Southeast Guizhou No. 3 Primitive farming in Jiabang terraced fields, recalling the civilization picture scroll of past and present

Southeast Guizhou No. 3 Primitive farming in Jiabang terraced fields, recalling the civilization picture scroll of past and present

On May 11, 2021, the minibus bumped and circled on the winding winding mountain road. The narrow bends and steep slopes of the Shangao road caused motion sickness for the elderly and children. After 3 hours, they finally arrived in Jiabang Township. As soon as I got out of the car, a gust of fresh and moist breeze brushed my cheeks, and a large number of patchwork, shimmering, crossed red and green terraced fields jumped into my eyes.

The terraced fields in Jiabang are basically in the valley, and you can take pictures directly by standing next to the road on the mountainside, eliminating the difficulty of climbing up and down.

In order to take pictures of the terraced fields, we got out of the car and got back in the car, cycling many times, and then it rained heavily, holding an umbrella and taking pictures in the rain. I was the one who didn't hold an umbrella.

I casually sent a few pictures to my college friend and told her that this is a terraced field added to the list. She replied, "It looks good", and then asked, "Is it the result of learning agriculture from Dazhai?" Her question turned me off. I also want to know, when were these terraces built? How did it form?

Terraced fields can be traced back to prehistoric times. The ancestors cut down trees to prepare the land, planted crops, or used it to defend against foreign invasion. As we all know, my country's farming civilization first originated in the Central Plains, but with the growth of population and frequent wars, the ethnic groups continued to expand outwards, requiring pioneering and farming. Since many areas are mountains and hills, the ancestors leveled the land along the hillsides. , Build up layer by layer, forming terraces similar to steps.

"The people of Xia drove us to go up to Gaoling. If we had no fields, we cut them by ourselves, and if we didn't have any fields, we dug them by ourselves." Migrating long distances, they crossed the "Qingshui River" and gradually entered the vast area between the Minjiang River and the south of the Yangtze River in a scattered state.

In the Qin and Han Dynasties, a small number continued to migrate to the Liujiang River Basin in the southeast of Guizhou. At this time, the Miao people in the southeast of Guizhou started the agricultural production activities of "changing high mountains into rice fields". It has a history of more than 2,000 years.

The rice fields of the Miao nationality are all built along the mountains, which change with the changes of the mountain topography. The height of the hillside, the gentleness of the slope and the size of the hillside determine the size and shape of the terraced fields.

The unique topography of Jiabang determines that the largest area of ​​terraced fields here is no more than one mu. Most of the fields are "belt mounds" where only one or two rows of grain can be planted and the broken fields of "three fields in one frog leap". Those who are only as big as a dustpan often have hundreds of acres on one slope. The longest terrace here can reach two or three hundred meters, and the shortest one is less than one meter. The size and shape of each part of the hundreds of meters long terraced field are completely different. The Jiabang Terraced Fields are not only grand in scale and majestic, but also have beautiful lines. No matter from the line or the overall shape, the Jiabang terraces have absorbed the essence of the terraced fields in the world. It is said that it is more beautiful than the Yuanyang terraced fields in Yunnan, and more spectacular than the Longsheng terraced fields in Guangxi (I have never seen these two terraced fields) , very attractive. It is named the most beautiful scenery in Southeast Guizhou. However, it is the oldest, most local, and most original landmark, and it is the crystallization of the collective wisdom of generations of Miao people and an intangible cultural heritage.

Jiabang is hidden deep in the hinterland of Moon Mountain in Congjiang County, away from the hustle and bustle of modern civilization. The scattered villages are like isolated islands, hidden deep in the mountains. It is the "Xanadu, Wonderland on Earth" in the eyes of the world. Together with it to guard the true meaning of nature, it is inlaid and scattered in the terraced fields, the island-like Diaojiao building unique to Miao Township. The mountain villages and small villages living in the terraced fields reflect the environment of the terraced fields and integrate with nature, all of which reflect the beauty of harmony between human beings and nature.

In 2012, the hot documentary "A Bite of China" introduced the Jiabang Terraced Fields in 8 minutes in the seventh episode "Our Fields". The Chinese have a saying since ancient times: rely on the mountains to eat the mountains, and rely on the sea to eat the sea. This is not only an adaptation to local conditions, but also a Chinese way of survival that conforms to nature.

From ancient times to the present, this farming nation has carefully used every inch of land under its feet, and the activities of obtaining food and extraordinary wisdom are everywhere. In Congjiang County, Guizhou Province, a mountainous area inhabited by the Dong, Miao and Zhuang peoples, the people here have been eating glutinous rice since ancient times. Nearly a hundred kinds of primitive glutinous rice are planted in the alpine terraces, and the rice-fish-duck symbiosis that has entered the World Agricultural Heritage List.

This fish is not an ordinary fish, it is rice flower fish, which is an ancient farming civilization passed down by the Dong people for thousands of years——

Farmland is not only used for planting, but also for raising.

The Dong people firmly believe that people support the land and the land supports people.

When the seedlings grow to a certain height, they are transplanted into the field and fish fry are put in at the same time. After the glutinous rice seedlings turn green and the fry grow to two or three fingers, put the ducklings into the rice fields.

As the rice grows day by day, this group of creatures always play music at different times. Fish and ducks eat the bugs in the rice fields, allowing the glutinous rice to thrive. The Dong people believe that using fish to raise the fields can ensure that there is enough water in the fields at all times, so that the fish will not die, the rice will not dry up, and the ducks will not be thirsty.

From this point of view, not only the harmonious coexistence of rice, fish and ducks, but also people enjoy it.

The local people work in the fields all year round. It is impossible to do without physical strength. It is tiring for people to go up and down just because of the height difference of the terraced fields... And these fish, ducks, and rice seedlings are all Dong people. How hard it is for people to carry their loads to the terraced fields.

Every April and May is the season for water injection in the terraced fields. What we see at this time is the terraced fields after water injection, flashing silver-white light. The bright paddy fields are separated by green seedlings, and occasionally there is a little red. I asked the tour guide to red What is it, she answered duckweed, the first time she saw red duckweed. Red, green, and silver are dotted with the stilted buildings of the Miao family. The terraced fields, villages, and houses are naturally and harmoniously integrated into one, forming a unique landscape with fields in the village and villages in the fields. color.

During the period, no matter from which angle or direction you look, it is like a series of documentaries, like a series of emotional prose poems, like a page of a book that is opened page by page, with layers of records writing a story of man and nature and their affectionate snuggle. The long history that has been flowing for thousands of years seems to be remembered by people suddenly. Whoever passes by accidentally is amazed at the overwhelming splendor of this land, with soft curves and colorful facial makeup, news spreads like the wind, attracting curiosity from outside the village, and suddenly added to the list of primitive and simple daily labor, endowed with It has a foreign cultural atmosphere - the ancient farming civilization.

In the early morning of the next day, I stood on the viewing platform on the 4th floor of the inn and watched the clouds and mists rise and cover the terraced fields. The stilted buildings in Miao Township on the edge of the terraced fields are all shrouded in clouds and mist. From a distance, those stilted buildings that are faintly visible are faintly visible, ethereal and leisurely, giving you the illusion of being in an illusion while intoxicated. After a while, the clouds and mists slowly dissipated, and the terraced fields regained their beauty.

For us, the Jiabang Rice Terraces are a stunning landscape, but for the local people who live on the terraced fields, it is a part of their daily life and the land they depend on for their livelihood. Jiabang terraces let you feel not only the beauty of lines and art, but also the beauty of the power of farming civilization.

(2219 2021/5/20)