The Cilechuan River, under the Yinshan Mountains, is a place where the sky is like a dome, and the sky is like a dome. The sky is like a dome, covering the four fields. The sky is vast, and the wildness is vast, and the wind blows the grass down to see the cattle and sheep.
-- Northern Dynasties folk song "Cile Song"
When it comes to the prairie, are you like me, this "Cile Song" pops up in your mind.
"The sky is pale, the field is vast, the wind blows the grass low to see the cattle and sheep", how simple and simple words, composed of how infectious statements, bold and straightforward, majestic and open, as the character of the prairie people.
"Cile Song" depicted by the prairie where exactly so far is still inconclusive, some people say in Shanxi Shuozhou, Ningwu area, some people say that in Inner Mongolia under the Yinshan Hohhot Dahaihe River Basin, and some people say that in Inner Mongolia Tumecheon Plain ......
What I am talking about is - Hulunbeier Prairie.
When we want to see the grassland scenery, Inner Mongolia is the first choice of most people, since ancient times, this long and narrow land has been a nomadic paradise rich in grass and water: Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was here in Tuantian to raise horses, Xiongnu, Xianbei, the female genitals and other ethnic minorities have been in this hunter and breeder, the Mongolian iron horsemen have been from this jinjiao iron horse and set up across Europe and Asia's majestic empire ......
The undulating and gentle terrain and more than 1,000 meters above sea level create the ideal home for grass plants, so Inner Mongolia east and west across 1.18 million square kilometers of vast land, the birth of Xilingol, horqin, Ulanchab, Ordos, Wulagai, Alashan, and so many grasslands, due to different topographic and climatic conditions, some of which are accompanied by forests, and some of them with the desert, all kinds of The most famous of these is the Hulunbeier Prairie.
Hulunbeier Grassland is not only the most beautiful grassland in Inner Mongolia, but also ranked in the world's four major grasslands, and in which the leader. I looked up what the world's four major grasslands, and found that there are two in Inner Mongolia (Xilin Gol Grassland and Hulunbeier Grassland), and the other two are Xinjiang's Nalati Grassland and the Pampas Grassland in South America. So I think the above expression is inappropriate, it should be: because the Hulunbeier grassland is the best in Inner Mongolia, so it is the best in the world. This is like saying: because a table tennis player is China's best, so he is the world's first; because a NBA team is the U.S. champion, so the world is no right.
So how beautiful is the Hulunbeier Prairie, the most beautiful in the world?
Hulunbeier Prairie is located in Hulunbeier City in northeastern Inner Mongolia, west of the Daxinganling, it is not a glance can be collected by a certain piece of grassland, but the right flag of New Balkhoo, New Balkhoo Left Banner, Chen Balkhoo Banner, Ewenkeqi Banner, Hailaer District, the city of Manchuria and the southern part of the city of Erguna, the western part of the city of Yakeshi grasslands of the general term, is east-west width of about 350 km, north-south length of about 300 kilometers grassland group, there are more than 3000 criss-crossing the grassland, and there is no other grassland in the world. There are more than 3,000 crisscrossing rivers and more than 500 scattered lakes, the eastern part of the forests of the Daxinganling, the central part of the meadows of thousands of miles of flat land, the western part of the arid grassland with little precipitation, rich landscape and pleasant scenery.
The grasslands in the northern part of Hailar District are presented here.
In the morning of early fall, it was raining not too much, the weather was gloomy, the car from Hailar, all the way to the north, came to the grassland area, the good thing is that the God of heaven is good, once you get to the grassland, the clear sky.
The road met two sculptures standing on both sides of the road, the guide said they are a man and a woman, the male called "Bell", the female called "Hulun".
