Since ancient times, human beings have tried to cross the "graben" in various ways that our flesh cannot overcome, such as the vast sea. In ancient times, people have mastered the ability to build ships, although they cannot sail oceans, but they are enough to let humans go to various islands that are usually difficult to reach.
The natural animal and plant species on the island are very limited, so people have brought some creatures on the mainland over, and after a long period of evolution, these organisms have adapted to the climate and environment of the island, and the physiological structure has also undergone some changes. One of the most famous examples is probably the Icelandic horse, which is currently the purest horse breed in the world and one of the "national treasures" of Iceland.
When we think of the Vikings, we think of the identity of the "pirates", a people who are indeed a people with very high seafaring skills, of which Greenland and Iceland were first discovered and named by the Vikings. About 1,200 years ago, vikings living in northern Europe brought local horses to Iceland and settled there.
So these horses from northern Europe have been bred in Iceland for generations, almost "isolated", because there were no horses in Iceland, and they did not cross with any foreign horse breeds later. Today, people are deliberately protecting Icelandic horses, and once they leave Iceland, they can no longer return to their hometowns, and Icelandic horses are forbidden to contact with foreign horse breeds.
China is a vast country, and we not only have a vast land territory, but also a wide and rich territorial sea. For example, China's South China Sea is a beautiful and fertile ocean, which has been an inseparable part of China since ancient times. There is not only an endless ocean, but also a number of islands, including the Paracel Islands.
The Paracel Islands are one of the four major archipelagos in the South China Sea, divided into Yongle Islands and Xuande Islands, and now belong to the jurisdiction of Sansha City in China. Today we are going to talk about an island that belongs to the Xuande Archipelago, The East Island.
The East Island is the second largest island in the entire Paracel Islands, reaching 1.7 square kilometers. It is also very special in shape, like a rectangle surrounded by sand embankments, rainy and hot all year round. East Island is not only an important and indivisible territory of our country, but also has a special feature: there is a large-scale exotic bison herd on the East Island, which is obviously not a native species of the island, and there is no way to swim through the vast sea on its own.
So, where did these herds of bison, which can be called our "Icelandic horses", come from? In response to this problem, China's experts and scholars have also carried out long-term research, and have put forward a lot of speculations based on the history of the East Island, one of which is that these bison were brought by the Japanese. So, is this statement credible?
From the end of the 19th century to the first half of the 20th century, Japan began its own path of expansion, using various methods to develop its own power in the Asian region, in addition to invading other countries, but also to seize and occupy those natural resources, as was the case with many islands in the Pacific.
At that time, China did not have the energy to manage the many islands in the South China Sea. So the Japanese landed on the East Island in the early 20th century, not for the land of the East Island, but for a resource here, guano. Why do Japanese people have a soft spot for guano?
It turned out that Japan itself was an island country that was not rich in natural resources, and if it wanted to develop its own national strength, it needed to ensure the supply of its own agricultural products. East Island is an uncompromising "Bird Island" where many seabirds live, and the guano on the island has naturally formed organic phosphate fertilizer over the long years.
Japan has mined a lot of organic fertilizer here, and when we later landed on the East Island, we also found the Japanese pile of guano piled up here, which is about 1.2 meters high. However, with Japan's defeat in World War II, tranquility was restored until our country began to administer it. So, did the bison herd on the East Island be brought by the Japanese?
In order to figure out this problem, experts have specifically studied the bison herds here, in addition to their breeds, genes, and feces are also important research objects. How do we judge the life time of the bison from the cow dung? There are two main approaches. One is to judge according to the "level" of cow dung sediment.
The East Island is mainly formed by coral reefs and shell detritus, which formed relatively recently, no more than 1300 years ago, so it is only possible that the bison herd came to the island after this. Above the sediments formed on the islands are the deposits of bird droppings, and the birds are the "aborigines" of the East Island, so they must have lived here longer than the bison herds.
