The City of Swans on the Bank of the Yellow River. Essays on a visit to Sanmenxia with the "Inspection and Interview Team of the World Chinese Media Alliance"

City of Swans on the Bank of the Yellow River Essays on a visit to Sanmenxia with the Inspection and Interview Team of the World Chinese Media Alliance (reported by Zhen Kaiying) 1. Sanmenxia Cultural Heritage and Water Conservancy Project …

(Reported by Zhen Kaiying)

1. Sanmenxia cultural heritage and water conservancy project

The clear river water, green trees on both sides, a few swans swimming leisurely in the riverside wetlands, clean streets, and tall buildings. Is this Sanmenxia? But this is indeed what I saw when I walked into Sanmenxia with the "World Chinese Media Cooperation Alliance Inspection and Interview Team".

>Hangu Pass

Sanmenxia City is located in the middle reaches of the Yellow River, in the west of Henan Province, bordering Shanxi to the north and Shaanxi to the west. According to legend, Dayu controlled the floods and used his divine ax to split the mountains into three canyons: "Human Gate", "Shen Gate" and "Ghost Gate". The river was divided into three streams by ghost stones and divine stones, as if there were three gates, hence the name Sanmen Gorge.

Sanmenxia is one of the birthplaces of Chinese civilization. It contains the birthplace of Yangshao culture, the ruins of the capital of Guo State in the Western Zhou Dynasty, and Zaohangu Pass, where the famous thinker Laozi wrote the Tao Te Ching in his later years during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty.

Hangu Pass is located in Wangduo Village, 15 kilometers north of Lingbao City, about 75 kilometers away from Sanmenxia City, on the "Chang'an Ancient Road", close to the bank of the Yellow River. It got its name because it was locked in a canyon and was as deep and dangerous as a letter. Hangu Pass is located on the plateau to the west, Juejian to the east, Qinling Mountains to the south, and the Yellow River to the north. It is one of the earliest Xiongguan fortresses built in my country. It was first built in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. It is the throat of Luoyang in the east and Chang'an in the west. It is known as "the sky opens and Han Valley is strong in Guanzhong, and all the valleys are shocked to the north." In the third year of King Zhou Shenliang's reign, King Huai of Chu raised the troops of the six kingdoms to attack Qin. Qin relied on the natural dangers of Han Valley, causing the armies of the six kingdoms to "lay millions of corpses and bleed in the oars." In the sixth year of Qin Shihuang's reign, the armies of Chu, Zhao, Wei and other five countries invaded Qin. "As far as Hangu, they were all defeated." "Liu Bang guarded the pass to resist Xiang Yu", the "Taolin Battle" between the Tang army and the rebels during the "Anshi Rebellion", and the "Hangu Pass Battle" between the Chinese army and the Japanese invading army in 1944 were all held here.

During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Yang Pu, the general of the building and shipbuilding, "had repeatedly made great achievements and was ashamed to be a foreigner in the pass", so he took advantage of the opportunity that Emperor Wu put him in charge of building the new pass and moved the east of Hangu Pass to Xin'an County, so that he became a "passenger". This new pass is also called "Han Pass". Tongguan is located in Tongguan County, Shaanxi Province. Before the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was no Guancheng. By the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, in order to prevent Ma Chao's military rebellion in Guanxi, Cao Cao established Tongguan in the first year of Jian'an (AD 196) and abandoned Hangu Pass at the same time.

Hangu Pass is not only an important military place, but also the key point of cultural and economic exchanges between the ancient hinterland of the Central Plains and the northwest region. There are historical stories and legends circulating around this famous city of Chongguan, such as "Purple Air Coming from the East", "Laozi Passing the Pass", "Crowing Roosters and Dog Thieves", "Gongsun Baima", "Tang Xuanzong's Change of Yuan Dynasty" and other historical stories and legends. Tang Taizong, Tang Xuanzong, Sima Qian, Li Bai, Du Fu, Bai Juyi, Sima Guang and other historical celebrities came to the pass to recite poems and compose poems. There are 100 poems and poems handed down to this day. More articles.

Modern Sanmenxia is famous all over the world because of the Sanmenxia Water Conservancy Project, the first large reservoir built on the Yellow River in New China. At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the first generation of Chinese leaders had an urgent need to eradicate flooding in the Yellow River. Therefore, as the only water conservancy project among the 156 key projects aided by the Soviet Union, construction started on April 13, 1957. However, the debate about the Sanmenxia Dam has never ceased since then.

Under the guidance of Soviet experts, water conservancy elites from all over the country gathered in Sanmenxia in order to make the water of the Yellow River clear. Before the dam was completed in 1961, it also encountered a crisis when Sino-Soviet relations broke down and Soviet experts withdrew. In other words, the second half of the Sanmenxia Project was completed solely by the first generation of water conservancy engineering personnel in New China, which is of great significance.

Regarding the Sanmenxia Reservoir, we usually hear the most common statement: it is the first comprehensive large-scale water conservancy hub built on the Yellow River with the goals of flood control, storm prevention, water supply, irrigation, and power generation. Over the years, through reconstruction and adjustment, the reservoir has made contributions to flood control and ice protection safety in the lower reaches of the Yellow River, water use for urban industry and agriculture along the Yellow River, and ecological balance in the lower reaches and estuary areas.

However, there is another voice. In 1955, German water conservancy experts visited the site and concluded, "Building a dam in Sanmenxia is tantamount to building a dead reservoir that will harm Guanzhong!"

When the Sanmenxia project was first established, it was firmly opposed by Shaanxi. At that time, many Shaanxi government officials used various channels to emphasize the impact of this project on Shaanxi. In 1958, one year after the Sanmenxia Project started, Shaanxi was still strongly opposed to the Sanmenxia Project. The reason was that the Yellow River flood problem could be solved by good soil and water conservation along the Yellow River Basin, and there was no need to build the Sanmenxia Project. But the Sanmenxia Project did not stop. In 1960, the dam was nearly completed and water storage began.

In the second half of 1961, Shaanxi's worries became a reality: 1.5 billion tons of sediment were all spread in the river from Tongguan to Sanmenxia. The river in Tongguan was raised and the Weihe River became a hanging river. The groundwater in the Guanzhong Plain cannot be drained, and the fields have become salinized and even swamped. As a result, food production has been reduced every year, and the danger is approaching the ancient capital of Xi'an.

Inherent deficiencies in planning and design forced the project to undergo two reconstructions and three changes in usage shortly after it was put into use. In December 1964, it was decided to add two discharge and sand discharge tunnels to the left bank of the hub, and change the original four power generation steel pipes No. 5 to 8 into discharge and sand discharge steel pipes, referred to as "two holes and four pipes". In June 1969, it was decided to implement the second reconstruction, digging the construction diversion bottom holes No. 1 to No. 8, and lowering the water inlet elevation of Units 1 to 5 from 300 meters to 287 meters. After 1990, bottom holes No. 9 to No. 12 were opened one after another.

The people of Sanmenxia in the last century, under the fearless leadership of the government, defeated nature time and time again, bringing extremely valuable experience and lessons to many subsequent water conservancy projects.