Mountains, city walls, ancient towns, ruins, ancient Tibet, high-altitude secrets, under the firmament, the splendid civilization of the Qamdo region is like a string of magical historical codes, and the civilization of Tibet has always been with mysterious colors.
The ancient town of Shuodu in Luolong County, Qamdo Region, and a mysterious site that has been forgotten on the mountainside have made me more curious and eager to explore Tibetan civilization.
About 25 kilometers north of the county seat of Luolong, you will see the famous ancient town in the history of eastern Tibet - Shuodu Town.
Today's Shuodu Town has faded its former prosperity, and the overall look is very vicissitudes and quaint, permeated with the tranquility and silence of history.
The abandoned ancient Great Wall and castle on the top of the mountain still have some outlines, and the Ancient Tea Horse Road coiled around the mountainside is still traceable.
Whether it is the majestic and magnificent Shuodu Temple with a long history, or the relatively complete preserved Ruins of shuoduzong, they are showing people the historical picture of the vicissitudes.
But in ancient times, merchants gathered here, and commercial trade was very developed. It was once an important station on the Tea Horse Ancient Road and one of the important towns on the Sichuan-Tibet Expressway. The permanent population is as many as 5,000 or 6,000 people, and tea houses and taverns abound.
At that time, people could not only buy all kinds of goods from the mainland and Lhasa, but also goods from India and other countries. During the Qing Dynasty, the Shuo Governor's Mansion was established here. In history, Shuodu was also called Shuoban (Ban) Duo, which means "dangerous fork" in Tibetan.
Under the aerial photography, only to see the confluence of the two rivers of the Dawon River and the Rixu River, the mountain springs are gushing, the river is gushing, the terrain is relatively flat, the land is fertile, and it has the reputation of a granary in history.
The ancient Great Wall on the top of the mountain is very eye-catching, and the traces of the vicissitudes of the years can be seen in full view. The ruins of the ancient city wall are now about 3,000 meters long, the city wall is about 1.5 meters thick and 3 to 5 meters high, which is a solid wall single wall, earth and stone structure, and a total of 5 beacon towers.
In the grass and trees, you can still imagine the picture of people lighting smoke at that time. It is understood that at that time, people used smoke as a signal to notify guests or officials from the other station in order to do a good job of hospitality.
In the past, although the trade prosperity of the ancient town was no longer visible, the construction of new rural areas looked like it. What is valuable is that many ancient buildings and houses with local characteristics are still preserved here.
But in Shuodu Town, there is another special place - the Qing Dynasty Han Tombs, located in the foothills of Jiugongding Mountain, the administrative village of Shuodu. Due to time constraints, it was not possible to visit.
In the second year of xuanun, Zhao Erfeng, the governor of Sichuan, carried out "land reform and return to the stream" on the side of the river. When Zhao Erfeng's troops fought to the present-day Nagqu, civil unrest broke out in Sichuan, and Zhao Erfeng was recalled to Sichuan by the Qing government.
However, his subordinates were ordered to retreat to the seat of the shuoduzong government, where they formed a pattern of living across the river (Dawon River) from the local residents, exchanging marriages, and multiplying and living together for generations until they reached old age.
Their descendants buried it in one place in accordance with their will, resulting in a tomb group of the largest scale today, which has been around for more than 100 years.
I was impressed by the quaint ancient town of Shuodu, but another site that seems to be forgotten is really impressive: the ruins of the Lolong Sect.
But this site fully embodies the characteristics of Tibetan Zongshan architecture. Zongshan architecture is similar to the castle in the west, standing on the top of the mountain, overlooking the earth, easy to defend and difficult to attack. Shuodu Ancient Town also has this pattern.
"Zong" first appeared as a building name during the Tubo Dynasty, meaning "castle" and "camp village". During the Pazhu regime, "Dzong" appeared as the basic unit name of the local administrative organization in Tibet, equivalent to the counties in the interior.
In ancient times, Tibetans used to build "Zong" (that is, their offices) on the top of the mountain, so that there are many historical sites such as "Zongshan Castle" and "Zongshan Architecture" in Tibet today, and a large number of cultural monuments have been left behind.
Zongshan buildings are usually spread over the entire hill, and the scale is relatively large, in addition to administrative office buildings, there are also residential rooms, Buddhist rooms, prisons, forts and other defensive facilities. At the same time, no matter what kind of room is used, there will be a courtyard.
Through aerial photography by drones, it can be seen that the scale of the Lolong sect site is large, and the main structure of the house is still well preserved except for the roof that has been damaged, which is an important historical site in kangsha town in Lolong County today.
The ruins of the Lolong Sect are located on the mountainside east of The town of Kangsha, where merchants entered Tibet in ancient times, and this is also a must-pass place, and the prosperity is comparable to that of The Ancient Town of Shuodu. If Lolong is the granary of the Qamdo region, then Kangsha is the granary of Lolon.
Looking down on the entire town and ruins through a drone, the snow-capped mountains looming in the distance, and suddenly a busy scene of the Tea Horse Stagecoach Road was suddenly pieced together in my mind.
Standing on the edge of the highway, looking at the ruins of the Lolong Sect that bears a heavy history, it stands silently and is actually a historical presentation.