On top of the thick bird droppings, there is the sediment of cow dung. For most centuries, cow dung is obviously unlikely to form fossils, so we need other methods to date.
The researchers found some seeds that had not been completely decomposed in the lowest layers of cow dung accumulation, and based on studies of these seeds, it was basically certain that the cow dung came from about 400 years ago. In other words, these herds of bison were not brought by the Japanese of the last century, but had come to the East Island hundreds of years ago. So, who exactly brought these cows?
We set the history back to 400 years ago, when it was the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, when the political situation in China was relatively unstable, and many people chose to cross the ocean and stay away from disputes, and the first wave of "going down to the South China Sea" arose.
It is likely that the East Island welcomed visitors from the mainland at that time, and these refugees stayed here for a considerable period of time, and the cattle were brought from the mainland by these refugees. Later, these people left the East Island, but the cattle remained, and since then they have multiplied on the East Island, becoming a large number of bison herds, which makes people have to lament the tenacity of life.
This conclusion is not just speculation, there are many artifacts on the East Island that can support this view. For example, the ruins of the "Small Stone Temple" of the Ming Dynasty have been found on the island, which proves that at the latest in the Ming Dynasty, someone developed here, possibly fishermen, or pirates, refugees and other people who settled here.
From this point, it can also be seen that The East Island has been an inseparable part of our country since ancient times, and the ancient Chinese have flourished here, and this is the precious wealth of China. In the future, China will continue to develop this place, strive to make this beautiful and rich island more beautiful, and contribute more resources to the construction of the motherland.
In the 1950s, we re-boarded the East Island to investigate, and found some skinny bison here, which made us know that there were still the footprints of the ancestors here. Later, the People's Liberation Army brought some cattle from the mainland to cross with the bison of the East Island, and now the bison of the East Island are no longer so "thin" and the population has recovered.
In addition, China's fishermen also stocked animals such as dogs, chickens, goats and other animals on the East Island, and now they also live freely on the East Island, forming a unique ecosystem that makes the East Island richer and more beautiful.
The Paracel Islands are a valuable asset to our country, and we certainly don't just develop the East Island. In the past, we were unable to effectively manage this place because our national strength was not strong enough, allowing some ill-intentioned countries to "take advantage of the void". Today, China is a powerful country, and we have begun to develop this seafaring point.
After decades of construction, we have built airports, military barracks and other buildings on Woody Island and other islands, which have become our "fortresses" for defending the South China Sea. The most amazing thing is that we will not only build on the existing islands, but also use artificial island technology.
Our country now has the world's top suction dredger manufacturing technology, and our "Sky Whale" makes other countries salivate, and can dig out the area of a football field in an hour! With this kind of ship, we can "fill" the otherwise humble island into a land where we can build airports and buildings in a very short time.
Today, our South China Sea is no longer a desolate ocean, but a strategic location with airports, towns, and docks. After full construction, the Paracel Islands can also support each other with the Nansha Qundao and Huangyan Dao, forming the first solid "barrier" for China's maritime defense. No wonder some people say that the islands here are China's immovable "aircraft carriers".
Wise Chinese people are always able to find solutions to problems within the constraints of various objective conditions, and this is exactly what we have developed over the decades. Even though there were many obstacles, we eventually overcame them one by one. Once China was poor and weak, we could not even defend our territorial sovereignty, let alone defend our own international interests.
But now China is different, we have gradually restored our international status as a great power, the international discourse power is also constantly increasing, this China is no longer the agricultural country that once was in ruins, but a lion that has woken up from its slumber, proudly standing in the East.
With the continuous development of human society and the increasing role of maritime sovereignty, China has also paid keen attention to this problem and is working hard to develop military power at sea and defend our interests at sea.
Today, China already has two aircraft carriers, and a third aircraft carrier is also being manufactured. I believe that in the future, our aircraft carrier fleet can cooperate with the islands in the South China Sea to build a maritime defense fortress that belongs to our country, so that other countries will not dare to covet our territory and maritime interests.