Du Xinxin.
one
Jordan's Highway 35 is nearly 300 kilometers long. For the millennium before its birth, the road connected the three ancient kingdoms of Ammon, Edom, and Moab. The names of these three countries come from their kings, hence the road also known as the King's Highway.
According to the Old Testament story, the ancestor of the Edomites was Esau, and the ancestor of the Israelites was Jacob. Esau and Jacob were twin brothers, their father was Isaac, and Isaac was the son of Abraham. Because Jacob used a trick to obtain the birthright that should have belonged to Esau, the twin brothers formed a feud. When Moses left Egypt, he was supposed to walk from Edom to the west shore of the Dead Sea and then north to Canaan, the Promised Land, but the Edomites did not allow him to go that way. Moses had no choice but to lead his people eastward through the land of Moab to Mount Nebo.
More than 2,000 years later, the King's Highway connects Jordan's most important tourist destinations: the Roman ruins of Jerash in the north, Mount Nebo, the mosaic cities of Madaba, the Crusader castles of Karak and Shobak, the most famous ancient city of Petra, Wadirum in the desert, and the port of Aqaba in the south.
Since leaving Madaba, olive trees have been lost along the King's Highway. With the green completely gone, there were few people on both sides of the road, and it was a long time before a single house appeared. The flat-roofed houses and water tanks highlight the dryness of the desert, and I've seen them in remote areas of third world countries, only to learn that they are used in five-star hotels in the capital, Amman, when I arrived in Jordan. Waleed, the tour guide, said: "Jordan is the third most water-scarce country in the world. My family's water truck comes once a week and delivers 1,000 litres of water each time. "Is 1,000 liters enough?" "Generally, it's enough, but if it's not enough, you have to spend ** to buy water, because the waterwheel won't go out for one or two families." ”
As we drove past Shobak, we stopped and looked at the ancient city built in 1000 AD. After Shobak, the car continued southwest. Leaving the main road, turn onto a trail and a sign for "Wadi Rum Nature Reserve" appears ahead. "Wadi" means valley, while "Ram" is derived from a vanished city in the Qur'an. The desert is endless, only the sound of the wind. Wadi Rum is commonly known as the Valley of the Moon, and perhaps at night, the wind will be still in the moonlight?
A black mountain range appeared on the reddish-brown horizon. When I got closer, I realized that there was a mountain outside the mountain. These mountains are not very tall, but there are steep peaks hidden behind them. At the gate of Wadi Rum National Park, there stood a man with a standing collar cut on his new robe, which looked a bit like a robe from the Chinese ** era. "That's the Bedouins, and they manage the 7,400 hectares of land," Waleed said. ”
Originating from the deserts of Syria and Arabia, the Bedouins moved from the Arabian Peninsula to present-day Jordan in the 14th and 18th centuries, and now live mostly in the vast wasteland that stretches eastward from the King's Highway. In addition to the tribes close to the tourist resorts, the Bedouins still live by herding.
We sat in several pickup trucks and headed for the rocky mountains deep in the desert. The truck ploughed a long rut and ran over a clump of withered plants. I have lived for many years on the edge of the Gobi desert and know about these plants, which seem lifeless, but whose seeds can patiently wait for decades and still sprout when the time is right. In this thorny highland desert, only camels are like fish in water. They eat drought-tolerant plants and can go five days without water.
Ahead, the rocky mountains thrown at will by the Creator divide the desert, and the canyons crisscross it. This black sandstone mountain range is almost vertical, and there is not a single grass on the mountain wall, only the hideous carved by the wind sword and frost sword. As far as the eye can see, the sand and dust lift a thin curtain, and the distant mountains behind the curtain are mysterious and weird. This land not only has the colors of the desert, the openness and tranquility, but also the strangeness of the surface of an imaginary planet. Since the filming of Lawrence of Arabia in 1962, it has become a long-established Hollywood location and has been used for many sci-fi blockbusters such as "Star Wars".