(Hulun)
(Bell)
It turned out that "Hulunbeier" is the name of a pair of young people, naturally, there is no shortage of romantic legends:
A long time ago, the Mongolian tribes have a pair of young men and women in love, the girl named Hulun, able to sing and dance, outstanding talent; the young man named Bell, the power to make a difference. The first was a young man named Belle, who was very strong and could ride and shoot well. Their life was originally carefree, then the demon Mangus snatched Hulun, but also sucked up the grassland water, resulting in the grassland yellow, cattle and sheep died. In order to save the grassland and love, Bell back up the bow to find Manggus revenge, in the battle with the devil, the fierce Hulun in order not to be Manggus insult, swallowed Manggus head of the green pearl, incarnation of the vast lake, Bell took the opportunity to kill Manggus, but because of the sacrifice of the love of grief, he broke the bow, the grassland collapsed, and the Bell also became a pool of clear lake.
In this way, a pair of lovers into Hulun, Bell two large lakes, the hot love to the grassland, the grassland also secretly cracked out a Ullens River, the two young hearts together.
The prairie flourished again, people in honor of Hulun and Bell, the prairie named "Hulunbeier Prairie".
The connection between Hulun Lake and the Bell Lake Wulun River belongs to the Sino-Russian border river - Erguna River system, which is a winding, nine turns back to the intestine of the river, most of the rivers on the grassland are so winding, nine turns back to the intestine of the shape, however, there is a "nine turns back to the intestine! However, there is a "nine turns back to the intestine" but turned out to be "the world's first water" reputation, so that visitors who have appreciated her all "back to the intestine a hundred turns", "aftermath of the rhyme around the beam", she is the --Mozhigrad River.
Mozhigrad River also belongs to the Erguna River system, originating in the western foothills of the Daxinganling Chenbalhu Banner territory, flowing from northeast to southwest, and ultimately into the Hailar Sea.
In 1961, Ye Shengtao, Lao She, Cao Yu, Duanmu Hongliang and other writers were invited to Hulunbeier prairie tour, when they saw the nine curves of the Mozhigrad River, all marveled at, Duanmu Hongliang said: "How many rivers I've traveled, have not traveled such a river, I've seen how much water, have not seen such water. " Lao She is praised this "meandering, bright as a glass band" is a veritable "the world's first water".
Indeed, not to mention those writers who are exceptionally sensitive to the beautiful, is that I am such an ordinary person, can not help but be a little intoxicated: in the clear blue as a wash of the sky, the meadows of the beginning of the autumn color, to see such a continuous thin belt from the green and blue sky meandering, and towards the endless far away, a moment of concave into a W-shape, a moment of the curved out of the S-shape, a moment of the disk as a moby! Wus belt, like a prostrate in the yellow and green canvas on the meandering silver snake, such as a strand of set in the emerald carpet on the delicate snow tapestry, plus dotted in the small yurts and dappled cows, sheep and horses on the banks of the river, so that I can not help but think of Zhang Fei strange, the book said that he was rough in the delicate, and Hulunbeier Prairie is vast in the beautiful.
There is a scenic spot on the banks of the Mozhigrad River called the "World Grassland Mongolian Spirit Nomadic Tribe", one of the few humanistic scenic spots on the prairie, where you can learn about the historical story of Genghis Khan and the customs and beliefs of the Mongolian people.
After entering the majestic gate, the first thing you see is the sculpture of Genghis Khan on horseback, the end of the twelfth century to the beginning of the thirteenth century, Genghis Khan had been here to feed the horses and troops, and the various ministries to compete, and eventually occupied the Hulunbeier grasslands. The hemisphere under the horse shows the former territory of the empire of mengdu, showing the majestic posture of a generation of pride. Genghis Khan once said: "my horse whip pointing place, are going to become my horse land." When the valiant Mongol horsemen brought war to Europe, Christian Europeans thought it was a whip sent by God to punish them. In front of the sculpture lies the legendary "God's Whip" - a 9.9-meter-long section of hand-hewn Russian mahogany.
Wooden road on both sides of the steppe peoples of the beast sculpture and the Meng Yuan Empire's founding ministers sculpture, such as the following bronze tank depicted on the legend of Genghis Khan - "God of War": Genghis Khan was born on May 31, 1162, a Born with a war god spear in hand, known as "the wolf king of the steppe".
