The current appearance of cultural relics: Mother River, what kind of past and present lives does she have?

[The present appearance of these cultural relics]

Mother River, what kind of past and present life did she have?

　　The wilderness under the winter sun is comfortable and pleasant: washed-washed tile clouds drift by wave after wave, running forward as if being chased by someone; at the foot of the cloud is a thick pear tree next to each other; Among the pear trees, there are rows of brand-new small farmhouses—this place belongs to Liangli Town in Dangshan County, Anhui Province. It is famous for its thin, juicy, crispy Dangshan pear.

　　Stepping into the pear orchard, pear farmers are immersed in pruning and pressing branches, digging ditches and fertilizing.

Hearing that it was a reporter from the capital, an aunt said cheerfully, "Girl, you should come back in three months. At that time, millions of acres of pear blossoms will be in bloom, so beautiful! Tourists from all over the country will come here. .”

　　It is hard to imagine that the place where the reporter is located is actually the Yellow River two hundred years ago.

　　The Yellow River is the mother river of the Chinese nation.

"Guanguan Jujiu, on the continent of the river", "Floating the cypress boat, on the river in the middle of the river", "The river is full of water, flowing north alive"... The "river" in "The Book of Songs" refers to our mother river—— Yellow River.

Different from the perception of the Yellow River in later generations, at that time, "the river was clear and rippling", and it was leisurely.

However, since the "Hanshu", "the river" began to have another name "Yellow River". The waves wash away and the wind blows from the end of the world", Li Bai chanted "The Yellow River comes to the west to conquer Kunlun, roars thousands of miles and touches the dragon's gate.

　　"A tiger can be fought, but a river is hard to follow." Behind the change in the rhetoric is the deep fear that the Yellow River brings to people.

Due to climate change, human activities, and flowing through the Loess Plateau, the sediment content of this mighty river ranks first in the world's rivers.

"The Yellow River fights water, and mud ranks among the seven." For thousands of years, sedimentation has continuously raised the downstream river bed, and the embankments on both sides of the river can only be raised accordingly, and the Yellow River has become a "hanging river above the ground".

　　The Yellow River, which is "good at silting up", is becoming more and more unruly, and "good at resolving" and "good at migrating" lead to frequent floods.

According to statistics, from 602 BC to 1938, during more than 2,500 years, the lower reaches of the Yellow River burst more than 1,590 times and diverted 26 times.

"Two breakthroughs in three years, one diversion in a hundred years" is not a lie.

　　The breach and diversion have brought serious disasters to the people on both sides of the strait.

Historically, the flood of the Yellow River once reached Tianjin in the north and Jianghuai in the south, and the scope spread to the five provinces of Hebei, Shandong, Henan, Jiangsu and Anhui.

Kaifeng, the famous ancient capital, has been flooded 6 times, with layers of silt obliterating the prosperity in "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" under the yellow sand.

"On the 23rd day of Daoguang, the flood rose to the sky. It washed away the sun crossing and brought Wanjintan along with it." Even today, this folk song is still circulating in Shanzhou District, Henan Province, recording the flood that engraved in the hearts of the local people in 1843. nightmare.

　　Looking at the map of the previous diversions of the Yellow River, we can see that before the second year of Jianyan in the Southern Song Dynasty (AD 1128), most of the Yellow River migrated in the area north of the current channel and flowed into the Bohai Sea.

And this year, Du Chong, the general of Kaifeng, defended against the Jin soldiers, and "used water as soldiers" at Ligudu, Huazhou, breaking the dike, causing the Yellow River to swing southward and divert, capture the Huaihe River system, and flow into the Yellow Sea.

Since then, the number of breaches and diversions has increased sharply, making the scenery of "walking thousands of miles, not as good as the two sides of the Huaihe River" disappear, leaving behind countless human tragedies of "the river is overflowing, and people may turn into fish and turtles".

　　In the fifth year of Xianfeng in the Qing Dynasty (AD 1855), the Yellow River broke through again near the east head of Lankao County, Henan Province, and changed its course again, flowing north into the Bohai Sea.

Since then, the history of more than 700 years from the Huaihe River to the sea has ended, leaving a "Ming and Qing Yellow River old road" winding at the junction of the four provinces of Henan, Shandong, Anhui and Jiangsu.

The first stop the reporter came to in search of the Mother River—Liangli Town, Dangshan County, Anhui Province, is the "Old Course of the Yellow River in the Ming and Qing Dynasties".

　　Leaving Liangli Town, the reporter came to Yanwo Town, Lijin County, Shandong Province.

It is not far from the mouth of the Yellow River today.

　　"When I was young, when there was a flood, the embankment would overflow, people had to move quickly, and the crops would be soaked in the water." Li Meiling, Secretary of the Party Branch of Houzuo Village, Yanwo Town, Lijin County, who grew up in the Yellow River floodplain, told reporters, " Over the years, the embankment has been continuously strengthened, and the river channel has become deeper and deeper. The floods of the previous two years did not reach the shore."

