Chifeng, Inner Mongolia, northeast or north China?

▲ The magnificent scenery of Ulan Butong grassland is like a color palette from God. Picture/Visual China

-Speaking of Fengwujun-

Is it the flavor of the Central Plains or the prairie?

Chifeng people are helpless to hear what problems? "Listen to your accent, are you from the Northeast?"

What question is the most helpless of Chifeng people? "Chifeng, isn't it from the northeast? "

▲ Hanwula Mountain, Aluhorqin Banner, Chifeng, branch of Daxinganling. Photography/Yang Weidong

Although Chifeng is a city in Inner Mongolia, it cannot be wrong to say that Chifeng is in the northeast, because the eastern part of Mengdong, where Chifeng is located, belongs to the northeastern region. Therefore, although Chifeng people call their hometown Chi (chǐ) peak , they often call themselves Inner Mongolia. Northeast Bank".

▲ Overview of the topography of Chifeng, Inner Mongolia. Graphics/Paprika

The taste of Northeast China is just the first layer of Chifeng's mixed flavors: "Daijiapi" in Hebei, Tongguo Shabu in Beijing, Baobao in Northeast, and the dialect of Jilu Mandarin... The reason why Chifeng has been so popular since ancient times. , Lies in its bold temperament that blends in all directions.

This city is called "Ulan Hada" in Mongolian. It is named after the ochre-red mountain on the outskirts of the city. It is in the middle of the throat of China's "rooster" at the junction of Mongolia, Hebei and Liaoning provinces. Since the Republic of China, Chifeng once belonged to Jehol Province (later revoked), Liaoning Province, and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. It is still the "three-provincial thoroughfare" that connects the Central Plains with the Great Wall, North China and Northeast China. It can be described as the throat in the throat.

▲ Talin Flower Grassland of Alu Horqin Banner, Sika Deer in the Birch Forest of Keshiketeng Banner, Red Deer in the Stone Formation of Keshiketeng Banner. Picture 1, 2 Photography/Liu Gang, Picture 3 Photography/De Mingsheng

Mountain and water palette

Daxinganling spreads from the northeast to the southwest, Yanshan extends west from the seashore, and the ancient orogenic movement made them meet on the west side of Chifeng. The Xilamulun River and the Laoha River also hold hands to the east of Chifeng, forming the main source of the Xiliao River. Chifeng is embraced by the corners of the mountains and rivers , and the terrain for survival in the "cracks" between the mountains and rivers gives Chifeng its unique scenery and vitality.

▲ Distribution of landmarks in Chifeng. Graphics/Paprika

In the embrace of mountains and rivers, grasslands, forests and deserts are competing here, mountains and rivers are competing here, gales and glaciers are competing here to be artists. Grasslands, deserts, lakes, plateaus, plains, mountains, and woodlands converge here. Chifeng, which has 6 national forest parks and 8 national nature reserves, can be said to be a "mishmash" of various landscapes.

▲ Huanggangliang National Forest Park, Keshiketeng Banner. Photography/Gu Qun

Although Chifeng is at the end of the Greater Khingan Mountains, Huanggangliang , the highest peak of the Greater Khingan Mountains , is located in Keshiketeng Banner, Chifeng. Benefiting from the transitional climate from the temperate zone to the cold-temperate zone and the confluence zone of the flora system of Mongolia, North China, and Northeast China, Huanggangliang Mountain is densely forested, and forests and meadows blend together, forming a typical biodiversity landscape. Huanggangliang is also the largest national hunting ground in Asia. Wild animals such as roe deer, roe deer, and foxes roam the grasslands.

▲ Xila Mulun River from a perspective near Keshiketeng Banner. Photography/Gu Qun

The Yellow River is the "mother river" of the Chinese nation, and the Xilamulun River, which gave birth to the early Hongshan culture, is called the "grandmother river". The Xilamulun River is Mongolian, meaning "yellow river". It runs through the northern part of Chifeng, and together with the Laoha River in the south, it forms the main water vein of Chifeng and stretches eastward. Different from the grand atmosphere of the two rivers, the narrowest river in the world is also here. Huailai River, the width of this magical river is about 10 cm, but the beaches and river wetlands are readily available. It is also called "Book Bridge River" because it can take a book as a bridge. The vicissitudes and vitality of Chifeng can be seen from the river.