The stone mountain in front of him stands on top of the peaks, quite like the king of the mountain. When I got closer, I saw the huge rock pillar on the mountain wall. The car circled around the rocky mountain, and Waleed was saying something, but his words were swallowed up by the wind. He also exclaimed, "This mountain is the seven pillars of wisdom." I asked, "That's T."e.Is Lawrence's Seven Pillars of Wisdom? Waleed smiled, "Maybe." ”
After driving into the rocky mountain, I saw a Bedouin camp built close to the cliff. In front of the camp there is a large piece of red sandstone with the head of Lawrence carved into it. The image is small, crudely carved and easy to ignore. Waleed said that when Lawrence participated in the Arab uprising, he set up camp here, the red sandstone is the symbol. In The Seven Pillars of Wisdom, Lawrence also mentions Wadi Rum. While the encampment here doesn't have to be taken too seriously, Lawrence does add a lot of stories to the story.
II. II. II
t.e.Lawrence is known as the "Lawrence of Arabia" and is the main character in the film Lawrence of Arabia. The Englishman followed his Oxford mentor to northern Syria in 1910 and a few years later became an intelligence officer for the British army in the Middle East. At that time, his region was still under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, while Egypt was under British rule.
Before World War I, the Ottoman Empire could not withstand the impact of the industrial revolution in Europe, and was already in internal and external difficulties. ** and the newly rising Balkan states went to war with the empire, and the Armenians at home, the Arab nationalists also expected more autonomy.
The early Arab independence movement clearly put forward the demand for independence, and the participants and organizers were mainly high-ranking officers and intellectual elites of the Ottoman Empire. After those people were brutally suppressed, Sharif Hussein of the Hejaz became a major force in the independence movement.
Sharif Hussein is the great ancestor of the current King of Jordan, Abdul Hussein, whose family is a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad, who ruled Mecca for hundreds of years, and Sharif is the honorific title for the Sunni saints. At that time, the Hejaz, where Mecca was located, was one of the most isolated and impoverished regions of the Ottoman Empire, and lived mainly on pilgrimage income. Before 1860, the King's Highway was the only pilgrimage route between the north and Mecca, and it took 150 days to reach the Holy Land from Syria! The pilgrimage route is long and fraught with danger, and pilgrims must not only bring enough food and water, but also guard against Bedouin robbery. In 1757, the Bedouins attacked a pilgrimage caravan returning to Damascus from Mecca. Despite the protection of the Ottoman army, the attack killed 20,000 pilgrims. After the construction of the Han-Zhuhai railway, the pilgrimage route was relatively easy, but Sharif Hussein prevented the construction of the section between Medina and Mecca on the grounds that the railway would cost Bedouin camel herds their livelihoods**.
In October 1914, the Ottoman Empire declared its side of the Allies to enter the war. Britain, on the side of the Entente, was in dire need of an army to protect its flanks, but was unable to send troops due to the deep end of World War I. For Britain, the Arab independence movement was undoubtedly a valuable resource against the Ottoman Empire. Although the Turks also sought Hussein's support, they had long distrusted the Arabs and feared Hussein's influence. Constantinople not only kept him under house arrest for more than a decade, but also planned to harm him.
Through contact with the early Arab independence movements, Sharif Hussein acquired independent ideas and programs. In 1915, Hussein made the terms of an alliance with the British: as the representative of all Arabs, he demanded Arab independence and hoped that Britain would clearly define Arab territory. British negotiator McMahon replied that he supported the cause of Arab independence, but refused to discuss the specific division of territory. Their negotiations lasted more than a year through letters before an agreement was reached.
The Arab uprising began in June 1916, but after several successes it reached a stalemate. When the rebels were at risk of the Ottoman army retaking Mecca, Lawrence was sent to the Hejaz, where he interviewed Sharif Hussein's sons, Abdullah and Faisal, and finally decided that Faisal would lead the uprising. Over the next two years, Lawrence witnessed and participated in some of the key events in the birth of the modern Middle East.
