However, another Heihe River should be more famous: it is one of the great rivers under Dayu's rule, which nourishes Yanqi Mountain cherished by Huns, and gives birth to Jin Zhangye, the "Zhang Guo's arm is connected to the western regions". It casts oases in the vast desert of Alashan. Without it, our history and life would be different.
"The bright moon hangs high above the sky and is shrouded in the mist of the sea of clouds."-Li Bai
Tianshan Mountain is the ancient name of Qilian Mountain between Gansu and Qinghai in China. The water vapor from the Arctic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean was blocked by this mountain range with an average elevation of more than 4,000 meters, turned into rain, and merged into a river-Heihe River, which is precisely for this reason.
The hillside below the snow line is the place where Heihe River was born. Although the annual average temperature here is only about 0 degrees Celsius, which is very cold, the annual average precipitation of more than 350 mm irrigates patches of shrubs and trees, and their water collects into a trickle, which is the smallest blood in Heihe River.
The rolling water vapor has also shaped a rugged and spectacular valley glacier for Qilian Mountain. The glaciers here belong to continental glaciers, which are relatively stable and insensitive to climate change. They are stabilizers for river water. Under the care of melting ice, rain and forest protection, Heihe River is endless all year round.
For Heihe River, which is 82 1 km long, the mountains in the upper reaches are almost all its "income sources". The annual precipitation in the middle reaches of Heihe River Basin is less than 200mm, and even less than 50mm in the lower reaches. 90% of the water in Heihe River comes from this 6.5438+0 million square kilometer mountain watershed. It can be said that there would be no Heihe River without Qilian Mountain.
In the winding Qilian Mountain Canyon on the Qinghai side, the Heihe River flows slowly from west to east, getting bigger and bigger. Huangzang Temple at the junction of Qinghai and Gansu provinces meets Babao River from east to west. At this point, Heihe turned to the north, entered Gansu, continued to dig mountains and build valleys, and galloped forward.
The Heihe River, with abundant water, rushes out of the valley and enters the plain at the dividing point between the upper and middle reaches, ready to go! As the second largest inland river in China, it will do everything for Hexi Corridor and Alashan Plateau.
The Heihe River, which rushed out of the mountain pass, slowed down on the plain of Hexi Corridor. It has created an ancient city-Zhangye for the arid northwest, and has the reputation of "half city reeds and half city towers".
"Half-city reed" refers to wetland, and the famous Heihe wetland is a wonderful presentation of this landscape. Heihe River water has left scattered waters, forests, swamps and beaches in Zhangye Plain, which is a natural barrier to curb the southward invasion of Badain Jaran Desert in the north and protect the lower oasis of Qilian Mountain.
Heihe wetland is also a dining table for migratory birds to replenish energy. September is the peak of migratory birds migration every year. On average, thousands of birds rest here every day to replenish energy.
The spotted geese flying from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau have seized a beach, where there are plenty of mollusks to satisfy their hunger, while more birds, such as swans, gray geese and black-winged snipes, choose to look for food on the open water. The excellent environment of Heihe Wetland makes some migratory birds even regard it as their second hometown. Every year, they spend the breeding season here and give birth to new life.
"Half-city Tower Shadow" refers to the stupa. Zhangye is the throat of the Silk Road, along which Buddhism was introduced from the Western Regions to the Central Plains. The Zhangye Wooden Pagoda built in Sui Dynasty is 33 meters high. After thousands of years of vicissitudes, it has been destroyed and rebuilt. As long as there is a flowing black river, the fire of Zhang Ye's civilization will not go out.
In fact, Heihe River not only gave birth to the farming civilization that entered the Hexi Corridor, but also was one of the mother rivers of nomadic people. Shandan River also originates from Qilian Mountain (upstream is Damaying River) and is one of the tributaries of Heihe River. It nourishes Yanqi Mountain from south to north in the hinterland of the mountain range, and flows westward after meeting Longshou Mountain, creating the largest and oldest Shandan military horse farm in the world.
Before becoming a military racecourse, the fertile grassland along the Shandan River was once a paradise for nomadic people. Until BC 12 1 year, Huo Qubing, the ancient general of a title of generals in ancient times, led troops into Hexi Corridor twice to attack the Xiongnu, and firmly controlled the Xiongnu in the hands of the Han Dynasty.
