The snow-capped mountains photographed at the Shiyang overpass in Chengdu.
Photo courtesy of the interviewee
Our reporter Jiang Tong, Tang Wenhao, Li Like, Wang Xi
Wearing sportswear and carrying a small hiking bag, Wei Wei appeared on the grass of Chengdu Open-air Music Park.
It was an afternoon on a working day, and Wei Wei's dressing did not match the rhythm of the working day.
Well-dressed white-collar workers in the cubicles of the office building worked nervously, while in the music park far away from the urban area of Chengdu, Wei Wei calmly told his story.
"Nature gave birth to human beings. The aboriginal people on this land of Chengdu originated from the snow-capped mountains." When he said this, his eyes shone with light.
Once, Wei Wei was also a member of an office building in Chengdu until he met the snow-capped mountains and found a "sacred place" in the reinforced concrete forest.
The ancient Shu people in Chengdu worshiped snow mountains as primitive gods; Wang Xizhi’s "Book with Xie An" expressed his wish to go to Shu to climb the snow mountains; Lu You’s "Dengguankou Temple East Building Viewing the Snow Mountains of Minjiang" expressed emotion, "Thousands of years of snowy ridges come out, and thousands of miles of clouds sit on the edge of the snowy mountains. "Floating"; and Du Fu, who lived in Chengdu in his later years, wrote a lot of poems about looking at the snow-capped mountains.
From ancient times to the present, there is no shortage of mountain watchers in Chengdu.
Either faith or emotion, the snow-capped mountains of Chengdu are infiltrated by the culture of this land and become the cultural mark of Chengdu that has been passed down for thousands of years.
Nowadays, it is not just Wei Wei, but the online group "watching the mountains in Chengdu". With the power of this "interest group", the snow mountains in Chengdu have been searched on Weibo for many times, for more Chengdu People and even the world knows.
Wei Wei is just one of these "peak chasers" in Chengdu.
Gathered because of the "snow mountain"
Du Fu's seven-character quatrains are well known to the world, but countless people in Chengdu were once very puzzled: Can you really see the snow-capped mountains in downtown Chengdu?
Chengdu is adjacent to the Hengduan Mountains to the west and is located in the Sichuan Basin. The mountains are not obstructed by obstacles from the basin.
The nearest Xiling Snow Mountain is only about 82.9 kilometers away from Chengdu as a straight line.
In theory, there should be many snow-capped mountains within sight of the city.
However, there is a lot of rain and fog in the Tianfu Basin. From 2011 to 2021, there were 3478 cloudy and rainy days in Chengdu and only 194 sunny days.
Coupled with the air pollution caused by the rapid development of the city, and the accumulation of pollutants over the basin, Chengdu was once criticized for its severe smog.
Therefore, although Chengdu is adjacent to the snow-capped mountains, it is not easy to meet each other.
Many people have lived in Chengdu all their lives and have never seen a snow-capped mountain.
Shen Yun was lucky.
In 2008, Shen Yun lived in the southwest of Wuhou District, Chengdu.
At that time, there were few tall buildings in that area, and the sight of the west was not obstructed.
Once it was sunny after rain, she saw the snow-capped mountains on the roof of the sixth floor of her community.
For Shen Yun, who likes outdoor sports, the snow-capped mountains have a natural attraction.
This time, I accidentally "discovered" the snow-capped mountains on the roof of the city, quite a bit of "momentary movement".
"Snow Mountain" walked into "Shen Yun's Chengdu" from that day. She found that Cheng could see the snow mountains in many places.
On May 14, 2011, Shen Yun climbed high and looked into the distance, and her white snow-capped figure was clearly reflected on the city skyline. She immediately took photos and posted on the Internet forum.
On May 31, the netizen "Jincheng Yeyu" borrowed Shen Yun's photos, collected materials and initiated discussion posts on the forum, trying to explore the name and location of the snowy mountains he saw in Chengdu.
