Xinjiang Hongshan Travel Notes
The Red Mountain is majestic
People who have been to Urumqi always let their hearts fly to the distance and go out one after another to look for the distant scenery. In this way, the nearby Red Mountain was left out in the cold.
Hongshan is beautiful and has many touching legends. Hongshan stands abruptly in the center of Urumqi. It is named after the purple-red sandstone of the Permian period that is red in color. The mountain is 1.5 kilometers long, 1 kilometers wide, and 910.6 meters above sea level. It is said that floods hit Urumqi for two consecutive years in 1785 and 1786. The floods were raging and hurt the people. The reason is that the evil dragon flew from Tianshan Yaochi, and it also merges with the Demon Mountain to the west of Red Mountain. If that happens, Urumqi will become an ocean. For this reason, in the 53rd year of Qianlong's reign in the Qing Dynasty (May 1788), Shang An, the commander-in-chief of the Qing Dynasty, built a pagoda on Hongshan Mountain and Yamo Mountain respectively to suppress the evil dragon, and everything was safe ever since.
In the evening, when I drove here and stepped into the mountains, I felt that the mountains looked like a painting. This is a veritable red mountain. Not only the cliffs in the sky are red, but also the stone steps going up the mountain are red. Although the weather is still very hot, as soon as I set foot on the mountain road, the coolness and the fragrance of grass immediately hit my nose. The mountains on both sides are densely treed and green. It is the time of watering now. Various sprinklers in the trees are spraying like flowers, sending a crystal clear, elegant and rainbow light, so that people passing by cannot tell that this is the place. Deep in the northwest, but walking in the green of the south of the Yangtze River.
Climbing up the mountain, you are faced with a three-story overlooking tower, with carved beams and painted roofs and soaring eaves, which is majestic and spectacular. Climb upstairs, lean on the railing and have a panoramic view of the city. Looking to the north, the Tianshan Mountains are majestic, running from east to west. The ice and snow on the main peak of Bogda shine coldly in the sunlight, crystal clear, elegant and bright. Looking down at the city, you can see high-rise buildings rising from the ground beneath the greenery, standing tall and bright, showing a sense of vitality.
After passing the overlooking building to the south, the breeze blew along the way, and the gloomy heat was immediately swept away. When you reach the top of the mountain, you will find that the wind on the mountain is very clear, long and refreshing. Let the wind blow by, and you will immediately feel a refreshing refreshing feeling. Although the weather is hot, when we reach the mountain, the wind washes us off, which makes us feel happy and comfortable, and I feel that summer is also beautiful.
Not far away, a tall and white statue came into view. It was the national hero Lin Zexu. When I got there, I saw that the statue was carved from white marble, more than 3 meters high, and was seated on a red granite base. The statue is vast and majestic, majestic and indomitable. Written in red pen on the side of the statue is a poem written by Lin Zexu when he visited Hongshan in the 25th year of Daoguang's reign, that is, December 4, 1845: Let him sing wildly and lie drunk at the mouth of Hongshan. Where the wind is strong, the scales rise.
Lin Zexu (1785--1850), courtesy name Yuanfu and Shaomu, was a Houguan native of Fujian (today's Fuzhou). In 1838, Emperor Daoguang appointed him as the Imperial Envoy to control the Guangdong Navy. With his heroic feat of eliminating opium in Humen, he became a hero for the Chinese nation to resist foreign aggression. After the destruction of opium in Humen, while he was engaged in an indomitable struggle against the British invaders, he was dismissed from his official position by the fatuous Emperor Daoguang in 1840 and was exiled to Ili, Xinjiang. People only know that Lin Zexu is a hero in fighting cigarettes, but few know that he is an expert in flood control. When he served in Fujian, he presided over water conservancy and made many achievements. On his way to Yili, the emperor ordered him to be temporarily exempted from the garrison and asked him to help manage the Yellow River. When the river project was completed in 1842, he was sent to Yili again. While in Xinjiang, he traveled north and south of the Tianshan Mountains, presided over farmland water conservancy construction, promoted farmland irrigation, and worked hard for Xinjiang's water control. In the first month of 1845, he was transferred back to the mainland by the imperial court, but he left a good reputation in Xinjiang. People set up a statue of Lin Zexu on this red mountain, which not only expresses people's love for this national hero, but also means using his wisdom and talent to control mountains and waters and ensure peace.
To the south of the statue, across the valley, at the mouth of Hongshan Mountain where the red rocks rise majestically, stands a 10.5-meter-high 9-level brick tower. This is the Hongshan Tower. Viewed in the setting sun, the tower is thin and thin, leaving a shadow of vicissitudes and fatigue, as if it has become tired of guarding the evil dragon for many years. With this tower on the mountain, it becomes a little spiritual, which is also a magical sign. Turning around to look at the Demon Mountain opposite, there was a similar tower echoing in the setting sun. Standing under the tower, open your eyes and see the broad streets, endless traffic, and the growing city bathed in the red sunset, you suddenly feel that Xinjiang is rising.
Today, we no longer worry about raging floods as we did in the past, because Xinjiang has not only risen, but is about to enter an era of large-scale development, and a new Xinjiang is coming. Watching the mountain tower gradually melting into the glow of the setting sun, I felt a strong thought: This tower is just a microcosm, and it is the hard-working and brave people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang who really restrain the evil dragon.