The following picture is a sculpture of Bolju: Bolju participated in the war with Temujin (i.e., Genghis Khan) to unify the Mongolian parts of the war, and repeatedly saved Temujin in danger, his will to calm and heroic, good war and know the army, and made a great achievement, is one of the ten great ministers of the Mongolian Empire, the seal of the Imperial Master, Guangping Wang, posthumous name Zhongwu.
There is also one of the world's largest Ovoo - Tengri Ovoo in the Heavenly Grassland scenic area.
"Ovoo" is the Mongolian language, meaning "stone pestle", is an important sacrificial carrier of the Mongolian people, the sacrifice of the Ovoo is the source of shamanism, Ovoo on the branches in the hearts of Mongolians on behalf of the forest gods. Sacrifice Ovoo is divided into blood sacrifice, sprinkle sacrifice and fire sacrifice, blood sacrifice is slaughtered cattle and sheep for sacrifice in front of the Ovoo, sprinkle sacrifice is in front of the Ovoo sprinkle fresh milk, milk wine and other offerings, fire sacrifice is in front of the Ovoo lit dry tree branch pile or cattle, horses and sheep dung, the sacrificer lined up around the fire three times, while reciting their own family name, and then the sacrifices of the whole goat into the fire, the fire burned the more prosperous the better.
This Tengri Ovoo was built in 2016, more than 50 meters in diameter, is the world's largest Ovoo. "Tengri" in Mongolian is the meaning of the everlasting sky, is the god in the hearts of Mongolians, dominates the life of all things, the establishment of the Tengri Ovoo shows the fear of the everlasting sky, thankful for the blessing of the everlasting sky. It is said that the materials of this Ovoo also include sacred stones from the Buerhan Mountain. (Bu'erhan Mountain: Mongolia's sacred mountain, Genghis Khan's dragon place, because of the three times to save Genghis Khan's life and famous at home and abroad, Mongolia's secret history of the year escaped from the hijacking of Temujin had come alone to the Bu'erhan Mountain, the sacred mountain of the nine kneeling and nine bowing ceremony, and promised to be a descendant of the year to pay homage to the sacred mountain)
The prairie is another humanistic landscape is the Golden Horde of Mongolian tribes, where the layout of the recreation of the The layout here reproduces the tent of Genghis Khan during his campaigns. In 1202 A.D., Temujin launched a crusade against the conservative forces of the Mongolian aristocracy, which took place in the area of Huitun Mountain in the valley of the Mozhigrad River, which is why the battle was also called the "Battle of Huitun," in which Temujin feigned defeat to lure the enemy in, and then used a rain of arrows to defeat the enemy and win the battle. The battle consolidated his position as Khan and conquered the eastern part of the Mongolian Plateau, and to celebrate, Temujin erected a golden tent in the beautiful and fertile valley of the Mozhigrad River. Today, there are many movie and television productions about Genghis Khan that were filmed here.
As mentioned above, the Hulunbeier Prairie is the cradle of many ancient northern ethnic minorities, and for a long time, the prairie was not as peaceful as it is now, and the best place to learn the history of the many ethnic groups that sang and played is the Hulunbeier Ethnographic Museum, so the next step is to move to Hailar, where we'll see the history of the Hulunbeier people. We will move to Hailar, to explore the past of Hulunbeier.
(Hailar Genghis Khan Square sculpture)
Hulunbeier is not only the name of the prairie, it is also a prefecture-level city in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Hulunbeier's political, economic and cultural center is the Hailar District, where we will go to Hulunbeier Museum of Nationalities.
Historian Jian Bozan once said: Hulunbeier, the grassland, has always been the historical cradle of the nomadic people, and most of the nomadic people who appeared in China's history - Xianbei people, Khitan people, female Zhenren, and Mongolians - grew up in this cradle.
