Impressions of Togo. excerpt).
Dongxiang Autonomous County is a place inhabited by the Dongxiang ethnic group, located in the central part of Gansu Province and the eastern part of Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture. It is adjacent to Tao River and Dingxi area in the east, Guanghe River and Hezheng County in the south, Daxia River and Linxia City and Linxia County in the west, and Yongjing County across the Yellow River in the north. The whole territory is square and circular, surrounded by water on all sides, there is no water in the territory, the middle is prominent, and it is slightly "convex". The mountains in the territory are undulating, the ravines are vertical and horizontal, the traffic is inconvenient, and the information is blocked. Six mountain beams are sandwiched between six ravines, with the county seat Suonan Dam as the center, and more than a dozen vertical and horizontal branch ridges and their branch ditches radiate out in the form of an umbrella.
The picture below is better in landscape mode**).
The terrain is peculiarDongxiang is an ancient and magical land. There are endless loess hills, mountains and terraced fields that go straight into the sky, Tang Wangchuan, the famous "first village of apricot blossoms in Longshang" in the northwest, the charming scenery of the Mercedes-Benz ditch reservoir area, the beautiful Danxia wonders, the unusually rich paleontological fossil remains, and the ...... of the cultural relics of the Majiayao of the Linjia family 5,000 years ago
The four seasons of Dongxiang can be summarized as: long winter, short summer, late spring and early autumn. The four seasons are basically distinct. The topography of Dongxiang: "Horizontally, it looks like a peak on the side of the ridge, and the height is different from far and near. "Togo is a meeting place in the mountains, a place for crushes in the ravines. Dongxiang is known as "the mountain is high and there is no top, and the ditch is deep and there is no bottom". The mountains of Dongxiang: the mountains are large, the mountains are many, the mountains are broken, and the mountains are high; The ditch of Dongxiang: many ditches, small ditches, narrow ditches, and deep ditches.
Longzhong is bitter and barren in the world, and Dongxiang is bitter and barren in Longzhong. "Dongxiang Autonomous County is a state-level deep poverty county, a key poverty-stricken county supported by the province, and a typical poverty-stricken county in the province and even the whole country. In some places, there is a saying that "a sparrow dies and a snake rolls to death". "You can talk across the ditch, shake hands and walk for a long time" is a true portrayal of the typical landform of the broken loess gullies in Dongxiang.
More than 300,000 sons and daughters of all ethnic groups in Dongxiang live with great difficulty in 1,510 square kilometers of harsh lofty mountains, ravines and ravines that "basically cannot survive for human beings", and the county's topography is distributed in 1,750 beams and 3,083 ravines of different sizes. The fragmentation of the terrain, the fragility of the ecology, and the hardships of survival are all imaginable and self-evident.
Dongxiang Autonomous County has a long history and splendid culture, and is a hot land with deep national cultural accumulation. There are about 15,000 years ago in the Paleolithic cultural site of the Wang family in Suonan Town; There are relics such as Hozigou, Hongji Bridge and Gudu, which used to be the necessary place for the southern route of the ancient Silk Road; There are more than 5,000 years ago in Dongyuan Township Linjia "Majiayao Culture" site, unearthed so far the earliest copper knife, can be called "China's first knife"; There are the famous paleontological fossil sites of Longdan, Zhao's hometown; It is an important passage of the ancient Silk Road in China; There is a national first-class cultural relic, the thousand-year-old cowhide "Koran".
There are the well-known Dongxiang "hand-grasped mutton", mellow and delicious Tangwang apricots, high-quality Dahongpao peppercorns and potatoes; There are more industrious and brave Dongxiang people who have lived here for generations. About 15,000 years ago, the Paleolithic cultural site of Wangjia in Suonan Town, is the only Paleolithic cultural site found in the Hehuang area so far, the discovery of the site will really advance the human history of Linxia area by 10,000 years, unveil the mystery of ancient human life, and fully illustrate that Dongxiang area is one of the main birthplaces of ancient culture of the Chinese nation.
Each ethnic group has its own traditional customs, and marriage customs are often the most distinctive traditional customs. The marriage customs of the Dongxiang people are rich in their own national characteristics. The man's family first invites the matchmaker (called "finding red" in Dongxiang language) to the woman's house to propose marriage, and after the woman's family agrees, the man can send "order tea". After that, the formal engagement formalities can be carried out at a later time, which is called "Mohelkuhe" (bride price).
