Author: Xiao Pei
The sea of sand is vast and the sunset is round
A line of camels slowly walked in the wind
Camel bell sound
It's like a side poem
Vivid in boundless desolation
The recent popular song "Desert Camel" in the popular song world can be said to have made many young people "love to let go", which really made this song a good fire. And throughout the country, only in the Gobi desert can you see the style of camels and camel guests. Minqin is an ancient county town in the Hexi Corridor of Gansu Province, located at the key point of the ancient Silk Road, because of its special natural environment and geographical location, creating an indissoluble relationship between Minqin people and camels.
The "Zhenfan Testament Chronicle" records: "Ming Chengzu Yongle eleven years, the beginning of the cultivation of camels. Raise a camel every five dings, doubling in three years. Whoever raises two camels in five dings shall be exempted from the difference and shall levy half of the grain per mu of land; those who raise five camels shall be exempted from grain; and those who raise one camel in one ding shall be rewarded according to routine. The number of camel days in the old town has increased, and in a few years, its number is as high as 100,000. "Minqin's unique natural geographical environment has become an excellent condition for camels to breed and grow, coupled with the strong support of successive governments for camel breeding, Minqin's camel households, Ding Xing Camel Wang." Minqin is located in the Tengger and Badain Jaran two major deserts surrounded, in the previous situation of backward transportation, Minqin people use the camel thirst tolerance, strong physical strength characteristics, as the main means of transport for the circulation of goods, migration. Deserts are often uninhabited, and camels can go without drinking water for dozens of days, because camels have water bladders in their abdomen, which can store water, and the humps can continue to store nutrients and can be replenished. It can be described as a desert boat. Therefore, Minqin has always been circulating the old saying that "reading poetry and books can walk the world, and raising camels can survive the famine years". Those who followed camel caravans on the Silk Roads for generations were called "camel riders". They have formed specific rules and customs in the long-term transportation process: the camel team has a certain number of formations, every 11 for a small team, commonly known as "a handful", the general camel team has 5 to 7 "handles" about the camel, the large camel team can even reach dozens of "handles", they are connected together, forming a camel caravan. A "handful" of camels needs to be managed by one or two camel guests. Camel riders are often experienced, willing to endure hardships, bold, and resourceful, able to cope with a variety of bad weather or unexpected situations.
We often see a brass bell hanging from the neck of the camel, known locally as the "Bell", which is crisp and good-sounding, mainly to prevent the camel from getting out of the reins, attacking by wild animals or encountering robbers on the road. It is said that the treasurer can distinguish whether it is his own camel when he hears the camel bell at a distance at home, which is also related to the camel's posture. In addition to the bells, there are many guys - camels, clamps, saddles, nose keys, fire hammers, hairy mattresses, foot stomp felts, hairy pounders, felt hats, water staples... Camel passengers must be equipped with these before they set off, and nothing is missing. Camels seem to be docile, but not domesticated camels can not be used as a means of transportation, generally after the camel grows to 3 years old, it will begin to train, lie down, follow the team, ride and other training procedures are unique and complex, only after strict training, camels can be organized into the camel team to ensure a thousand miles of trekking. Camels do not collapse, do not tire, and maintain vigorous energy for a long time. Mr. Xue Mo, a famous contemporary writer in China, told the story of the adventure of a camel passenger in western China who took place a hundred years ago in his novel "Wild Fox Ridge", wrote the life of the camel passenger who disappeared into the undulating and thrilling, wrote countless stories that may occur during the transportation of the camel caravan, and reflected the many fate trajectories of the camel passengers.
Xue Mo wrote in his work: "A camel woman who is aging in waiting, her sweetest day is to lean into her husband's arms and listen to his husband tell the story of the camel road. These women also have dreams, they dream of the outside world, they can't go out on their own, they put their dreams on their husbands. The eyes of their husbands are their eyes, and they are in their husband's world, feeling the excitement of another world. "For thousands of years, camel guests have left their own hard and wonderful stories on the long ancient Silk Road. At the beginning of the Xinhai Revolution, In order to enhance international friendship with the Soviet government, Dr. Sun Yat-sen sent personnel to the Soviet Union to negotiate, and the civil service camel caravan undertook the transportation task. The camel caravan set off from Xi'an and Gansu in two ways to load tea and set off together after the Jiuquan concentration. After 2 years and a long journey, the camel caravan arrived in Moscow and successfully completed the mission. All the members of the camel caravan were received and warmly received by Mr. Lenin. The Minqin Camel Caravan is internationally renowned for this.
Over the centuries, there have been few stories that have happened to them, some of which have been clearly remembered and some of which have been forgotten. In 2011, Minqin Camel Passenger was included in the list of intangible cultural heritage of Gansu Province. In order to preserve these legends of camel passengers, in 2017, the legend of the Minqin camel caravan was also included in the fourth batch of gansu provincial intangible cultural heritage list.
These camel customers have played a vital role in the development of Minqin, and the introduction of foreign commodities and the shipment of local products have greatly promoted the development of Minqin commerce. Since the 1980s, with the continuous improvement of modern road traffic and the upgrading of means of transport, camel caravans and camel passengers, as once an important means of transportation, have withdrawn from the stage of history, and their former glory has gradually faded from people's memories, and the crisp camel bell has become the memory of the older generation.
