Black Mountain Gorge： The Story of the Times by the Yellow River
Villagers set up big wooden ladders to pick pears.
Tourists driving private cars take ferry boats to the other side to enjoy the beautiful scenery of pear blossoms.
A couple watered their fruit trees with Yellow River water.
The female homeowner who made a live tour promotion in front of the old house where the TV series Minning Town was filmed.
Non-genetic inheritor who guards the Yellow River waterwheel all his life.
Villagers who harvest buckets of red dates.
Heishan Gorge is one of the most spectacular canyons in the upper reaches of the Yellow River, starting from Jingyuan in Gansu and ending at Zhongwei in Ningxia, with a total length of more than 70 kilometers. Black Mountain Gorge is named for its towering cliffs and deep rivers, because the exposed rocks in the canyon are mostly blue-black. The Great Wall, built along the steep cliff on the bank of the Yellow River, stretches in thousands of valleys, and there are stone walls, rammed earth walls, beacon towers, closed castles and so on. The cultural heritage of the Yellow River and the Great Wall has created a magnificent, simple and profound Black Mountain Gorge.
In recent years, I have been going deep into da miao cun, Jingyuan County, Gansu Province, Cui Liu Cun, Jingtai County, and Nanchangtan Village and Beichangtan Village, shapotou district, zhongwei, Ningxia, telling the scenery and stories of Heishanxia with the lens, freezing the life moments of spring and summer, autumn harvest and winter storage, and recording the changes of the times in poverty alleviation and rural revitalization, so as to express my deep feelings and cultural concerns about the Yellow River and the Great Wall.
One side of the soil and water support one side of the people, relying on the nourishment of the Yellow River water. Several traditional villages scattered in the depths of the canyon are full of fireworks, like a secluded paradise. The waterwheel turning along the bank of the Yellow River and the pear blossoms blooming at the foot of the Great Wall have become the witness of people living along the Yellow River from generation to generation and living together with Heishan Gorge. People here stick to their simple and kind nature, follow the ancient life track, stay with the mountains and listen to the unchanging sound of the waves. They conscientiously inherited their ancestors’ business, raised sheep, farmed fields, and watered the fruit trees, creating a home where homesickness can be placed and the soul can live.
Famous historical and cultural villages in China — — Nanchangtan Village, as the first village where the Yellow River flows through Ningxia, always draws my attention. Whether the lens focuses on the figures of people in the village, the face of the bride to be married in the boudoir, or the hands of the boatman, every moment is a "Yellow River story" with temperature. The change of a village, the persistence of a custom, and the creation of a farm tool … … Not only let us feel the distance and profundity of crossing historical time and space, but also let us realize the accumulation of the Yellow River culture.
The Yellow River has been flowing forever. More than 80 years ago, Fan Changjiang, a famous journalist, crossed the Black Mountain Gorge on a sheepskin raft, and was shocked by the momentum here. In "Northwest Corner of China", he said with emotion: "The gorge is not less than the style of Wushan Gorge in the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River." Today, on both sides of the Yellow River, inside and outside the Great Wall, beautiful homeland is still our blood and soul. The unique natural landscape and rich humanistic customs of Heishanxia show the beauty of Chinese history, mountains and rivers, and culture, making the ancient villages along the coast famous far and wide, and more and more tourists are quietly changing here. Connecting roads, building new houses, promoting tourism, getting rid of poverty and tackling difficulties have enabled villagers to run towards a well-off life, and rural revitalization has given the village a new look. This land that has been silent for thousands of years has suddenly accelerated the pace of catching up with the times.
Photography is a ferryman of time. I hope that in another 80 years, these pictures can still present a vivid picture of the lingering temperature in the historical context.
(Author: Li Peng, member of China Photographers Association, executive president and secretary general of Ningxia Art Photography Society)