Chinanews.com, Hotan, Xinjiang, February 4th (Pan Qi) In the distance, the morning light is rising, and Cebu has not yet dispersed. Nearby, more than 10 off-road vehicles lined up and set off towards the thousand-year-old ruins of Niya.
Recently, the reporter followed a group of more than 40 people from the "2022-2023 New Year's Crossing Taklimakan Desert Expedition Team" and drove for 4 hours from Minfeng County, Xinjiang, through no-man's land and into the center of the Taklamakan Desert, looking for traces of the ancient kingdom of Jingjue.
Departure to the hinterland of the Taklimakan Desert
Is the exquisite ancient country the secret realm in the novel "Ghost Blowing the Lantern"?
The Niya ruins are located in the necessary place for transportation on the South Road of the Silk Road. It used to be the prosperous city of Jingjue ancient country.
The Jingjue Ancient Kingdom existed from about the 2nd century BC to the 5th century AD.
Since the discovery of the Niya site in 1901, many archaeological activities have unearthed a large number of exquisite cultural relics, especially in 1995. The Sino-Japanese joint investigation team at the Niya site excavated the most fruitful results, the most famous of which is "Five Stars Out of the East to Benefit China" The brocade armguard of the Han Dynasty is a national first-class cultural relic, one of the first batch of Chinese cultural relics prohibited from going abroad (territory) for exhibition, and is known as one of the greatest discoveries of Chinese archaeology in the 20th century.
After driving along National Highway 315 from Minfeng County to the desert highway (Xinjiang Luntai to Minfeng County), the land began to become desolate, only the artificially planted Shaguai jujube, Haloxylon, and tamarisk on both sides came in rows.
After arriving at the nearest town to the Niya ruins, the convoy stopped suddenly.
"Deflate the tires!" The team leader's loud voice came from afar.
The driver master Hua Lin told reporters from Chinanews.com that before entering the desert, lowering the tire pressure will increase the contact area between the tire and the ground, reduce the pressure of the weight of the vehicle on the ground, and reduce the probability of being trapped in the sand.
Niya residence ruins.
Alimujiang?
Photo by Hujabdula
Trek, in the yellow sand desert
Cars are running in the sky full of yellow sand, the desert hills are undulating, and the populus euphratica is dead due to drying up, reminding us once again that this is the sea of death.
Turning off the roadbed from the flat village road, red willows as tall as a person rushed towards us. The four-wheel-drive off-road vehicle rushed left and right, bumping violently, and the branches scratched the door and made a harsh sound. We sat in the car reeling , couldn't help but exclaimed.
Continue to go deep into the desert, and the most interesting landform in front of you is the red willow bag, which is isolated and tall, like dilapidated beacon towers everywhere.
The red willow bag is gradually formed by the slow and regular accumulation of quicksand around the red willow. At first, the soil bag is very small and short. After hundreds of years of uninterrupted sand accumulation and the growth of tamarisk plants year by year, large soil bags with a height of more than 10 meters often appear.
Zhang Tienan, a researcher at the Xinjiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, said: "During the Sino-Japanese joint archaeological excavation in 1995, we put the national flag on the red willow bag and flew high."
Dry Populus euphratica scattered in the desert.
Alimujiang?
Photo by Hujabdula
The reporter raised the camera and saw the sand dunes in the distance.
Looking closely, the outline of the sand dunes is very charming. The two wings extend along the wind direction, and the plane outline presents a crescent shape. The yellow sand is long and winding.
Mysterious, exquisite ancient city rediscovers its true face
After turning over a sand dune, a series of wooden piles suddenly came into view.
"This is the most well-preserved N3 and N4 residential sites in the Niya ruins. It used to be the place where Jingjue people lived." Zhang Tienan introduced that this is the ancient city of Jingjue, which retains many houses of varying degrees of damage and sizes. , vineyards, sheepfolds and other sites.
According to Zhang Tienan, there are orchards around the site of Jingjueren’s residence. In addition to grapes and mulberries, pomegranates, apricots, peaches, and sand dates were eaten at that time.
Walking along the wooden plank road into N3, although some places have been covered by quicksand, the buildings with exquisite wooden bone and mud walls can be seen faintly.
As the wind blew, the trunks of some withered fruit trees emerged from the quicksand layer in small clusters.
Today, approaching the Niya ruins, you can still easily recognize the "landmark" here - the stupa ruins.
The whole body of the pagoda is milky white, the bottom is square, and the top is cylindrical. The pagoda is made of adobe and mud. The 6-meter-high pagoda is divided into three floors.
Walking around the pagoda, imagine the life of Jingjue people here thousands of years ago.
In farmland orchards, people plant wheat, grapes, and mulberry trees, weave blankets, and burn various pottery.
It seems that the smoke from the kitchen will rise again at any time, the cattle and sheep are having fun, and the camel bells are ringing.
Niya Pagoda.
Photo by Pan Qi
"A few kilometers to the northwest of the pagoda is the place where the national treasure 'Five Stars Out of the East and China' brocade armguard was unearthed." said Tusongguli Maituohuti, director of the Culture, Sports, Radio, Television and Tourism Bureau of Hotan, Xinjiang. There are many speculations about the disappearance of Jingjue ancient city. Is it war?
disease?
Or is the natural condition deteriorating?
No swords, halberds or arrows were unearthed from the ruins, nor were there corpses littered with battles.
On the contrary, all the dead in the tomb were peaceful and peaceful, and they were buried with great ceremony.
The traces of life are clearly visible, but the people living here suddenly disappeared... The rich cultural connotations and magical unsolved mysteries make the Niya site a yearning place for many explorers and archaeologists.
(over)