I walked past the statue of Lawrence and came to the shed. The room was surrounded by blankets, as well as on the floor and benches. We sat down to drink tea, and the Bedouins shook in front of everyone with smoking incense, which was to exorcise the demons of guests from afar. They also tied Arab headscarves for us and painted eyeliner for girls. The Bedouin eyeliner is particularly exaggerated, very similar to the style of the Egyptian pharaohs.
Waleed said, "It's a permanent camp, and I just noticed that the stools are all on stone. The sun was shining outside, but it was cold inside. Everything here is very basic, but it's better than Lawrence's tent. How could an Englishman who grew up in the Emerald Isle and went through the industrial revolution endure the harsh climate and scarcity of life here?
Lawrence was born and raised in the Victorian era. His father was an Irish nobleman who could have been pampered, but had to give up his title of nobility due to an affair with a nanny, who was Lawrence's mother. The lovers went incognito and moved frequently. Later, in order to give their children a good education, they moved to Oxford. When he arrived in Oxford, Lawrence's family became even more closed for fear of being recognized by acquaintances.
At that time, the administrators of the British Empire were mostly from the middle class. As soon as a middle-class son is born, parents understand that their child will most likely go to some distant colony. In family life, it is not uncommon for parents to try to restrain their emotions and try to cultivate the hard work spirit of their children. However, the Lawrence brothers were illegitimate children, and social pressures created a more harsh family atmosphere. Their mother often whipped her children, and Lawrence's stubbornness led to even more lashes, and even his father couldn't stand it. In his early adolescence, Lawrence was very quiet and reserved. He loves to read and constantly test his endurance limits. Because of these unique personalities, he not only quickly adapted to the harshness of the desert, but also was willing to do so.
Outside the tent, a few camel grasses grew under the roots of the mountain, and a small purple flower crept on the sand, apparently there was a spring here. Lawrence once described his encounter with the spring, "where above the rock protrusion there is a clear Nabataean inscription, and a stone slab engraved with monograms or symbols." There are Arab scratches everywhere ,...... aroundBut my attention was focused on the water splashing in the cracks in the shadow of the overhanging rock. He also wrote: "Deserts are generally regarded as barren land, and whoever wants them can own them." In fact, every mountain and valley has its own owner, and no one else can invade it. The desert is considered a common property, and nature and everything in it are free for every friendly acquaintance to take what he needs, but not to be transgressed. “
In his dealings with the Arabs, Lawrence developed feelings for the Arabs. Some scholars who study Lawrence believe that he was in a romantic relationship with an Arab boy. Out of affection for the Arabs and his determination to defeat the Ottoman Empire, Lawrence, who had no combat experience, participated in the Arab battles from birth to death, and even risked treason to reveal the secret treaty between Britain and France to Faisal.
In addition to playing an important role in strategy and liaison with the British, Lawrence also planned and led the capture of the port of Aqaba in the Red Sea. The battle became a turning point in the Arab uprising. It effectively hindered the movement of the Ottoman army and ultimately helped the Entente defeat the Ottoman Empire. At that time, Lawrence's role had changed from the British Empire's leading man in the Middle East to an Arab national hero. It can be said that without him, the Bedouin guerrillas, known for their lack of organization and undiscipline, would basically not have been able to win.
Although the Arab uprising was victorious, the Anglo-French Sykes-Pickett Agreement privately divided the territory claimed by the future Arab kingdom, and McMahon's promise was greatly undermined. Sharif Hussein not only failed to become the leader of the Arab world, but in 1924 Ibn Saud took Mecca, and the Hejaz region now belongs to Saudi Arabia. The British had promised Faisal the king of Greater Syria (including Lebanon and Palestine), but at the Paris Peace Conference, Syria and Lebanon became French mandates, while Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq) and Palestine came under British jurisdiction. After the peace meeting, Faisal refused to escrow. France attacked Syria, and Faisal was forced into exile.
After Churchill's return in 1920, Lawrence was invited to assist in the formulation of Middle East policy. At the Cairo Conference, Britain decided to hand over Mesopotamia and present-day Jordan to Faisal and Faisal's brother Abdullah. Faisal became king of Iraq, and Abdullah ruled Jordan. In 1958, a military coup d'état took place in Iraq, killing Faisal's successor. Faisal has no queen, and Iraq has no king.
