Original title: Jiayuguan, a fireworks city in Longshang Gobi

The majestic and proud Jiayuguan Tower

Text/Liu Enyou

Looking at Qilian Snow in the south, leaning against Montenegro in the north, locking the key and throat.

The majestic Great Wall and the ancient Silk Road, like two historical streamers, converge and blend here. The camel bells that Zhang Qianxi went to seem to still reverberate in this land, and the horseshoe of Feng Sheng marching to build a pass is ringing here. The oasis and trading port on the frontier, with its heavy history and various regional cultures, have become the focus of world attention, and the new appearance of the water town of "half city, half city, half city, half lake" has attracted more visitors from all directions.

This is Jiayuguan, which is located in the middle of Hexi Corridor and is known as the "Pearl of Gobi".

Ancient Fireworks City

In the summer of 1981, I came to Jiayuguan.

My home is not far from Guancheng. Every day, I can see the towering Jiayuguan Tower, and it takes me half an hour to walk to the foot of the Great Wall. Whenever the sun goes down, the wheel-like sunset under Qilian Mountain is transparent and bright, like a red-hot iron block, which smudges past lives in Jiayuguan.

Jiayuguan Pass is listed as the first of the top ten passes of the Great Wall in Wan Li in Ming Dynasty, the first pass at the western end of the Great Wall in Ming Dynasty, and the traffic hub of the ancient Silk Road. It was built in the fifth year of Hongwu in Ming Dynasty (AD 1372), and it is the throat of the Hexi Corridor thousands of miles away, with the reputation of "the best pass in the world".

Jiayuguan Tower under the setting sun

In the evening when the setting sun is burning, the vast flaming clouds outline the majestic and proud outline of Guancheng, and Zuo Zongtang personally wrote the solemn words "The First Xiongguan in the World", as if also covered with beautiful red gauze. Looking at the bronze color of the Great Wall, which has been sun-baked by time, many magnificent works left by countless literati in ancient and modern times for Jiayuguan flood into my mind. The most famous one is Lin Zexu's "Feeling of Going out of Jiayuguan": "There is a hundred feet to the west, and Wan Li is recruiting people to be stationed in horseshoes. The flying pavilion is far away from Qin Shuzhi, and the dazzling walls are low and the clouds are low. The Tianshan mountains stand shoulder to shoulder, and the vast sea is fascinating. Who said that the letter was eternal, and when I looked back, I saw only a pill of mud. "

The smoke is everywhere, the flames are blazing, and the clouds are falling in Yun Qi. Later, the world seems to hear the fierce battle and the neighing of horses of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the echo of sheep and caravans of the Ming Dynasty passing through Jiayuguan, the look of Li Bai's "the bright moon lifts from the Mountain of Heaven and in an infinite haze of cloud and sea", and the swaying of Wang Changling's singing of Gobi white grass. Of course, we can also feel the unrestrained and rushing of the river under the beacon tower of Jiayuguan.

Living in Jiayuguan is like walking on the long corridor of time, and you can smell the fireworks of history. You see, the maid in the general's house is rolling long noodles, the cook is adding firewood to the hearth, and the hot air from the pot is filling the city. In this ancient Guancheng, there are incense-filled Guandi Temple, an antique platform for offering sacrifices to the moon, legends of striking rocks with Yan Ming, carrying bricks by goats, and transporting stones on ice roads, a brick for fixing the city, a vigorous and unruly nomadic dance, patrolling soldiers riding on horses and wearing armor, and business travelers coming and going with camels ...

Shi Yun sings

Stone is a hard thing, but it is soft in my eyes, because it is inseparable from Jiayuguan, which can touch my heart the most. 5 million years ago, the Ordovician crustal movement, volcanic eruption and surface uplift, the coast of Qilian Mountain and Jingtieshan, jumped into a mountain range across the north and south, so molten magma erupted and deposited colorful minerals.

Jiayuguan is not only a pass, but also a city. It is a city named after the pass, established by ore and built by enterprises. In 1955, the predecessors of Team 645 of Northwest Geological Bureau went through hardships and found Jingtieshan, a large iron mine with a reserve of more than 5 million tons, in the hinterland of Qilian Mountain. Subsequently, jiuquan iron and steel Company, referred to as JISCO, was established. In July 1965, Jiayuguan City was established in the State Council. At this point, this emerging steel city rose from the Gobi Desert, and people used to call it "steel city".

The Gobi Desert rhymes

Jiayuguan, a city, was actually born from fireworks; Forged molten steel is like flowing silk; And ironmaking fireworks and splashing steel flowers illuminate the sky of Jiayuguan day and night. Workers in Jiuquan Iron and Steel Company smelt iron-bearing ore into furnaces of soft molten iron every day, and then smelt these molten iron into high-quality steel sold at home and abroad, and benefited people along the Silk Road. Jiayuguan people seem to live in a stone tribe.

I often stand in the middle of the Gobi, as if I were in a sea of stones. The steamed bread, cakes, potatoes, radishes, cantaloupes and eggs are round and smooth, just like those polished by machines, and even a drop of water can't be hung. And angular, some well-proportioned, some enchanting, some colorful, in the sunshine to show all kinds of style.

"Steel City" is inseparable from stones. More than 2 mysterious and precious "gobbledygook" rock paintings from the Paleolithic to the Ming Dynasty are engraved on the stones in Jiayuguan Black Mountain, and they left the "history books" on the stones. Therefore, it can be said that the soft Jiayuguan stone bears the history, culture and feelings of Gangcheng people. Therefore, Jiayuguan people like stones. It is very important to go to the Gobi to see the huge stone paving, to see the waves and wash the stones, and to listen to the breeze and wash the stones at the foot of Qilian Mountain ...

The magpies are singing and the peaches are blooming one after another, and the lilacs are blooming in the early spring. peach blossom powder, cherry blossoms are bright and pear blossoms are white. Next, Shili Sophora japonica blooms all over the city.

Secondly, in this heavy industrial city, which mainly produces steel, how can magpies and cuckoos sing so sweetly? In the early morning and evening, the cuckoo always sings tactfully outside the window, and the sound of the magpie everywhere reproduces the scene of the poet Xin Qiji's "the bright moon surprises the magpie, and the breeze sings cicadas in the middle of the night". In fact, streams, wetlands, inlets, islands, lakes and other different forms of water space highlight Jiayuguan's urban characteristics of "water is in the city, the city is at the water's edge" and "you can enjoy the scenery through the window and enjoy the garden when you go out".

Jiayuguan Caohu National Wetland Park

Jiayuguan is a small city, but it has a unique rhythm and rhythm. Today's park has become the residents' back garden, from apricot flowers, pear flowers and peach blossoms to cherry blossoms, cloves, Rosa davurica and peony in the garden, and then to lotus flowers in the pool, which bloom one after another and bloom in waves.

"za! Hey! " Walking in the park or on the road in Jiayuguan, you will always hear a burst of pleasant magpie calls. Looking for fame, the magpies with flower tails in twos and threes jump on the branches not far from the top of your head. Jiayuguan in front of us is a city with many lakes scattered. In the past, people used to call Jiayuguan City Steel City, but now I think another name is more suitable for Jiayuguan City, that is, Lake City!

Jiayuguan East Lake Park

In the courtyard wall on the east side of the sculpture "Pioneer of Steel City", Hongshan Hawthorn leaned over the wall to watch pedestrians come and go; On the crown on the right side of the sculpture, the nest of magpies is getting bigger and bigger, and at dusk, you can hear pairs of flowers and magpies twittering and pulling home. Jiayuguan has seven large-scale ecological parks and more than 2 artificial lakes, with a per capita water area of 27 square meters. Every spring and summer, "fragrance of vegetation in Jiayuguan" is the same feeling of all Jiayuguan people. I have received many foreign friends who came to Jiayuguan, and two things surprised them and shook their hearts:

First of all, Jiayuguan, a Gobi city, can meet the blue water everywhere. Looking around, the blue sky and the lake set each other off like a dream, and "half city, half city, half city, half lake" has become a major landscape of this Gobi city. As long as you walk in here, you will see a sparkling water surface. Walking in the urban and rural areas of Jiayuguan, kale plants are in full bloom in the low temperature of zero, and the square is planted with Youlong Sophora japonica, Youlong juniper, Bubugao juniper, Shouxing peach, climbing cypress and Bi

delicious with the tip of your tongue

When Jiayuguan barbecue is mentioned, memories and emotions are instantly awakened. Here, "a barbecue and a city" are inseparable.

Jiayuguan people have the most say in barbecue. Barbecue has a long history here, and it is also one of the intangible cultural heritages of Jiayuguan. As early as the Wei and Jin Dynasties, there was a diet custom of kebabs here. Archaeologists found many realistic pictures of kebabs on the brick of Wei and Jin Dynasties in Jiayuguan. At this time, I seem to see the fire of kebabs on brick murals in Wei and Jin Dynasties. They are like a tribe by the Caohu Lake. The kebabs on those iron skewers are still the same as they were more than a thousand years ago, fresh and tender, and fragrant.

Jiayuguan barbecue

Jiayuguan barbecue has a very unique taste. Lamb kebabs are made by cutting fresh mutton into diamond-shaped pieces with a thumb, stringing them on an iron skewer, sprinkling seasonings such as Chili powder, pepper powder, star anise powder, ginger powder and refined salt, baking them in a special rectangular oven with fire, constantly turning them over, and sprinkling seasonings at any time. When the surface is crisp and yellow and the meat is cooked, the strong fragrance wafts away, making people salivate.

Jiayuguan barbecue is famous far and wide. It has been on CCTV, including not only kebabs, but also lamb chops, leg of lamb, belly of lamb, hoof of lamb, sheepskin, head of lamb, crisp bones, whole sheep and pit meat. Regardless of spring, summer, autumn and winter, barbecue shops everywhere are full of fireworks, and at dusk, the shops are already full of guests. Especially in the summer evening, about three or five friends, sitting in front of the barbecue shop, a few barbecues, bottles of wine and draft beer, eating meat and drinking in a big bowl, like a fireworks village in the city, is pleasant and quiet.

this spring festival, I called to greet an old friend who lives in the south. He especially missed the mutton in Jiayuguan. On the same day, I bought a freshly slaughtered sheep, packed it and sent it by air. The next day, he enjoyed the delicious food in Jiayuguan happily. At that moment, in a foreign land in the south, he must have felt the northland atmosphere in the depths of Jiayuguan street, especially the smell of passing through history, which was an inexhaustible homesickness.

taste buds are the shortest way to the atrium. The best place to fall in love in Jiayuguan is to take your girlfriend to have a barbecue here. As long as you "feed" your girlfriend's stomach, it's as sure as a gun, and the word "success" is not negotiable.

In addition to barbecue, Jiayuguan also has all kinds of delicious food. For example, stuffed skin with soft tendons, hot and sour fried bean jelly, roasted shell with wheat fragrance, hot and spicy soup, delicious mutton powder soup, etc., are deeply favored by foodies.

in addition to local specialties, there are also foreign cuisines such as Beijing roast duck, Tianjin Goubuli steamed stuffed bun, Shaxian rice noodles in Fujian, stinky tofu in Hunan, kebabs in Xinjiang, spicy hot pot in Sichuan, noodles with minced meat in Qishan, Shaanxi, northeast stew, etc. * * * all of which make the taste of Jiayuguan city fragrant.

"Southern accent to the North"

If there is a dialect in Jiayuguan, it is "Southern accent to the North".

Jiayuguan is a typical immigrant city. In March, 1958, 3, construction workers transferred from Angang Construction Company set up camp in this desert. Therefore, the dialect popular in Jiayuguan in those years was the out-and-out Northeast dialect. Since the construction of Jiugang in 1958, a large number of people have gathered at the foot of Xiongguan from all over the world. These pioneers from Jiayuguan, from all corners of the country, took root in the Gobi desert, and built Jiayuguan, a big nest, like a flock of swallows chirping endlessly and carrying mud. As a result, the dialect popular in Jiayuguan in those years became "Southern accent and Northern accent".

Nevertheless, experts who have studied Jiayuguan local dialect believe that the spoken language of Jiayuguan residents is mainly Mandarin, and the local dialects are mainly manifested in Yuquan, Xincheng and Manjusri, all of which have a nasal endiong with "n" (including en, in, un and ün) and a nasal ending with "ng" (including eng, ing and manjusri).

Lexical aspects, such as:

The dialect "Yi Liao" means "Always, Often, Always", such as "The old man coughed when he got into winter".

the dialect "gan Lian" means "related", such as "this matter has nothing to do with me".

The dialect "Shangshou" means "upper seat, upper seat, upper position", such as "Old people please sit in the first room".

The dialect "burn incense" means "burn incense and respect the gods", such as "burn a wick of incense and respect one's ancestors".

The dialect "main waist" means "clothes, small cotton-padded jacket", such as "It's hot, take off the main waist quickly".

The dialect "Le Wo", also called Yao Wo, refers to the armpit on the chest side, such as "It hurts in Le Wo".

In the "Southern Dialect to North Tune" where dialects from all over the country converge, there is a "Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival" of Jiayuguan's social life and a barometer of people's joys and sorrows. If you open it, you will find it full of Vientiane life and lights.

in the early 198s, I moved into Jiayuguan with the troops, and ten years later I switched jobs from the army and chose Jiayuguan to settle down. What immigration brings is the integration of all aspects and the collision of sparks of wisdom. When I walked into the vegetable market, I saw people from Henan who sell beef, mutton and pork, people from Hubei who sell tofu, people from Sichuan who deal in various seasonings, and people from Shaanxi who make stuffed skins ... They talked happily in their respective dialects, and I blinked, but I couldn't understand many words. But when I approached to buy things, they immediately changed their roles and communicated with me in Mandarin, which made me laugh.

In the corner of this city's gentle silk house, on the side porch of quiet furniture store and in the fragrant flower shop, you can see the beautiful women in the south of the Yangtze River. No matter how you ask about the quality of the goods in the store, they are always so gentle and delicate. They bring the soft words of Wu Nong to Jiayuguan, which makes this rough land seep into the warmth and beauty like a gentle breeze and drizzle, and also string together the birds and flowers all year round with all kinds of customs.