At that time, the man's uncle, matchmaker, groom and best man will bring the bride price to the woman's house. There are two kinds of bride price: one is tea, rock sugar, longan, grapes and other "four color gifts"; One is the clothes, cash, earrings, bracelets, etc., which have been approved in advance by the matchmaker, and the bride price is also given to the woman's relatives "family members" (i.e., "family"). The man's bride price is sent to the woman's home, and the woman's family immediately sends the man's gift to the family's home. In the presence of the woman's parents, uncles, and several members of the "family family" fathers, a banquet ceremony was held. The elders of the family or an eloquent elder will give a speech praising the happiness of marriage, telling the story of local customs and related righteousness, and the guests of honor will stand and listen. After speaking, the woman's uncle is responsible for beckoning the guests to the kang to enter the table.
On the day of the wedding, the Dongxiang people also have the custom of singing "Harry" (a wedding song). When the bride arrives at the groom's house, the bride is carried into the cave by the brother who sent her to the bride. Friends and family gathered to sing "Harry" in celebration. One of the guests takes the lead in calling "Harry", and everyone agrees with him, clapping his hands or clapping his arms to the beat, and his legs are bent into a riding horse and rotated from side to side. The lyrics are improvised by the guests, and most of the content is praise for the handsomeness of the groom, the beauty of the bride, the love of husband and wife, and the eternal separation. At the climax of the wedding, people also playfully smear pot ink on the faces of the groom's father or uncle, make them wear sheepskin jackets, wear bells around their waists, wear hats on their heads, and symbolically tie their hands and feet, or make them ride on donkeys upside down to "appear", which is called "playing in-laws".
On the night of the cave house, there is also the custom of "Changgong Tanglie" (i.e., "listening to the window"), that is, the young men around the village gather around the bride and groom to ask for walnuts and dates, in order to bless them to live in harmony and give birth to a noble son early. At the same time, it is necessary to make a room to "smash the pillow", the frolicking young men hold the pillows that have been prepared, and gently smash them towards the bride on the kang corner, and the women who guard the bride form a line of defense, smashing the pillow that has been smashed over, everyone laughs and shouts, and the scene is very lively. This custom is known as "al-khaleme". Subsequently, the girlfriends lifted the bride's scarf to "appear" to everyone, and opened the cage to show the precious dowry. At this point, in the dead of night, the bride and groom entered the dream of flowers and candles in the cave room.
The custom of "eating chicken" is especially the Dongxiang people who live on the Loess Plateau in the northwest, and have won people's praise for their hospitable and simple folk customs, especially the ancient and unique chicken-eating customs of the Dongxiang people, which are unique and amazing. As soon as the guest arrives at home, the host immediately asks the imam to slaughter the chicken, the newly slaughtered chicken should be plucked while it is hot, and the impurity will be burned with firewood, and a small pimple protruding from the tail bone of the chicken (commonly known as "chicken warp") will be cut off, and the Dongxiang people call it "foreign object", and then stew the chicken in a pot under cold water. The stewed chicken is never served whole, but is chopped into thirteen pieces, namely two thighs, two crotch, two chicken breasts, two calves, two crutches, two wings, and finally a chicken tip, that is, the tail of the chicken with the "foreign object" removed. This is the most noble piece of meat that Dongxiang people regard.
When a plate full of hot chicken is served, the host will use a pair of special chopsticks to match the identity of each guest, depending on the identity, age, seniority and kinship of the guests. Whoever eats the tip of the chicken is the guest at the host's table, and the sumptuous delicacies are mainly prepared for his visit. Guests will be honored and proud to be respected by their hosts, and they will be happy and satisfied that their hospitality has been recognized by their guests.
"Pinggang" is very lively, "eating Pinggang" is a way for Dongxiang people to raise funds for dinner in the form of "AA system", and it is also a party and national food culture with national characteristics. The people who join the "Eat Flat" send out invitations in advance, gather the participants, and then according to the number of participants, generally 8 to 15 people set shares, agree on the date of "Eat Flat", and pull the "standing sheep" that have been fed or booked to the shareholders' homes, and the shareholders are generally the initiators of the "Eat Flats" or a representative elected by the people. First ask a respected person to slaughter the sheep, then quickly peel the skin, then wash and chop the heart, liver and lungs of the sheep, mix with chopped green onions, sesame oil, oil, sprinkle with a little flour, stir well, divide into several portions and put them in a small bowl, and then put them in a steamer to steam, which is called "hair".
The steaming and fragrant hair is poured on the boiling broth, sprinkled with green green garlic seedlings, and the fragrant oil fragrance is leisurely scraped with fine porcelain gaiwan tea, thus kicking off the prelude to "eating flat guys". I also put a fingernail-sized dough sheet in the broth with oil splashes, scoop it into a bowl and sprinkle coriander, and add balsamic vinegar and oil to pour spicy seeds, which is very delicious, and you can eat as many bowls as you want. Then unload the boiled lamb that is still steaming into seven large pieces, and chop each piece into several small portions according to the number of people, one per person. Each "flat guy" has seven parts: the front piece, the back piece, the ribs, the chest fork, the sheep's back, the neck, and the tail. With fewer shares, the meat will be chopped larger. The meat is chopped into portions and served on a plate or in a food bag. You can eat it on the spot, or take it home to share with your family.