The Anglo-French conflict of World War I laid the foundation for the modern Middle East and destroyed Lawrence's ideals of fighting for the independence of the Arab nation. He felt both guilty of deceiving the Arabs and ashamed of his homeland. Disheartened, he returned to England and refused the title of knight. After completing his memoir "The Seven Pillars of Wisdom", he joined the army again incognito. For the next ten years, Lawrence held a low-ranking position in the military and lived an almost hermit-like life. In May 1935, Lawrence rode his motorcycle to run errands when it overturned to avoid a boy riding on the side of the road. On May 19, Lawrence died of serious injuries at the age of 46.
Three
We rode our camels in the desert. The camel is the favorite animal of the Bedouins and a symbol of male pride. Camel racing is an important sport for the Bedouins. At the time of the Arab uprising, the British army also formed camel cavalry units.
Although these dromedaries are accustomed to tourists, they also have tempers. When a person is hunched on his back, he will roar when he stands up. When they arrived at their destination, they were eager to quickly unload their burdens and suddenly lay down. I voluntarily fell forward, and if it wasn't for the Bedouins, I would probably have fallen to the ground.
Before lunch, the Bedouins showed how to cook in a pot in the desert. It was a deep iron bucket with carbon at the bottom. Then put the iron rack containing the meat, vegetables, and rice pot into the iron bucket, and cover it with tin foil and a thick iron plate. The whole bucket is buried in the sand and simmered for three hours. This dish is called upsidedown.
In places with abundant water, such meals are commonplace, but in the desert they are delicious. Eighty per cent of Jordan's land area is desert, and only the Jordan River basin is agricultural. The country is not self-sufficient in food and does not have oil, and is mainly dependent on imports. The country's foreign exchange earnings come mainly from labor exports, tourism, fertilizer exports, and foreign aid. The United States, the European Union, and Saudi Arabia are the main foreign aid countries. The largest non-governmental aid came from Swedish furniture manufacturer IKEA.
Since its founding, Jordan has been at the forefront of the Israeli-Arab conflict. These conflicts led to the assassination of Abdullah, the founder of the kingdom, and the death of his grandson, King Hussein. For decades, various conflicts in the Middle East have led to the emergence of large numbers of refugees in Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and other places. Although it is not easy to feed itself, Jordan hosts 760,000 refugees, making it the second highest per capita refugee rate in the world. In Lebanon and Syria, Palestinian refugees could not acquire nationality, but Jordan could, and the second generation of Palestine refugees was said to be doing well.
The Israelites said they were surrounded by enemies, while the Jordanians said they were surrounded by friends. But Jordan's refugee crisis was in the news at times, most severely in the 1970 civil war known as the "Black September." The perpetrator was the PLO, which arrived as a refugee in 1967. After the start of the war, only Egypt was on the side of Jordan in the Arab world, and Syria and Iraq even sent troops to support the PLO. The war lasted for almost a year, and the Kingdom of Jordan finally passed its darkest days. In 1971, King Hussein allowed the surrendered PLO to leave Jordan. That organization went to Lebanon and later plagued Lebanon. In the current Kazakh-Israeli conflict, both Jordan and Egypt have refused to host Palestinian refugees.
We left Wadi Rum and headed north to the capital city of Amman. I thought Amman was also a desert, but I didn't expect it to be a Mediterranean climate. It's no wonder that half of Jordan's 10 million people live here. When the Hejaz Railway was established in 1904, Amman was just a small village, and today it is divided into an old city and a new town. The new town does not look much different from the western cities, and the very crowded old town still retains some of the Roman-era buildings. The next day, we visited Jerash, the best-preserved Roman site in the Middle East. St. Peter's Square in the Vatican is a copy of Jerash, and Amman, like Rome, was built on seven hills.
Recorded in April 2023. The author's main works are "The Ganges: From This Life to the Next Life", "This Goes to Thousands of Rivers and Mountains"; He is the author of "Essays on the Andes", Hunan Science and Technology Publishing House).