In fact, this cradle also includes the primitive forests of Daxinganling.? Spring and Autumn and Warring States period, the Daxinganling and Hulunbeier area for the control of the East Hu people, the beginning of the Han Dynasty, the Xiongnu defeated the East Hu, East Hu tribal alliance disintegrated, part of the East Hu people to hide in the Great Xianbei Mountain (i.e., the Daxinganling), it is known as the "Xianbei", at this time, Hulunbeier for the control of Xiongnu, and then Xiongnu westward, the Xianbei people out of the dense forests of the Daxinganling mountains, came to the Hulunbeier Grassland, and the Hulunbeier grasslands. The Hulunbeier grasslands, and then "light house in the Central Plains", the establishment of the Northern Wei Dynasty, unified the north of China, which is the first minority regime in Chinese history.
(Northern Wei Taiwu Emperor Tuoba To sent Li Chuan, the Chinese minister to the ancestral home of the Xianbei ancestor stone room to pay homage to their ancestors)
In the long years to come, the Xianbei people the rest of the Room Wei tribes, Huihe, Turkic, Crafty, as well as the Liao Dynasty of the Khitan, the Jin Dynasty of the Women's True and so on rose and ruled the Hulunbeier, until the twelfth century, the Mongolian ministries in the Hulunbeier quietly rose. In the Genghis Khan's campaign to unify the Mongolian steppe process, in Hulunbeier conducted a number of major decisive battles, eliminated political enemies, and ultimately unified the Mongolian plateau. Since then, the northern steppe was born with the language, region and cultural **** homogeneity of the nation - Mongolia.
(Genghis Khan's golden tent: the Mongolian "palace")
After the death of Yuan, Genghis Khan's children and grandchildren retreated to the Mongolian steppe, and the descendants of Emperor Shundei of the Yuan nomadic Hulunbeier plains, until the subordination of the Jin Dynasty. After the establishment of the Qing Dynasty, living here Ewenke, Daur, Balkhu Mongolia, Oroqen and other ethnic groups composed of eight banners of soldiers to guard the frontier, defense against the invasion of Tsarist Russia.
Qing Yongzheng twelve years (1734), Hulunbeier City was built, the city is located in the present-day Hailaer District, the area of Zhengyang Street (that is, the museum is located in the area), according to historical records, the Hulunbeier City at the time of the boom in business and trade, appeared in the Longtai number, the number of Jinshing and other stores, and the main operation of satin and cloth, the Rui Fu Chang business.
Historically, most of the people living here are forest hunting people and grassland nomads, different from the farming people, their life is more strongly dependent on nature, so the formation of a deep shamanic beliefs.
(Shaman ceremony)
Shaman is the belief of worshiping nature, worshiping all things and phenomena in the natural world, such as heaven, earth, sun, moon, stars, mountains, water, fire, wind, thunder, rain, trees, etc., and people think that these natural existences show life, will, emotion and spirituality, so they worship and ask for help, hoping to eliminate disasters, lowering the amplitude and obtaining blessings, and the sacrifice of the Ao Ou is one of the shamanic ceremonies introduced above. The famous Naadam event on the Mongolian steppe is evolved from the sacrifice of Ovoo.
(Nadam race card)
In addition to the shamanic beliefs, the Lamaism from Tibet has also had a profound impact on this region, foreign Lamaism in the struggle with the shamanism survive and get rapid development.
(Lamaism magic weapon)
Different environments and different beliefs have created different lifestyles, cultures and arts, and the following pictures reflect the life and cultural characteristics of the nomadic people:
(Nomadic life by water and grass)
(Birch bag: birch is a common material for tools)
(Play the horse-head qin, and cattle and goats in nature)
(Play the horse-head qin, and cattle and goats in nature)
(Play the horse-head qin, and cattle and goats*)
(Horse head qin in the nature, and cattle and sheep *** enjoy leisure)
(minority musical instruments)
Ethnic Museum is not far from the Genghis Khan Square, just from the literature of the rise of Mongolia, and then by the way to enjoy the square on the sculpture of Genghis Khan, is very good.
