in Hezhou. However, his report has painted us a picture of the Linxia national customs of the 1930s.