Introduction to the video: I traveled all the way west and came to Tongxin County, Wuzhong City, Ningxia, the hometown of the old monitor of the university. In the 1980s, the old squad leader worked hard to get into college. His girlfriend gave up the opportunity to go to school and worked to earn money for him to go to college. After graduation, he voluntarily asked to return to his hometown to work.

Foreword: Niu Ge's Journey to the West is the first stage of Niu Ge's "56 Ethnic Documentaries" shooting plan: Niu Ge traveled alone in 128 days in 12 provinces in western China, lived in the open, and made his home everywhere. He wrote a diary of more than 100,000 words, took more than 1,000 photos, produced and released 27 videos, and more than 10 are in the process of being produced. Videos and corresponding diaries and photos will be released one after another, so please continue to pay attention.

Brother Niu's Journey to the West (November 13): Today is the three-month day of my journey to the west. During these more than 90 days and nights, I slept in the open, roamed the world, and made my home all over the world. From the tropical rainforest in Xishuangbanna to the Nujiang Canyon on the Sichuan-Tibet line, from the top of Tanggula Mountain at an altitude of 5,231 meters, to the deserted Lop Nur desert basin, one person drives one, shoots all the way, makes all the way, and is dedicated to promoting national culture and saving national heritage Search the ground. Today, I came to Yinchuan City, the south of the Yangtze River at the southern foot of Helan Mountain. Twenty-six Minda students and alumni from Yinchuan City hosted a grand reception dinner for me. There are old squad leaders who care and love me like brothers, Hui classmates and alumni who used to gallop on the green field and sit around the poplar trees to download songs and dance together, and there are also the most precious girl’s first love, no regrets. Dedicated to me The beautiful "Princess of Western Xia": "I can tell the sound of his footsteps entering the classroom from far away, so my heartbeat starts to speed up..."; "This is the purest emotion I have buried in my heart for more than 30 years. Today Thinking about it, it’s still so beautiful..."; "He gave me pain and let me taste the taste of broken love, but I always think that my vision is right..." Princess Xixia said in the banquet, generously, All the classmates and alumni were moved: the princess of Xixia described by Jin Yong, dreamy, infatuated, persistent and dedicated, with wonderful eyes looking back, plump and charming, actually exists on the bank of the Yellow River and under the Helan Mountain, and is more pure and flawless . I was an ignorant young man at that time, frivolous and dissolute, so I failed Princess Xixia's wishes. Now that I am old, after the baptism of life's reality, I finally understand how precious this kind of relationship is. Unfortunately, we are all old in a blink of an eye... …Let me just say thank you here and wish her happiness forever! (to be read)

Brother Niu's Journey to the West (November 14): When people get old, their memory declines a lot. I find that I am fighting against senile amnesia every day. This morning, I slept very late at classmate Tuo’s house and woke up very late. After I finished writing yesterday’s diary, it was almost 11 o’clock. I had some breakfast in a hurry, and then I hurriedly set off to take pictures of the Xixia Royal Tomb. Halfway through the drive, I realized that the battery of the camera had been left to charge. I thought that since it was already out, I would just use the action camera and the drone to take pictures. The batteries of these two things must be fully charged. So, I continued to drive forward, and then I remembered that when I imported the data the night before yesterday, I didn’t insert the memory card of the action camera and the drone, and put the card in a classmate’s house. Can't shoot. During this trip to the west, I lost a lot of things because of forgetfulness at the beginning, from mobile phones, flashlights, charging treasures, to quilts, clothes, cups, toothpaste razors, etc. The most serious thing is that there are two I forgot to take my ID card after I used it up for the first time, but fortunately I found it again when I went back. Otherwise, I remember that without an ID card, my journey to the West ended early, because I was checking the ID card along the way. Later, I took a lot of measures to strengthen memory, for example, I must put things in the car when I use them up, and never put them on the ground or on the roof temporarily; Put them back in place, and don’t place them temporarily because you are busy, especially drones, cameras and remote control pan/tilts, which are the key protection objects, and you must put them back in the packaging box after use, because every accessory is designed in the packaging box The location will not be messed up; a few small remote controls are fixed on the right side of the driver's seat where they can be seen, and you can know if they are there at a glance... In this way, the problem of losing things is finally solved. I have never lost anything since entering Tibet. But now, the phenomenon of forgetting to charge and forget to insert the card has become more and more serious. Although it will not cause material loss, it has already affected my itinerary. I heard from my classmates that the weather will start to turn cold in a few days, and it may snow. If it's snowing, it's not advisable to drive far away, so I have to speed up my pace. Hohhot is the northernmost place in my Westward Journey, so I must complete the shooting there as soon as possible. It’s too late to go back to get the memory card and come out to shoot, so I took advantage of this free time to do some car maintenance to ensure the next step of driving safety. Tuo has been engaged in computer work for a long time, and his concept is quite advanced. It can be seen from his home's access control, heating, lighting, bathroom and other systems, all of which are relatively advanced and highly automated. The bathroom system in the guest room I live in is very modern. I studied it for a long time before I knew how to use it. Especially the fully automatic toilet, which has everything you need for seat warming, water spraying, drying, massage, etc. Going to the toilet is simply a five-star enjoyment, and I don’t want to come out. This reminds me of a joke: During the Cultural Revolution, a certain leader of our country visited abroad, and the president of the country took him to enjoy a fully automatic toilet. The function was similar to what I just said. After returning to China, he convened a meeting of military scientific research institutions across the country and strictly ordered that a fully automatic toilet must be developed within one month. This is a political task. This stumps the scientists. The technology does not mean that it is available, but the military order is like a mountain, and the consequences of disobedience are very serious. One month was approaching, and the state leader called in the head of the army to ask about the progress of the research and development. The head of the army stood at attention and replied loudly: "Report to the head, the task must be completed." National leaders are used to this kind of answer. In every previous battle, our brave and fearless army conquered the city and plundered the land, which time did not successfully complete the task, not to mention this small automatic toilet. One month has passed, the president of a certain country came to our country for a return visit as scheduled, and the national leader also led him to enjoy our brand-new domestically-made fully automatic toilet. It is also automatic flushing, automatic drying, automatic blowing... The president of the country has to admire the wisdom of the Chinese: it took their country more than ten years to successfully develop this fully automatic toilet, while the Chinese only took one month to fix it. Moreover, it seems to be more comfortable and humane than those in their country. Therefore, the president was reluctant to get up after sitting for a long time. After a long time, he heard a scolding voice from below: "Which bastard sat for so long, it made my hands and neck sore!" The president was shocked and looked down. , I saw three soldiers standing below, one with a faucet, one with a mop, and one with a hair dryer, busy serving him... (to be read)