In addition to the square in the center of the horse whip Genghis Khan, there is a group of sculpture on the side of the square, called "levy". Sculpture characters are Genghis Khan, his second brother - the archer Hesaer, known as the "Four Jie" of Bol Hu, Mu Huali, Bol Yu and Chilao Wen, as well as known as the "Four Mastiffs". Speed not Taiwan, the Le contempt, Zhe Bei, Kubi to, they in Genghis Khan united Mongolia wars in the war repeatedly built, is the most outstanding under the banner of Genghis Khan fierce generals.
And in modern times, with the invasion of imperialism, the Central Plains were traumatized, the steppe nation was also bullied, after the fall of the Northeast, Hulunbeier region fell into the jurisdiction of the Japanese pseudo-manchu regime, the World Anti-Fascist War Hailar Memorial Park is a witness to that period of history.
Memorial Park is located in Hailar Railway Workers' New Village in the north, is a 5A war theme park, which was originally the Japanese Hailar Fortress. Hailar Fortress is the Japanese Kwantung Army for the attack on the Soviet Union, in the northeastern border of China set up in the 15 military fortifications in one of the two largest fortresses (the other for the Heilongjiang Province, Dongning Fortress).
On the grass near the parking lot outside the Memorial Park are a number of Soviet T-34 tanks and models of Soviet soldiers, showing the battle scenes of the Soviet Red Army's attack on the Hailar Fortress in those years.
There are also some weapons and vehicles of the era on display:
(Panzerfaust)
(Bacteria car)
The most important feature of the memorial park is the ruins of the Hailaar Fortress, and before you enter the site, you will pass through a museum, which shows the construction process of the Hailaar Fortress, the tragic Battle of Nomonhan between the Soviet Union and Japan, and also records the Japanese Guantanamo Fortress. It shows the construction of Hailar Fortress, the tragic Battle of Nomonhan between the Soviet Union and Japan, and also records the heinous crimes committed by the Japanese Kwantung Army, which massacred Chinese laborers to keep the fortress a secret after its construction was completed.
Into the fortress site before the general will rent a coat, because the depth of up to 20 meters of the underground fortress temperature is very low, I went to the day of the rain, the outside would have been very gloomy, into the fortress more feel the cold. Although the fortress has a medical clinic, cooking room, toilets, offices, weapons depot and other all-inclusive rooms and facilities, but still let a person feel unusually chilly and fear, as if into the biohazard general horror game scene.
Hailar Fortress was built in 1934, completed in 1937, is the Japanese Kwantung Army coerced more than 100,000 Chinese laborers to build, including Ovoot Hill, North Hill, West Hill, East Hill and other positions, after the completion of the Kwantung Army pit killed laborers, in the north of the mountain and Ovoot Hill today between a mass grave, but also lying thousands of Sen Sen white bones.
On August 18, 1945, the Soviet Red Army broke through the Hailar Fortress, and the Japanese unconditionally surrendered ......
On the far side of the tank complex in the Memorial Park in the photo above, you can see the white stupa and the red Buddhist temple, which is another attraction in Hailar, the Two Rivers Sacred Mountain.
Two Rivers refers to Hailar's mother river, the Hailar River and the Yimin River, and Holy Mountain refers to the holy Ovoo Mountain. This place is also known as "one tower and two temples", one tower is located in the Ovoo Mountain set CiJi vajra tower, two temples are located in the hillside of the Darjeeling Temple and Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple.
CiJi vajra tower is a Tibetan-style white tower, by the tower base, tower body, phase wheel and brake top composition, white tower in the distance on the very conspicuous, closer to see is more holy and majestic.
Daljirin Monastery is a Tibetan Buddhist Gelugpa monastery, "Daljirin" means "Prosperity Temple", meaning that the Hulunbeier Grassland prosperity.