▲ Askhatu Stone Forest. Photography/Wan Wenying

The ice and fire of ancient times also left outstanding works in Chifeng. Askhatu Stone Forest , meaning "precipitous rock". During the Quaternary Ice Age, the area was covered by thick ice, but the glaciers were flowing. The thick glacier slowly moves along the mountain, it is like a carving knife, carving its own steps on the rock. When the glacier melts, the suffering of those rocks can only be told to the present. The geothermal resources under the rock formations make Chifeng sit on three famous hot springs-Ningcheng Hot Spring, Keshiketeng Hot Spring and Aohan Hot Spring. Transpiration is like fog, faintly like smoke, hot springs are the "sage soup" for relieving fatigue.

You may not have been to Chifeng, but you must have seen Chifeng. Because "Huanzhugege", "Kangxi Dynasty" and "Xiuchundao" have all been taken in the Chifeng Ulan Butong grassland.

▲ The graceful and majestic Ulan Butong grassland is a paradise for photographers in any season. Photography/from top to bottom: Wang Lida, De Mingsheng, Wan Wenying

The Ulan Butong grassland does not correspond to the tough guy, but more like a graceful girl in green clothes. The grassland here is not a plain river, but the right hills are undulating. You can not only feel the beauty of the south, come to a romantic "You are the wind and I am the sand, lingering on the horizon", and you can also reverie the Jin Ge iron horse that Emperor Kangxi "watched the iron hoof and clank" in Junggar.

The grassland and sandy land sounded incompatible with fire and water, but they appeared at the same time in Chifeng. The Horqin Sandy Land, also known as the "Eight Baili Li Hai", has historically degenerated grasslands and forests into sand due to excessive development. Here you can experience the interweaving of sand and grassland oasis. Even more miraculous is the tens of thousands of hectares of sandy spruce on the Hunshandake sandy land. This is the only sandy spruce forest left in the world. .

▲ A landscape where Chifeng sandy land, grassland and lake coexist. Picture/Visual China

▲ Daqingshan glacial mortar in Keshiketeng Banner, the remains of Quaternary glaciers. Photography/Wang Lida

Chifeng has been a training ground for nature since ancient times. From grasslands to deserts, from plains to mountains, from hills to lakes, from moraines to hot springs , all the wonders of nature are collected in Chifeng.

Where does "China's first dragon" come from?

In this land, there are many civilizations bred by the "Grandmother River" -the Xilamurun River .

"Longxing Lake Water Source", Chifeng’s largest IP, is the Hongshan Cultural C-type jade dragon known as "China’s First Dragon" . It has no feet, claws, scales, and horns, representing the original image of the dragon. It turned into a sculpture "Jade Dragon Flying to the Sky" in front of the Chifeng Municipal Government and the logo of Huaxia Bank.

▲ Type C jade dragon on display at Liaoning Provincial Museum. Picture/Visual China

Because of this archaeological discovery, the scholars were surprised that they had been played with by the Great Wall of Emperor Qin Shihuang and began to break the "fences" of the Great Wall and went north to find the older ancestors of the "Descendants of the Dragon". In Chifeng, there are the Xinglongwa Culture and Zhaobaogou Culture of the "First Village of China". If the ruins are the password left to us by our ancestors, then the ancestors who live here really like to play puzzle games.

Our ancestors knew how to store information very early, just as "The Three Body" said "carving the words on the stone". In Keshiketeng Banner , the ancient rock paintings outline the rock paintings with rough lines, just like a simple stroke of human childhood: the ancestors watched the deer galloping and leaping on horses. It was a paradise for nomads early on.

▲ Above: Aohan Banner Liao descends to Shengzhou Tower, bottom: Aohan Banner Xinglongwa Site, the holy land unearthed by the Chinese ancestors. Photography/Gao Rongnan

In the Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States Period, Qi Huangong expedition to the north, Yan defeated Qin Kai and Donghu, and the historical curtain of the thousand-year turbulent integration of the grassland people and the farming people slowly opened. The Yanbei Great Wall in Chifeng is not only the fortress defense line of the year, but also a witness to the clash of civilizations. Subsequently, the Xiongnu, Xianbei, Shiwei and other ethnic groups conquered, plundered and disappeared from this land. The grassland outside the Great Wall also follows the principle of “to be divided for a long time, and for a long time to be combined”. After a hundred years of war and chaos, a powerful nation established a unified northeast empire on the grassland and established its capital in the Chifeng area . This nation is the Khitan.

▲ The Jinjiehao (Golden Great Wall) site in Keshiketeng Banner. Photography/Fang Zhongzheng

The prosperity of Khitan originated from a beautiful myth. Legend has it that a young man rides a white horse down the Laoha River, and a woman rides a green bull along the Xilamulun River eastward. The two met at Muye Mountain , where the two rivers converge , and they became husband and wife. Their descendants are the eight tribes of Khitan. The Khitan groundbreakingly adopted the "southern official and north official system" to rule a vast territory. "The Khitan is governed by the (Liao) state, and the Han is treated by the Han" ("Liao History"), which can be said to be the earliest "one country, two systems". The two civilizations that seem to be different from ice charcoal actually maintain a clever balance. After the Tang, the prestige of the Liao Dynasty spread to more than a dozen countries in Central Asia, West Asia, Eastern Europe, and so on. Up to now, China is still called "Khitan" in many foreign languages ​​represented by Russian.

▲ The stone house of the Liao Taizu mausoleum in Balin Left Banner, the stone Buddha at the Shangjing site in Liao Dynasty, and the Muyeshan site where the ancestors of the Qidan people live. Picture 1 Photography/Jinsha River, Picture 2 and 3 Photography/Hu Guozhi

Chifeng's "Tongqu" name has prospered since then. The "Nine Streets and Three Cities" of the Old Town of Chifeng were formed in the Qing Dynasty. Among them, Toudao Street , where Guan Gong and Confucius, the two sages of civil and martial arts are enshrined, can be regarded as the birthplace of Chifeng City. The so-called "Nine Streets and Three Cities" refer to the nine main streets on the south bank of the Yingjin River from east to west and north to south and the three major markets of horse, vegetable, and grain markets. A large number of immigrants from Hebei, Shandong, Beijing and Tianjin have built this place. Cultural complex. With the increase in population in the late Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, Chifeng has developed into an important commercial town and transportation hub in East Mengdong .

▲ On June 30, 2020, Chifeng High-speed Railway Station officially opened for operation. Photography/Liu Gang

"Saibei No. 1 Street" Xinhua Pedestrian Street in Hongshan District is the first commercial pedestrian street in Inner Mongolia. It is the pleasure of many old Chifeng people to go shopping and shopping at the Mosque Beida Temple. In 2012, the Chifeng New District was completed, which gradually cured the “urban disease” of over-population in the old city. In July this year, high-speed train trains passing through the forest sea grasslands and high-rise buildings roared in, bringing Chifeng into the high-speed rail era.

Ancient ruins are installed in modern parks, yurts and buildings complement each other, and the EMUs crossing the grassland, Dongheng Old Street has become a sparkling road... The city needs to be installed not only population, fashion does not exclude culture, and modernity does not reject history. . Chifeng is such a modern prairie city with a sense of history.

▲ Chifeng Sports Center is also a "Bird's Nest". Photography/Wang Lida

Chifeng from the "matching" of the three teachings and nine liu

From the Kangxi and Yong dynasties of the Qing Dynasty to modern times, the Qing court gradually relaxed the ban outside the Great Wall. From the “borrowing land to support the people” during the Yongzheng period to the imperial reclaiming of Mongolian land in modern times, a large number of inland people immigrated outside the customs, which is the basis of the population structure of Chifeng today.

In modern China, the situation is turbulent. Although the land of the pine desert did not benefit from coastal trade, the Prince of Mongolia, Gongsang Norbu, carried out political and economic reforms here, and practised education. Today, Chifeng, which has strong schools such as Hongqi Middle School, Chifeng No. 2 Middle School, Pingmei High School, and Chifeng Tianjiabing Middle School, is still one of the most developed areas in Inner Mongolia. In 2019, the number of admissions in Qingbei accounted for half of Inner Mongolia.

▲ Boke (wrestling) is a traditional Mongolian sports activity. Photography/Demingson

The Chifeng people who are good at reading have the enthusiasm of Inner Mongolia, the boldness of the Northeast, and the daring to break in Shandong. However, there is a widespread rumor that "good women do not marry Chifeng men". According to legend, the full name of this sentence should be "A good woman does not seek a Chifeng man, even if it is wealthy, it will be in vain. If Chifeng is a good female companion, the emperor will not come to the palace.

Not to mention, the "Chifeng Three Masters" rumored in the arena is also a well-known figure on the Chinese Internet. There is the literary ghost "Prince of Horse" Ma Boyong who wrote "The Twelve Hours of Chang'an"; the star Wang Luodan; Kong Ergou, who became popular on the Internet with "My Past in the Northeast"; after reading the Qingbei, the provincial college entrance examination champion female stream who chose the game anchor business... Chifeng This small city outside the Great Wall is always "surfed" from time to time because of the "maverick" Chifeng people.

▲ Fanzong Temple and its murals in Wengniute Banner. This is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery with Chinese architecture. Photography/Zhang Tao

Today, Chifeng is home to ethnic groups such as Han, Mongolian, Hui, Manchu, and Korean. The Tibetan Buddhism, Han Buddhism, and Taoism they believe in has formed a colorful national cultural corridor over the long years. Just as Ma Boyong from Chifeng said, “In Chifeng, you can see the archways of the Han people, the mansions of the Mongolian princes, the mosques and temples, and the manchurian courtyards.” This is a place where various cultures are mixed.

Just like the Chifeng folder , the name is quite flavorful. Not only does it show the shape of the food, it seems that even Chifeng's cultural characteristics have been spoken out. Isn’t Chifeng the result of the "matching" of the culture of the three religions and nine generations?

▲ Chifeng on the folder. Photography/Wang Lida

The "double sandwich" is layered repeatedly, baked in the oven, smeared with ghee, and then smoked and crisped. The meat is smoked pork. The cooking materials include 13 flavors such as pepper, aniseed, cinnamon, and Angelica dahurica, and then smoked with cypress wood. The sandwiches should be crispy on the outside and waxy on the inside. The more layers of the dough, the better. The meat is divided into a normal fat and lean version and a lean meat version. Ma Boyong said that the paired sandwiches are comparable to burgers and burgers, and Wang Luodan also spoke for him in the program: "The paired sandwiches are 10,000 times more delicious than the burgers", which shows their status. According to legend, a father and son surnamed Su in Hebei learned from the pastry of Baoding donkey fire, improved Hada biscuits, and adopted the secret method of palace bacon, which made them become Chifeng famous products. It can be seen that this kind of snack is actually a combination of Mengji's dietary elements, and it does not live up to its "pair" name.

When I came to Chifeng, I had a pair of sandwiches in the morning, and I would order pot-bag meat at noon and night . The root of this dish originated in Harbin, the inventor was a Manchu, and the first diners were Russians, but a "mutation" occurred in Chifeng. Different from the Harbin and Liaoning pie, the golden and crispy, garlic-flavored Inner Mongolian pie pot meat is seasoned with soy sauce and garlic instead of sweet and sour and tomato sauce. Baobao Rou is the savory base of Lu cuisine. It turned into sweet and sour after a round in the northeast, but returned to its basics in Chifeng.

▲ Dalinor Lake and winter catching scene. Above picture/Dali Lake public account, picture below photography/Hu Guozhi

Like Chagan Lake in the northeast, Dali Nuoer Lake (referred to as Dali Lake) also has traditional winter trawling fishing customs. Dalinor Lake means "a lake like the sea". The water of the lake is highly salty and alkaline, but it produces delicious mandarin fish. Dali Lake Huazi fish have fine scales and firm flesh. Legend has it that even Emperor Kangxi ate it with praise. Steamed fish is fresh, hot and sour, deep-fried, and traditional farm chai pot stew always has a flavor that suits you.

▲ Shadow puppets performed at the Chifeng Songshan Night Market Cultural Festival. Photography/Liu Gang

In addition to the mixed style of food, Chifeng’s shadow puppetry in Bahrain Zuoqi can also be seen in Chifeng’s mashup style : the shadow puppetry was introduced to Bahrain Zuoqi during the Republic of China. In the following decades, it has been integrated into Tangshan shadow puppetry, northeast tunes and grassland folk songs. In the 1950s and 1960s, almost all villages had shadow boxes in Bahrain Left Banner, and every family loved shadow puppets.

▲ Aluhorqin Banner De Lengqin Wedding. Photography/Demingson

The wedding is a major event on the grassland, injecting the nomads with recurring vitality for generations. As a traditional wedding, the Ariben Sumu wedding in Alukorqin Banner can be regarded as a small encyclopedia of Mongolian life: the bridegroom wears an arrow and greets his relatives in full dress, the mother of the bride gives the bride a "distribution gift", and the single braid is divided into double braids. Married as a woman ever since. The congratulatory speech sang: "Long and long mink carpets are spread on the grass to welcome guests. From the generations of Genghis Khan, married bridegrooms are popular..." The ancient and sincere ceremony has echoed melodiously on the grassland since the time of Genghis Khan.

▲ The custom of offering sacrifices to obo in Aluhorqin Banner. Photography/Demingson

From the mountains to the wilderness, from the rivers to the plains, Chifeng always has no shortage of visitors from afar . They either descend from the mountains and forests, or from the grasslands, and establish their rule and civilization in this vast sea and mountains. It can fight the world on horseback but cannot rule the world. Being assimilated by China in the south is the inevitable fate of most grassland civilizations. But did they disappear again? No, their civilization is inherited by the latecomers, and their blood is integrated in the pluralistic unity of the Chinese nation, and their descendants are still active in the hot land of Chifeng.

▲ The national spirit on horseback will last forever, taken in Hululuolu Village on Ulan Butongba. Photography/Demingson