It’s easy to envision endless landscapes, such as grasslands, seas, and deserts. The complicated surrounding things are just passing smoke, and that vast place can bring people the "ultimate" and "eternal" imagination.
When it comes to Inner Mongolia, people's first impression is always the vast world and green grass, but the Alxa Plateau in the west is a completely different scenery. 2.5 million years ago, geographical and climate changes formed this area dominated by Gobi desert. People call it Alxa, which means "colorful land" in Mongolian.
The silent desert gives people a sense of desolation and magnificence, and also brings meditation. The desert has sparse vegetation, and the most stunning plant is undoubtedly the vast stretch of primitive Populus euphratica forest in Ejina. The locals say that this tree survives for a thousand years, survives for a thousand years, and remains immortal for a thousand years. Here, time seems to slow down.
"Who on the bank of the river sees the moon for the first time, and when does the moon on the river shine on that person for the first time?" The Gobi Desert in Alxa is also a passage connecting ancient and modern times. Here we have heard about the camel bells of the Silk Road and witnessed the unearthed Juyan Han bamboo slips. People of different time, space and different nationalities have had constant exchanges here.
Alxa League of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (Photo source: Xue Qiangguo)
Juyan ruins witness the blending of ethnic groups
When you come to Alxa, you must visit the Juyan ruins. The word "Juyan" comes from the Xiongnu language, which means "secluded place", a piece of weak water flow and sand. In the Han Dynasty, this was not the Gobi Desert, but an oasis with lush water and grass.
In the summer of the second year of the Han Dynasty (121 BC), Huo Qubing, the general of the Han Dynasty, led tens of thousands of cavalry out of Beidi County. After a long journey, they crossed the desert westward, detoured to Juyanhai, and attacked Hexi.
Juyan ruins. (Picture source: "Cultural Tourism Alxa" WeChat platform)
After Huo Qubing opened up the Hexi Corridor, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty ordered the construction of fortification walls and gates along the river, and established Juyan and Xiutu counties. This began the history of border guarding and farming on the Alxa Plateau. The soldiers stationed in the fields integrated the army and farmers, fighting and farming, which strengthened the country's control and development of the northern Xinjiang region.
The Juyan area is a blending zone that communicates farming and animal husbandry cultures. It was the only way for grassland ethnic minorities to go to Chang'an in the Tang Dynasty, so this area is also called the "Towering Khan Road". The Tang Dynasty built Datong City in this area, which means "the world is unified". A large number of Turkic and Uighur people live and work here in peace and contentment. Wang Wei also wrote a poem here, "The solitary smoke is straight in the desert, and the sun sets over the long river." This poem is so famous that many places now say that the great scenes described in the poem are there, including Alxa, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Gansu...
In 1930, the Swede Bergman discovered Han Dynasty bamboo slips for the first time in Ejina Banner, which shocked the world. After that, more than 40,000 Han bamboo slips were successively discovered in Ejina Banner and Gansu Golden Pagoda. Among them, more than 30,000 were found in Ejina Banner, collectively known as "Juyan Han Bamboo Bamboo Slips", and were hailed as one of the "four major discoveries" of Chinese archeology in the 20th century. one.
The handwriting on the Juyan Han Slips was written by border guards in the Han Dynasty more than 2,000 years ago. Due to the dry local climate, it is still well preserved. The contents of Han bamboo slips are extremely rich, covering everything from politics, economy, military, science and culture, and completely display the style of northern Xinjiang in the Han Dynasty.
Juyan's Han bamboo slips have simple characters, mostly in the style of the Han Dynasty, but there are also some vocabulary unique to border areas. In addition, there are some non-Chinese characters on the slips, which provide important clues for future generations to study minority languages and multiculturalism.
There is a record in the Han Dynasty slips in Juyan: "His Majesty the Emperor, the Chariot and Cavalry General issued an edict saying: Wusun Xiaokun Miwu will be slaughtered..." This is the earliest record of the local political king of the Western Regions accepting the canonization of the Han Dynasty. It also reflects the relationship between the Western Regions and the Han government. close interaction.
Today, some Juyan Han bamboo slips are collected in the Ejina Museum and the Alxa Museum. Through these original materials, people can get a glimpse of the style of the Alxa area two thousand years ago.
The mysterious and vicissitudes of Blackwater City
In recent years, Blackwater City has become very popular thanks to films and novels about tomb robbing.