(Overlooking Daljirin Temple from the Ciqi Vajra Pagoda)
(Palace of the Heavenly King of Daljirin Temple)
The Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery is a Han Chinese Monastery, which was built in the Qing Dynasty. There is a strong Buddhist atmosphere here, and from time to time you can hear the sound of chanting sutras and Buddhist bells, and your mind is purified in the blue grass and blue sky.
Hailar as the city center is here, the next stop is Zhalainuoer, the home of the mammoth, the above mentioned Hulun Lake is also located here, go with me to see it.
If you have not been to Hulunbeier, the name "Zhalainuoer" may be unfamiliar to you, but "Manchuria" may have heard of, because it has a distinctive ethnic and period characteristics.
And in fact, now under the jurisdiction of Manzhouli Zhalainuoer, more ancient than Manzhouli, more famous in history: "Zhalainuoer" is the Mongolian word, translated into Chinese is "sea like lake", that is, Hulun Lake, that is, this piece of grassland is named after it. In other words, the steppe is named after it, and in the Paleolithic era, 10,000 years ago, the primitive people living in the present-day Manzhouli area were called "Zhalainuoer people", and at the same time (or earlier) there were also the mammoths of the Ice Age, which led to the formation of the The "Zhalainuoer culture" is said to have been created by some of the Zhalainuoer people who crossed the land bridge over the Bering Strait into the Americas, creating an Indian culture!
Since we came to Zhalainuoer, let's go to see "Zhalainuoer" (Hulun Lake) first.
Hulun Lake is located about 20 kilometers south of Zhalainuoer, sandwiched between the right flag of Xinbahu, Xinbahu Left Banner and Zhalainuoer District, the lake circumference of 447 kilometers, is the first big lake in Inner Mongolia, is also China's fourth largest freshwater lake, no wonder the Mongolians call it "sea like a lake".
Hulun Lake in the hinterland of the Hulunbeier prairie is known as the "kidney of the grassland", because it has a very important role in maintaining grassland biodiversity and enriching plant and animal resources.
Hulun Lake is also known as the "Pearl of the Steppe", perhaps with the above mentioned "Hulunbeier" legend: Hulun was snatched in order to please the demon king Mangus, pretended to ask the demon king head of the Pearl, Hulun know a Pearl is a wink of blue water, in order to moisturize the demon king's head, the Pearl is a wink of blue water, in order to moisturize the demon king's head of the Pearl. Hulun know that a pearl is a pool of water, in order to moisturize the prairie was sucked dry by the Devil King, she swallowed the pearl, turned into a Hulun Lake.
(Scenic spot has a sculpture of Hulun holding the pearl)
Many people come to Hulun Lake, may hold not low expectations, but to be honest, the landscape of Hulun Lake is not much more stunning, the sea of grass even the sea of lakes, cloudy so that the lake is a little dark, the shore did not have much bright buildings, just feel in the ordinary lake slipped a circle. The only rainbow umbrella in the center of the lake let people feel some different mood.
(Lake Island)
Perhaps the scenic area also feel lackluster, in the lake decorated with a few groups of sculptures to compensate, although see the "flying", the mood did not fly up.
It's not good, maybe the angle is wrong, the weather is not right, the next day when the weather is clear, in the Mammoth Park to see the bright and colorful Zhalai Nuor.
It is mentioned above that Zhalainuoer is the hometown of the mammoth, so in Zhalainuoer New District built a mammoth park, which was awarded the World Guinness "the largest mammoth sculpture group", there are 87 different forms of mammoth sculpture, very spectacular.
Some of them are baby mammoths playing:
Some of them are mammoths migrating:
Some of them are very large, so they must be mammoth leaders:
Some of them are about the same size, so they must be childhood friends:
In addition to the mammoths, the park also has some very beautiful buildings, for example, the sightseeing tower on the right side of the picture below, and the Children's Museum of Science and Technology.
The observation tower is a European Gothic castle: