What does the Sichuan-Tibet line mean? Many people will care about its distance, it is far enough, so there will be poetry; many people will care about its strangeness, it has nothing to do with your daily life, so there will be stories; I don’t know if anyone cares about it It’s long enough that I don’t know where to start.
Distant flowers, distant clouds and distant sunset
From Litang to Xingyicuo, we left National Highway 318, and all we saw were the gravel relics left by the migration of Quaternary glaciers 2 million years ago. The glaciers moved the gravel here and polished it away with meltwater. The low vegetation grows tenaciously, sharing the quiet time with the stones.
Under the action of glacier movement
These stones from unknown places in the distant past
stay where we are looking now
The relationship between glacier movement and each of us is actually very close. Over the years, we have been paying attention to global warming and the melting of glaciers as a major factor threatening human development. In the long geological time, the movement, melting and re-formation of glaciers have indeed had a major impact on the birth, migration and extinction of the human species.
The time we can record is, after all, a drop in the ocean
A popular view is that the violent glacier movement 2 million years ago led to major changes in the living environment of the ancient apes. When a large number of species became extinct, the ancient apes had to leave the bushes and walk on the ground in order to seek new food. The ancestors of human beings were born from this group of tenacious ancient apes. In the next 2 million years, the disappearance and reappearance of glaciers led to the demise of many human settlements scattered around the world, and also provided new space for subsequent human migration. About 10,000 years ago, the last ice age ended, and a large amount of glacial meltwater caused global floods, which gave birth to legends such as “Noah’s Ark” and moistened the vast land. Human beings are about to enter a new era of farming .
Forced by the power of glacier movement
Our ancestors had to come to the ground
Digging from the root of human civilization
Maybe it’s just a derivative of a geological event
From Sumerian Civilization to Mayan Civilization
From Christian Civilization to Chinese Civilization
Both recorded the memory of the Great Flood
These memories may be fragments of the story left at the end of the Ice Age 10,000 years ago
On the way from Litang to Xingyicuo, I stared at the stones standing here for 2 million years in a daze, and was overwhelmed by the long time scale. Fortunately, a few groundhogs pulled me back in time. Like other animals on the grassland, they ignored our convoy and actively engaged in meaningless sports such as fighting, howling and screaming. The herdsmen lie on the grass and bask in the sun, allowing the cattle and horses to wander freely, which is quite a taste that all living beings are equal and do not owe each other.
today you ignore me
Tomorrow… I won’t be here tomorrow
Yes, even though we are just time passers-by for glaciers and stones, this time is so short that it is enough for us to see, feel, and occasionally, have the freedom and joy like a groundhog.
Solemnly declare: Groundhogs (marmots) can’t bark at all
The road to Xingyicuo is not easy to walk due to the influence of the natural environment. The gravel road was full of potholes and bumps, but our custom car had no trouble coping with the obstacles and took us to our destination without a hitch. In Tibetan, Cuo means lake. Xingyicuo is the largest lake in Haizi Mountain, and it is also a holy lake in the eyes of local people. There are not many tourists here, the sky is clear, the lake is blue, the water surface is open, and it is in line with the distant mountain ridges and white clouds. Some people who have been to Xingyicuo exclaimed that this place is the plateau version of “Maldives”.
Poor road conditions dissuade many self-driving tourists
But this kind of crossing is a normal play for off-road tribes.
Xingyicuo is the main source of Daocheng River
Dinosaur tooth fossils are said to have been found near the lake
The next day, we left Litang, crossed the Maoya prairie, and followed the valley of a tributary of the Jinsha River to Batang. After a few days of lack of oxygen on the plateau, I suddenly came to Batang, which is more than 2,500 meters above sea level, and the whole person entered a state of drunken oxygen. Compared with its relatives in Xingyizuo, the groundhog on the roadside was more noisy, spinning and jumping with eyes closed, as if pressing the fast forward button.
All the way along the valley of a tributary of the Jinsha River to Batang
Another tourist who has a strong interest in off-road tribe custom cars
as long as i run fast enough
the camera can’t catch me
As the altitude drops, the oxygen content rises, and the human brain becomes more active. Batang is adjacent to Yunnan and Tibet, but it is known as “the south of the plateau”, so the corresponding artistic accomplishment is naturally indispensable. This is the hometown of the Tibetan folk song “Xianzi” – Batang (Garze), which was the seat of the White Wolf Kingdom in the Eastern Han Dynasty. It is said that Xianzi is the remains of the ritual song and dance “White Wolf Song” of the White Wolf Kingdom.
Jiangnan on the plateau, the hometown of Xianzi – Batang
Pay attention to where the sentence is broken, my friends
With Xianzi, there will naturally be Xianzi Dance, which is also the favorite activity of Tibetan compatriots to participate in festivals and gatherings. But we arrived in Batang too early, the sun was hanging in the sky, very vicious. It wasn’t until the sun went down that the enthusiastic Tibetan aunts appeared in the editor’s field of vision. The square dance on the plateau is very different from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. There is no organization here, and people who arrive here scattered join the dancing team with their temper. At the beginning, it was not very well-formed, but then there were half a lap, one lap, and finally several laps with people dancing together.
Although everyone is not uniformly dressed, their understanding of dance is absolutely consistent. Stepping on the steps, advancing, pausing, turning in circles, shaking hands, and maintaining formation are almost basic survival skills that do not require reminders and advice from others. Moreover, there are quite a few uncles in the circle, which is completely different from the situation in which the aunts are in power in the square dance in the mainland. Dance as you want, love whoever you want, the editor once again envies the people living here by real name.
That’s all for now. Tomorrow, the cross-country tribal line survey team will cross the Jinsha River, leave Ganzi, Sichuan, and officially enter Tibet. There are still many unknown joys waiting for us ahead, and I will tell you the names of these joys in detail after the experience.
Let’s make another appearance, the editor who has successfully “tanned” on the plateau