Blackwater City, also known as Black City, is located in the desert on the north bank of the lower reaches of the dry Ejina River (Blackwater) in Alxa. As early as the beginning of the 11th century AD, many residents were farming, herding and hunting here, living and working in peace and contentment. After the Xixia regime was established, a large number of people moved to this area to cultivate land. In 1226 AD, Genghis Khan personally led an army to destroy Xixia, and Blackwater City changed hands.
During the Yuan Dynasty, Heishui City had a prosperous economy and a large population. Its special geographical location of "running from Lingbei in the north, to Xinjiang in the west, to Hexi in the south, and to Yinchuan in the east" made it the political and military center in the western part of the Yuan Dynasty.
Today's Heishui City has been swallowed by the desert, but in the Yuan Dynasty, it was a fertile oasis (ancient Ju Yanhai), with an endless stream of caravans stopping on the Silk Road. Marco Polo recorded this in his travel notes: "Ejina is in the northern part of the desert and is part of Xixia. The residents here worship religious idols, have a large number of camels and cattle, and raise falcons and falcons. People make a living by agriculture and animal husbandry. "Until the mid-14th century, as the climate deteriorated, Blackwater City was gradually buried under the yellow sand.
The reason why Blackwater City is favored by movies, TV shows and novels is not only because it is a mysterious ancient city buried under the yellow sand, but also because of a legend.
Blackwater City was submerged in the yellow sand. (Photo source: Department of Culture and Tourism of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region)
In the past, there was a general nicknamed "Black Hero" who was stationed in Blackwater City, and people called him Black General. He was originally highly regarded by the emperor and was recruited as his consort, but later he became more powerful and began to conspire to usurp the throne. The emperor sent a large army to suppress the rebellion, but the black general had no choice but to bury the treasure deep under the Blackwater City and break out of the siege to escape. This legend has been circulating for hundreds of years, but no one has ever dug up the treasure.
The legend of the Black General has attracted countless explorers, but it was Tsarist Russian Colonel Kozlov who truly found the ancient desert city.
The colonel graduated from the St. Petersburg Military Academy and loved archeology and exploration. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, China's political situation was chaotic, but it became an opportunity for looters to "flex their muscles." Kozlov has entered the ruins of Blackwater City several times. Although he did not find General Black's treasure, he unearthed a large number of precious cultural relics. In addition to the world-famous large number of Xixia periodicals and manuscripts, there are also Chinese, Tibetan, Uighur, Turkic, and Jurchen , Mongolian and other language classics, including "The Pearl in the Palm of Fan Han" translated from Chinese and Xixia, which is a key to reading Xixia. In addition, he also found more than 300 Buddhist paintings, more than 20 woodblock prints, more than 70 wood carvings, as well as clay statues, copper and gold-plated casts, silk and linen fabrics, coins, banknotes, etc.
Due to the large number of cultural relics, the robbers' camel team could not carry them all. Kozlov decided to select the best of the best and only take the cultural relics he thought were of the highest value. Many complete Buddha statues were broken into pieces, and only the Buddha's head was taken away. A large number of treasures were destroyed and destroyed.
Today's Heishui City ruins have been rescued and protected and have become a place that many tourists yearn for. As an ancient multi-ethnic city, there are different buildings such as Buddhism, Taoism, and Islam. There are still five pagodas on the northwest wall. The pagodas are made of adobe and are still standing after hundreds of years of wind and rain.
The “Ancient Camel Trader Road” of the Silk Road
Mr. Lu Xun once said: "There is no road in the world. When more people walk, it becomes a road." The "Silk Road" is a road of peace and prosperity that people have walked.
Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty heard that there was a country called Yuezhi in the west of the Xiongnu, and wanted to join forces with it to attack the Xiongnu. At this time, Yuezhi was just a legend in the Han Dynasty, and no one knew the specific situation. Zhang Qian stepped forward and became an envoy. He led the mission across thousands of miles of yellow sand and Gobi wilderness, heading towards the northwest, which they knew nothing about. On the way Zhang Qian was captured by the Huns twice and escaped twice. The Xiongnu Chanyu admired his spirit and betrothed him to a Xiongnu woman as his wife. When Zhang Qian fled for the second time, the pursuers had arrived. He only captured one son. His wife and other son were cut off by the pursuers and they said goodbye to him forever.
Zhang Qian's mission to the Western Regions lasted for thirteen years, and only two of the more than one hundred people returned. Although he failed to achieve the original purpose of his mission, he allowed the Chinese to discover a world larger than China, and also opened a channel for the Chinese to communicate with the world - the Silk Road.
Zhang Qian's passage to the Western Regions is no less significant than Columbus's discovery of America. But Columbus brought colonization and massacre to America, while Zhang Qian brought peace and prosperity.
As an important passage on the Prairie Silk Road, Alxa has witnessed the exchanges between various ethnic groups in the Central Plains and the Western Regions, communicated Eastern and Western civilizations, and promoted the process of world civilization.
Today, Alxa has the largest number of camels in the country and is known as the "Hometown of Camels in China". Although today’s commerce no longer relies on camel teams, we can still ride camels through the desert and reminisce about the grandeur of the ancient Silk Road.
Changes and Unchanges in Alxa
Alxa was once a prosperous and noisy city with an endless stream of commerce. The memories that have been covered in dust for nearly a thousand years make Alxa thick and desolate, mysterious and long-lasting. With the passage of time, the ancient dynasties that established cities in the Alxa area have long been destroyed, and many ancient ethnic minorities have also integrated into the Chinese nation. What Alxa carries is the epitome of the cohesion of the Chinese nation over thousands of years.
In Alxa, the flower of national unity blooms everywhere. Here is the inheritance of the patriotism spirit of Torgut who returned from thousands of miles eastward; there is the touching story of the best pasture in Ejina being used for aerospace; and there are the heroic models of patriotism, dedication, and defense of the country and borders. The family-like atmosphere of the Chinese nation has significantly enhanced the awareness of building a strong Chinese nation community.
Members of the Alxa Right Banner camel platoon patrol together with local herdsmen to guard the border. (Photo source: Alxa League Democratic Committee)
In order to tell the story of Alxa well to tourists and the historical facts of exchanges, exchanges and integration of various ethnic groups, Alxa League has formulated the "Implementation Plan of Alxa League Tourism Promotion Plan for Exchanges, Exchanges and Integration of All Ethnic Groups" based on actual conditions, and established and highlighted it during the construction of the scenic spot. Chinese cultural symbols and the image of the Chinese nation shared by all ethnic groups standardize the explanation content and fully integrate China's excellent traditional culture, revolutionary culture, and advanced socialist culture into the scenic display of tourist attractions, event performances, exhibition displays, and explanation experience.
While promoting the construction of special tourism projects such as tourist attractions, tourist resorts, tourist leisure streets, night culture and tourist consumption clusters, Alxa League has created more normalized, high-quality and characteristic tourism projects that reflect the consciousness of the Chinese nation’s community. Cultural tourism products, develop cultural and creative products and special tourism products, evaluate "Alxa Gifts" products, and build "Alxa Gifts" physical stores; launch high-quality tourism routes to support desert vacations, rural leisure, study tours, industrial tourism, and health care The integrated development of tourism, cross-border tourism, real-life performing arts and other industries has attracted people of all ethnic groups across the country to travel to Alxa.
In the Internet information age, Alxa has carried out the project construction of the All-League Smart Cultural Tourism Comprehensive Service Platform and launched smart cultural tourism. In Alxa, tourists can "travel to Alxa with a mobile phone", forming a one-stop smart service of "food, accommodation, transportation, travel, shopping and entertainment". The smart cultural tourism service platform uses big data, 5G, micro-commerce, VR panoramic tours, location services, blockchain and other cutting-edge technologies to empower the Alxa League cultural tourism industry, innovate cultural tourism integration, and comprehensively optimize tourists Tour experience, improve the quality of tourism services, promote the upgrading of tourism quality, and promote the high-quality development of Alxa League’s cultural tourism industry.
Smartphones and ancient yellow sand roads, smart cultural tourism and lonely smoke in the desert, the oldest thoughts and the most cutting-edge technology merge into one. Poets in the past lamented that "the ancients will never be seen before, and the newcomers will never be seen after". But today's people can appreciate the past and the future at the same time in the long world of Alxa.
(Author: Huang Ye)
Producer | Wang Xiangyu
Editor | Cai Liyuan
Production | Hu Xiaodie
(Daozhonghua WeChat public account)