Hand grasp "never get tired of eating" as early as before and after the Northern and Southern Dynasties, "Caodi sheep" is the emperor's tribute, known as "Caohan red pith lamb". Later, it was called "Togo Hand Grasp" because it could be eaten directly with your hands after cooking. The strong, frank and bold Dongxiang people have always been delicious "hand-grasping" mutton, forming the strong and strong physique and wisdom and bold temperament of the Dongxiang people. This kind of sheep pays attention to the selection of well-fed, fat and tender local sheep, especially mountain goats.
Dongxiang hand grasp" is famous for its unique national flavor and traditional characteristics, its meat is fresh and tender, the meat fat content is moderate, fat but not greasy, delicious and delicious, it is a good nourishing product for the elderly; Rich in essential amino acids, proteins, minerals and vitamins, it is a delicacy of the Dongxiang people to receive distinguished guests. Dongxiang people do "hand grasping", pay attention to slaughtering, cooking, and serving on the table. It is best not to let the raw mutton stay overnight to eat "hand grasping", because the mutton in the pot on the same day tastes extraordinarily delicious, fragrant and delicious, and everyone who tastes it praises it.
Rich in tourism resources, Dongxiang has many tourism resources and rich cultural relics. Located in Linjia Village, Dongyuan Township, the national key cultural relics protection unit Linjia Ruins, for the early, middle and late cultural relics of the Majiayao type, a bronze knife of its ** soil, known as "China's first knife", is the earliest bronze found in China so far, its age is about 5,000 years ago, this discovery will also advance the history of Chinese bronze smelting for a full thousand years, with the pioneering significance of bronze smelting use.
The picture below is better in landscape mode**).
Located in Wangjia Village, Suonan Town, the site of Xiawangjia, is the cultural remains of the late Paleolithic period, the discovery of two scrapers and a stone tool, for the study of the history of the Paleolithic in the northwest region provides the main physical basis, 15,000 years of history, its discovery fills the gap in Linxia Prefecture without the history and culture of the Paleolithic. Preserved in Pingzhuang Township Han Zeling Collection Museum of the millennium cowhide cover "Quran", belongs to the national first-class cultural relics, according to the research and research of experts at home and abroad has a history of more than 1,000 years, belongs to one of the earliest manuscripts of the Koran introduced into China, is the cultural treasure of Dongxiang, but also the witness of the long history of the Dongxiang people.
The paleontological fossils in Dongxiang are abundant, varied, and well-preserved, especially the fossils of saber-toothed tigers, shovel-toothed elephants, three-toed horses, and monkey skulls exposed in the Sanjia and Longdan Mountains of Nale Temple and Longdan Mountain are the best, which are of great research and ornamental value. Qiu Zhanxiang, director of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, wrote a monograph on the study of paleozoological fossils in Longdan Mountain, Dongxiang, which was used as a textbook for university archaeology majors. The brick carving of the north of the arch of Yihachi in Suonan Town, the carving is meticulous, the craftsmanship is exquisite, and the value is very high. The "Water Curtain Cave" in the South Mountain of Guoyuan Village, Guoyuan Town, is a good place for leisure and tourism with dripping water in winter and summer, gurgling water, picturesque scenery, and is also a good place for leisure tourism. Located in the lower reaches of the Daxia River, Dongyuan Township Dongyuan Village, Linjia Village north of the Leaking Lake Gorge (also known as Lagoon Gorge), deeply left the historical relics of Dayu's water control.
Let's read the poem "Spring Rise in the Lagoon" written by the Qing Dynasty poet Zhang He to know the majestic posture of the Lagoon Gorge at the beginning: the stone gorge is full of day and night, and the east of the lagoon goes to dig cloud roots. The spring thunder sounded in thousands of mountains, and the terrifying waves swept the sky and thousands of horses rushed. The shore frame is dangerous and the bridge is crossed, and the cliff is engraved with ancient seal birds. The miracle should be a giant spirit, and the soul is raging under his ears.
The Danxia landform of Tang Wang, the reputation of "the first village of Xinghua" in Longshang, the ruins of the temple of Tang Wangchuan Mountain, especially the famous Tang Wang Hongta Temple and its grotto murals in the northwest, can be called a prestigious Buddhist temple in Dongxiang, and it is a splendid grotto culture on the south road of the Silk Road, which has a history of more than 600 years. It can be glimpsed from a poem "Red Pagoda Temple" inscribed by the Qing Dynasty poet Deng Long: the red tower of the Optimus Stone Pillar, and a Lingyun pen of the ages. The water is full of green fields, and the moonlight reflection dips in the clear pool.