　　The great flood that Li Meiling mentioned is the most serious autumn flood since the founding of New China encountered in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River in the autumn of 2021-7 rounds of autumn rains appeared in succession, and there were 3 numbered floods in the main stream of the Yellow River within 9 days, and the downstream channel was more than 4,000 cubic meters per second. The large-flow flood process lasted for nearly 30 days... Under such a severe situation, the flood control of the Yellow River achieved the results of "no casualties, no flooding, and no dam running".

　　The vicissitudes of the old course of the Yellow River is a microcosm of the new China's governance of the Yellow River.

　　"Those who are good at governing the country must be good at water control." Harnessing the Yellow River has always been a major event in governing and rejuvenating the country.

People with lofty ideals in the past dynasties have put forward various ideas for controlling the Yellow River, but limited by the level of productivity development and social governance capabilities, they are often in vain.

In 1946, the cause of people's governance of the Yellow River led by the Communist Party of China started in the smoke of gunfire, opening a new era of Yellow River governance.

In 1952, Comrade Mao Zedong came to the Yellow River for his first inspection trip out of Beijing, and pointed out that "the affairs of the Yellow River must be handled well", which became a resounding clarion call to mobilize the people to manage the Yellow River.

　　"For more than 70 years, the party and the state have invested a lot of manpower and material resources in the flood control of the Yellow River. They have raised and thickened the dikes four times, reinforced more than 1,300 kilometers of dikes, built, rebuilt, reinforced and controlled more than 500 places, and built 14,000 dams. There are many ways..." Ren Wei, director of the Program Technology Division of the Flood and Drought Disaster Prevention Bureau of the Yellow River Water Conservancy Committee of the Ministry of Water Resources, told reporters.

　　To change the Yellow River's "good silt" characteristics, the focus is on controlling soil erosion.

　　Since the founding of New China, the pace of controlling soil erosion has not stopped for a moment.

After leaving Yanwo Town, the reporter went to Cuijiawan Town, Suide County, Shaanxi Province.

　　"Build a road wall in the ditch, stop mud and collect grain." Dang Weiqin, chief engineer of Suide Water Conservation Station, is guiding the site of the Dagou silt dam project in Lijiacha Village in this town.

He told reporters that the check dam is an effective measure to control soil erosion created by the people in the Loess Plateau area in practice.

Suide belongs to the concentrated source area of ​​coarse sediment on the Loess Plateau, and is one of the main sources of sediment deposition in the lower reaches of the Yellow River.

Since 1952, the Suide Soil and Water Conservation Scientific Experimental Station of the Yellow River Water Conservancy Commission has started the research work of check dams. A dam was built in the ditch, and the sediment coming down the slope was stopped, and slowly silted into a large area of ​​fertile land.

"The soil and fertilizer on the dam land can also retain water. The 'three farms' that ran away from water, soil, and fertilizer have become the 'three farms' that retain water, soil, and fertilizer!"

　　The reporter consulted the information: After check dams, slopes to terraces, and comprehensive management of small watersheds, the cumulative area of ​​soil erosion in the Yellow River Basin was initially controlled at 259,600 square kilometers, and the annual reduction of water and soil conservation measures was 435 million tons of yellow sediment. The grass vegetation coverage rate reaches 67%, and the main color changes from "yellow" to "green", from green to beautiful!

　　While raising and thickening embankments and controlling soil erosion, water conservancy experts are also aiming at "curing the Yellow River".

　　Huayuankou in Zhengzhou City, Henan Province is regarded as the starting point of the Yellow River "hanging above the ground", and the riverbed here is 4-6 meters higher than that in Zhengzhou City.

On the dam slope of No. 120 dam, Huayuankou, East Dam, Huayuankou, Henan Huijin River Affairs Bureau, there is a flood water level map marked with five water level lines that are extremely eye-catching.

Pointing to two of them, Wang Peijie, head of the East Dam management team, explained to the reporter: "Look, this is the flood water level in July 2010. It is not much different from the flow in August 1996, but the water level is 1.57 meters lower. This shows that the height of the channel of the Yellow River is gradually decreasing."

　　Since 2002, the Yellow River has continued to implement water and sediment regulation. Through the combined operation of reservoirs, "man-made floods" are used to form a continuous discharge momentum, and the sediment deposited in the river and reservoirs is sent into the sea as much as possible.

Over the past 21 years since the implementation of this creative method, the minimum flow capacity of the main channel of the river has increased from 1,800 cubic meters per second in 2002 to about 5,000 cubic meters per second at present, and the average undercut of the main channel of the lower reaches of the Yellow River has reached 3.1 meters. The history of the Yellow River's "hanging river above the ground" silting up!

　　The Yellow River is at peace, and the world is at peace.

Huanghe Anlan, the thousand-year longing of the sons and daughters of the Chinese people, is turning from vision to reality step by step!

(Our reporter Ma Shanshan)