Brother Niu's Journey to the West (November 15): During the Northern Song Dynasty, Li Yuanhao of Xixia proclaimed himself emperor and established the Great Xia Kingdom, which was a tripartite rivalry with the Great Song Dynasty and the Great Liao Dynasty. A small northern nation can sit on an equal footing with the two surrounding big countries, which shows that the party members are brave and good at fighting and have extraordinary strategies. In the 200 years since the founding of the country, Xixia lived in the Helan Mountain area and the Hexi Corridor, and created its own unique culture. Although it was later destroyed by Genghis Khan, its historical status and significance are indelible. Throughout the history of Chinese dynasties, most of them have existed for about 200 years. From this point of view, the Xixia Kingdom is not bad. Sadly, due to their tenacious resistance, they were massacred by the Mongolian army. Even the Dangxiang clan no longer exists. Yes, it was either merged into the Mongolian nationality or merged into the Han nationality. Many precious cultural heritages also disappeared with the disappearance of the Xixia Kingdom and became secrets that can never be solved. Today I went to shoot the live performance of the Battle of Xixia Hequ. The fierce scenes of galloping horses and swords and swords are soul-stirring. This is the first time I have seen a real horse battle, running really fast, the enemy and us are chasing each other, fighting to the death on horseback, the only thing I can't figure out is why the horses of the two sides don't fight, but just rush forward side by side, or rub against each other. Passing shoulder to shoulder without colliding, if it is a modern chariot, it would have collided with each other long ago. In this battle, the Liao army was superior in strength, but Li Yuanhao planned properly. In the end, the Xia army defeated the Liao army and won a decisive victory. This time is the same as the last time at the Baijia Banquet of the Dong nationality. I am the only guest, and it is almost a private room. Nuoda’s site covers an area of ​​2,500 acres, and I am the only one visiting. This is related to the cold weather and not being a holiday. Only people like me who have a special mission will come to visit regardless of seasons, time and cold. I shot the entire horse battle scene clearly, and I will definitely be able to make a very attractive video. In the past two days, I finally caught a small cold. This is the first time I have been sick since traveling westward. I feel a little excited: it seems a little abnormal for a southerner to come to such a cold weather without catching a cold once. The cough is quite severe, but I went to eat spicy hot pot with my classmates yesterday, fighting the virus with poison, and took a cold shower when I came back at night. I guess the reason for the cold this time is that my classmate's home is too warm. From the freezing field life to the warm environment, I feel a little uncomfortable all of a sudden, and I caught a cold instead. Regarding disease, I have always despised it strategically, and ignored it tactically. I believe that life and death are determined by life and wealth. My immune system is my best doctor. Let it go, do what you like. Tomorrow, I will go to Wengentala Grassland on the Sino-Mongolian border to look for Genghis Khan’s horseback machete and his pride in eating meat and drinking in big bowls. Of course, I can’t learn from his hobby of grabbing women casually. This is a historical figure who both admires and disappoints me. I admire his fearlessness and strategy, but I am disappointed that he died unexpectedly because of a small loss, and he failed to wait for the day when he established a great cause... (To be read)

Postscript: My "Westward Journey" of "56 Ethnic Documentaries" has been completed for two full months, but the work of Westward Journey has not really ended. During these two months, my work was in a small fishing village on the bank of Gaolong Bay in Hainan and in Singapore, sorting out the video data of the trip to the west, processing the pictures, and post-production of "Looking for Dreams in Hoh Xil", "Adventures in Kunlun Mountains", "Tibetan Tea House", "Tibetan Guozhuang Dance", "Ruoqiang Jujube Festival", "Uyghur Wedding", "Singing and Dance Food Culture in Xinjiang", "Hexi Corridor", "My Old Squad Leader" Waiting for short documentaries. In addition, I also posted videos, diaries, and pictures to some big websites one after another. At present, the total number of views has exceeded 100,000. Some netizens want me to upload more photos of the western region. This work is also in progress. For the first time, 100 photos of the Sichuan-Tibet line have been reissued. To my surprise, a university invited me to be a visiting professor to teach modern photography and video courses to students. If we can cultivate more young people who care about and love the cause of national culture through education, wouldn't it add more vitality to our national heritage? Educating the next generation is my biggest wish in filming "56 Ethnic Documentaries". My deepest feeling during this trip to the West is that many young people are not interested in ethnic and traditional things. For this reason, I feel deeply worried ... After the Spring Festival, when the Bauhinia flowers are in full bloom everywhere, I will start a new plan and go to the Northeast to continue filming "56 Ethnic Documentaries". Here, I also hope that units and individuals who are interested in promoting national culture and saving national heritage will cooperate with me to complete this great cause that is beneficial to the country and the nation.