Since then, the Central Plains regime has drawn four circles of Wuwei, Zhangye, Jiuquan and Dunhuang in the Hexi Corridor, while those Huns who left their homes left a mountain without me, leaving my women colorless. Losing Qilian Mountain makes me unhappy. There is a purple flower on Yan Zhishan, which can be used to make rouge.
Zhang Ye, nurtured by the Heishui River, has become a veritable "South of the Great Wall" in the hands of farming civilization, and there is a saying among the people that "Zhang Ye is gold and Wuwei is silver". Although the source of "gold" in "Golden Zhangye" is still inconclusive, it is mostly attributed to the fertile land and high grain yield here.
During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Zhang Ye was the refuge of Han civilization. After the reunification of the Sui Dynasty, Emperor Yang Di visited Zhangye and received audiences from western countries, which was called the earliest World Expo in the world. In the heyday of the Tang Dynasty, Zhang Ye wasteland, "a bumper harvest of rice, dozens of hooves in a row, accumulated decades of military food"; It was not until the Ming and Qing Dynasties that Zhangye became a regional center and logistics base, commanding the military and civilians in the surrounding towns.
Heihe River passes185km from Yingluo Gorge to Zhengyi Gorge, which is the downstream. The Heihe River downstream has a louder name-weak water.
"Shangshu Gong Yu" records that Dayu "draws weak water to stand out from the crowd, and the aftermath enters quicksand". The weak water here is the Heihe River, and the stand is a hill on the east side of Zhengyixia, not the quicksand river in The Journey to the West, but the Juyan Sea 300 kilometers away. So this sentence is translated, that is, Dayu led the Heihe River to Helishan Mountain and finally merged into Juyanhai.
The word weak water often appears in China's ancient books. For example, in Shan Hai Jing, it is recorded that "there is water in the north of Kunlun Mountain, and the force can't beat mustard seeds, so it is named weak water". Some of these weak waters refer to shallow waters that cannot carry ships, and some refer to rivers in remote areas, which are two different things from this weak water in the lower reaches of Heihe River.
The famous weak water is in A Dream of Red Mansions: "Weak water is 3,000, and I only take a ladle to drink". Although it is about the loyalty of love, this sentence is equally valuable to the weak water of Heihe: maybe we should just take a gourd ladle for Heihe.
Heihe left Gansu and entered Inner Mongolia, all the way south, leaving an Ejina oasis in Badain Jaran Desert (Heihe is also called Ejina River after entering Inner Mongolia, which means black water in Mongolian). This area is extremely dry, with an average annual precipitation of less than 40 mm and evaporation of more than 3,500 mm. Almost all the water comes from Heihe River.
Ejina Oasis is not only an ecological barrier in the desert, but also a smooth road connecting the Mongolian Plateau and the inland of the Central Plains. In the second year, Huo Qubing conquered Hexi, directly crossed the Badain Jaran Desert, replenished in Juyanhai, then went south along the oasis, attacked from behind the evil king of Xiongnu and the king of Xiutu, and then settled Hexi in World War I.
Since 1950s, the agricultural and industrial water consumption in the middle and lower reaches of Heihe River began to surge, and reservoirs and dams appeared one after another. 196 1 and 1992, the once abundant Heihe River was cut off twice. In the 1980s and 1990s, except for autumn flood, only the dry riverbed accompanied the oasis.
The less water is left for the oasis, the more arid and salinized the land becomes. The original place full of reeds, Populus euphratica and Elaeagnus angustifolia was replaced by more drought-tolerant willow and camel thorn, and the meadow gradually degenerated into a new desert.
Without water, the two lakes in Yanhai at the end of Heihe River were not spared: Gashun Naoer completely dried up at 196 1, while Su Po Naoer dried up many times in 1970s and 1980s, and the fish in the lake suffered extinction, and the birds did not return, leaving few animals such as wild donkeys, wild camels and goose-throated antelope.
Time came to 2 1 century. On July 17, 2002, under the scientific groundwater control, the Heihe River once again flowed into Su Po Naoer. On September 24, the following year, Gashunoer, which had been dry for 42 years, finally waited for the nourishment of Heihe River. Now, after years of supply, Juyanhai is full of vitality, and Ejina Oasis is slowly rising.
Weak water is 3 thousand, just take a ladle to drink, otherwise there is neither weak water nor water to drink.
-End-
Zhang Wenyi Chen Yu
Image source is Colorful China.