The discussion posts in the forum became the place where Shen Yun and "Jincheng Yeyu", "Huaxi Rain Screen", "Qiu Han", "Sanjin and Jiarong" and others first met. Together.
On February 22, 2012, Shen Yun proposed to several active members of the forum to establish a group, and the QQ group "Looking at the Snow Mountains in Chengdu" was established.
Some of the first group members were in Chengdu, and some were in the mountains of western and northern Sichuan; some liked snowy mountains because of outdoor sports, and some paid attention to snowy mountains because of photography.
They love the snow-capped mountains in different locations and in different ways, and strive to let more people "see" the snow-capped mountains in Chengdu.
There are pictures and the truth: let the "snow mountain" be seen
Shen Yun and their posts are often questioned by "onlookers."
Many people have not seen it, and they think it is "nonsense" to see snow mountains in Chengdu. The photos of snow mountains "hung" over Chengdu on the Internet are not photos of PS, but "mirages".
"Actually, in the consciousness of many Chengdu people, they almost never thought of seeing the snow-capped mountains." Shen Yun remembered once watching the snow-capped mountains on the top of a building. The neighbors came to watch the excitement, but they only saw sunset clouds, and didn't notice the distance at all. A small peak above the sunset glow.
To testify for "you can see the snow-capped mountains in Chengdu", the group of friends from the group of "seeing the snow-capped mountains in Chengdu" made a lot of effort.
Among them, Zhao Hua played a big role.
In 2008, a photo enthusiast took a photo of a snow-capped mountain in downtown Chengdu and caused controversy on the Internet.
Some people praised the scenery, while others questioned "It is impossible to see snow mountains in Chengdu".
Zhao Hua feels that this is an "interesting question worth exploring."
Zhao Hua is an environmental engineer with certain professional knowledge in meteorology and geography.
He is also a lover of ancient poetry and is fascinated by the textual research of poetry. Therefore, this controversy immediately aroused his interest in "textualizing" Chengdu Snow Mountain.
He searched for the geography and geomorphology of Chengdu, studied historical materials, ancient poems, and performed rigorous calculations. In the end, he proved from multiple angles that the snow mountain in the photo was not a mirage, but the real Siguniang Mountain.
This long demonstration article covering all angles of astronomy, geography, literature and history won recognition, and it also gave Shen Yun and other snow mountain lovers a "reassuring pill."
So far, no one has been able to produce more convincing evidence to refute Zhao Hua's long article.
In 2013, Zhao Hua published an article on his blog "Tingwu Pavilion", "Seeing Du Fu's "Window with Xiling Qianqiuxue" from Two Photos-Chengdu's Natural and Humanistic Journey", which attracted many people to join Chengdu "Snow Mountain" group, or join the team of "View Mountain" in Chengdu.
This is also one of the core contents that Shen Yun introduces to the newcomers in the group.
However, some people still think that the snow-capped mountains seen in Chengdu are a mirage, and Zhao Hua thinks this is a "good thing."
"There were poets in various dynasties who wrote many poems about snowy mountains in Chengdu. Only Du Fu alone, in addition to'window contains the Xiling Qianqiuxue', there are also many poems about snowy mountains. Perhaps in ancient times when air pollution was less, It is very common in Chengdu to see snow-capped mountains. "The mountain is the mountain", the ancients would not have other ideas." Zhao Hua said.
The fact that Hyundai can put forward the view of "mirage" is also the result of scientific development and popularization of knowledge.
Zhao Hua believes that "looking at a mountain is not a mountain" is a step of rational speculation.
It was this step that caused the "interesting" discussion on the Internet that year, "Let's'look at the snow-capped mountains in Chengdu' group to discover'see the mountains or the mountains'".
“At the same time, we pay attention to the history of ancient people’s mountain viewing in Chengdu, the changes in air quality in Chengdu, and the development of the city.” Zhao Hua feels that now is not only “interesting”, but more “meaningful”, “when the'snow mountain' is re-emerged. See, it unveiled the history of the construction and development of the city of Chengdu from another angle."
