Xi Gu Hai's Notes: A Affectionate Hometown Ode

? In 202 1 year, a realistic drama named "Ning Min Town" quietly became popular. Based on the real events, the play tells the story of the people in Xihaigu, Ningxia, under the leadership of Ma Defu, a grassroots cadre, and under the guidance of various national support policies, establishing a village-hanging model, calling on farmers to move and exploring the difficult process of developing and getting rich. This not only realized the "cooperation mode between Fujian and Ningxia", but also showed the help of local leaders, Fujian cadres, experts and people from all walks of life to Xihaigu.

? Xihaigu is a Hui autonomous region established by the state in 1953, which governs Xiji, Haiyuan and Guyuan counties, hence the name. Located in the Loess Plateau, north of Qinling Mountains, west of Liupanshan Mountain, south of Inner Mongolia Plateau and east of Hexi Corridor, the surface is gully, the land is dry and almost nothing grows. However, its geographical location is particularly important. It has been a military and cultural center since ancient times. Since then, dynasties have changed, and Jin Ge has continued.

? Zhang Chengzhi, a famous contemporary writer, once said with deep affection in his book Farewell to Xi Haigu: "Xi Haigu, if it weren't for me, who would know your thirst and desolation in Qian Shan, and who would know the inside story of your heroic suffering?" Xi Gu Hai, if it weren't for you, how could I have completed the transformation, and how could I have punctured parasitic academic and hypocritical articles; If it weren't for you, how could I finally find this tiny and innocent meaning like a drop of water? Looking at your dark and bare distant mountains, I don't have a prayer and wishing ceremony. "

? It can be seen that the drought and poverty in Xihaigu, which Zuo, a famous minister in the Qing Dynasty, thought was unimaginable to ordinary people. In the long reportage Notes of Xi Haigu, the son of Xi Haigu and a member of the Chinese Writers Association, he is full of deep affection for his hometown, visiting local cadres and masses on the spot, deeply studying the roots and historical changes of poverty in Xi Haigu, and never letting go of any detail in the great cause of getting rid of poverty. Through practical support policies such as "resettlement of hanging villages", "terrace construction", "sand control in salt ponds", "irrigation by lifting the Yellow River", "pit mouth project", "labor export", "fungus and grass planting", "beef cattle bank", "beach sheep bank" and "poverty alleviation insurance", Xihaigu's gratifying achievements in tackling poverty today are demonstrated, with a heavy history.

? In fact, in the history of Xihaigu, the climate was humid and the seasons were like spring. Before the Ming dynasty, it was not only unrelated to poverty, but even rich in aquatic plants and six animals. Xihaigu was the most important horse-raising base in the Central Plains Dynasty as early as the Western Zhou Dynasty. After Qin Shihuang unified China, he mistakenly believed the prediction that "the Qin Dynasty lost Hu Ye", which led general Meng Tian to send troops to repair and strengthen the Great Wall left over from the period of King Zhao of Qin. Xihaigu is the only place where this section of the Great Wall passes, so this is the beginning of the garrison of Xihaigu in the Central Plains Dynasty.

? Xihaigu "blocks the new river on the outside and acts as a dragon's mouth on the inside, with cool front and strong defensive", which has become one of the important defense systems in Guanzhong area because of its important address position. Later, due to years of wars in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the "Yellow River Irrigation" system established by the Han Dynasty was destroyed, which led to the decline of the overall productivity in the back area of Ningxia (it can be seen that the "Yellow River Irrigation" used by modern people has existed since ancient times). Before the Anshi Rebellion in the late Tang Dynasty, Xihaigu was always the most important horse-raising base in the empire.

? The book says that there are many reasons why the West Sea is poor. In addition to the harsh natural environment, it is also restricted by the industrial structure, ecology, economy, culture and society of agriculture, forestry and animal husbandry in northwest China, and the population expansion caused by the profound influence of generations of traditional fertility concepts. Many rural areas in this area are naturally closed, which makes them unable to get rid of the old concept of "son preference", which directly leads to population expansion, low education level and low quality. In other words, the overpopulation and low population quality urge local people to over-cultivate and cut down forests to meet their basic needs, which leads to the deterioration of the ecological environment, while there is no related industry in the local area to accommodate a large number of idle people, which not only causes a bad living environment, but also leads to low per capita income and is difficult to survive. Until the early 1980s, 70% of people in Xihaigu were struggling with food and clothing.

? There is such a widely circulated joke about the conversation between a reporter and a shepherd boy. The reporter asked, "What are you doing herding sheep?" "Make money!" "What do you do to make money?" "marry a wife!" "Why do you want to marry a wife?" "Have a baby!" "What does a baby do?" "herding sheep!" ..... According to textual research, this story happened in Xihaigu. You can think of it as a joke, but it really makes people laugh. We can't criticize the shepherd's vision, but we should reflect on the root cause of the low quality of Xihaigu people behind this joke. I believe this is the original intention of this reporter.

? Besides this joke, another real event recorded in the book is really sad. It is said that one of the author's elders, Aunt Chen, had an argument with her son because of her granddaughter's marriage in the early 1990s, and even fermented to the point where her mother threatened to die. The difference between mother and son is that the son advocates marrying her daughter to a village with asphalt roads, while the mother insists on marrying her granddaughter to a village with Guanyin soil. Because of the famine years, she was grateful for the Guanyin soil that needed militia protection in those years, and thought it was a good thing to save the lives of the poor. The son invited the author to persuade his mother, but he was still rebuffed. In her opinion, how can a highway with convenient transportation be compared with the living Guanyin soil? I can't believe that the older generation of Xihaigu people went to Sri Lanka just for a bite of dirt.

? Nowadays, Xihaigu, with the support of national policies and the help of "Fujian-Ningxia cooperation model", the once barren and arid yellow land has long been an oasis full of fruits and vegetables. In this golden zone where grapes grow at 38 degrees north latitude, the increase in income of various high-quality fruits, medlar, beef cattle and beach sheep has completely freed the local people from the poverty label. In this land, which was evaluated by UN experts as "not having the basic conditions for human survival", the people of Xihaigu have already bid farewell to absolute poverty historically, and generations of Xihaigu people have long been eager to tear off the label of poverty from their bones, and finally got their wish!