"Snow Mountain" is Chengdu's "Totem"
Wei Wei joined the group in 2013.
As a native of Chengdu, Wei Wei's growth experience was once insulated from snow-capped mountains.
"When I was a child, I never saw a snow-capped mountain in downtown Chengdu. I learned'Chuang Han Xiling Qianqiu Snow' in class, and I never thought I could see such a scene."
"We became attached to the snow mountain in 2012." At that time, Wei Wei was on his way to Baodian Temple in Li County, Aba Prefecture.
On the way down the mountain, at a bend, suddenly a snow-capped mountain emerged from the peaks and came into view.
"At that time, it was before and after the Qingming Festival, the vegetation at the foot of the mountain had sprouts new buds, a piece of greenery. Looking up, the green vegetation slowly transitioned to the yellow coniferous forest, then to the bare rocks, and finally the white snow on the snowy peaks." At first glance, Wei Wei was shocked by the four seasons. He went home to search for information, but couldn't find any pictures of the snow-capped mountain.
From that day on, Wei Wei had an idea: He wanted to photograph and record every unknown snow mountain.
He traveled all over the snow-capped mountains in Aba Prefecture by himself, flipped through various materials, and wrote a family tree of the snow-capped mountains, "The Catalogue of High Altitude Mountains in Aba Prefecture," and he became famous in the circle ever since.
In 2013, Wei Wei got acquainted with "Qiu Han" while looking up information about Snow Mountain on the Internet.
"Seeing the photos taken by'Qiu Han', I realized for the first time that'you can see the snow-capped mountains in Chengdu'. As a Chengdu native, I feel very surprised." So, after being introduced by "Qiu Han", Wei Wei joined "Looking at the Snow Mountains in Chengdu" group.
Wei Wei's research on the Aba Snow Mountain has provided richer information for the "Snow Mountain in Chengdu" group, and clarified the names and locations of many snow mountains photographed in Chengdu.
On June 5, 2017, the sky in Chengdu was surprisingly transparent.
"Qiu Han" photographed a long picture of a snow-capped mountain made up of 27 pictures in the Pidu District of Chengdu.
From the 5353-meter large snow pond, to the 6250-meter Siguniang Mountain Yaomei Peak, to the 7556-meter Gongga Mountain, the snow-capped mountains on the Chengdu skyline stretch for more than 300 kilometers.
In each of the snow-capped mountains in the picture, there are people in the "Snow Mountain in Chengdu" group who can accurately point out the name, location, and height.
This once-in-a-century landscape has made Chengdu truly recognized as the only city with a population of tens of millions of people in the world that can see snow-capped mountains above 5,000 meters.
Because of the "snow mountains" in Chengdu, the group "Looking at the Snow Mountains in Chengdu" has also attracted attention from all walks of life.
"Qiu Han" felt: "The famous group of'Looking at the Snow Mountains in Chengdu' can make more people pay attention to the beauty around them and enjoy the nature in the city. This is a very beautiful thing."
The group of friends "August Orchard" believes that looking at the snow-capped mountains in Chengdu, "the prosperous and ever-changing urban landscape and the huge mountains spanning thousands of years are the relationship between change and unchanging."
Wei Wei has been busy sorting out information recently.
"Looking at the Snow Mountains in Chengdu" group became famous. Many schools in the province asked him to tell the children stories about the snow mountains. The Sichuan Youth Federation of Literary and Art Museum also invited him to plan and organize snow mountain research activities.
He said, “The ancient Shu people migrated from the snow-capped mountains to settle in the Chengdu Plain, and the Red Army crossed the snow-capped mountains in western Sichuan for the Long March... The snow-capped mountains are Chengdu’s urban “totem” and are one of the best carriers of Chengdu’s thousand-year cultural heritage.”