Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
city and changes in the local environment. In the first instance, was this place a
desert when Helianbobo chose the site? How could he have built his capital in a
desert? If it was not a desert at the time, when did it turn into one? Where has all that
rolling sand come from? As historical geographers, my young colleagues and I
visited the historically renowned city of Tongwan with the aim of solving these
problems. The visit has left deep impressions on my mind.
It was a summer morning in 1983, the sun had not yet shown its full might. The
weather was fine, the sky clear and cloudless. We set out on foot with excitement
from our encampment by the Red Willow River towards the city of Tongwan which
lay 10 km away. What a splendid tri-coloured picture presented itself to our eyes!
Overhead was a spacious, blue sky, arching over the rolling sand which looked like
turbulent waves of a vast sea. Suddenly, in the distance between the blue sky and the
yellow sand emerged something which looked like an enormous white sail on an
ancient seagoing vessel. “Look, the White City!” someone cried out. The White
City was the name given to Tongwan by shepherds in the neighbourhood. It is a
more appropriate name than the latter, because its lofty walls actually shine with
dazzling white rays in the sun. On the instant of seeing it, I was affected with an
unforgettable poetic sensation, feeling as if I were facing a huge landscape painting.
But what is of greater significance is the clear and unequivocal thread it supplies to
our investigation of changes in the environment in this area. If it were not for the tall
ancient city towering there, people would be inclined to believe that it had been an
unpopulated desert from time immemorial. But no, that is not the case. The city of
Tongwan was certainly not built in a desert in the beginning. This place was not a
desert, but a vast prairie, richly endowed with water and grass.
In the days of Helianbobo, China was in a state of chaos, rent into separate little
kingdoms by many contending forces. Besides the Jin Dynasty established by the
Han nationality, 15 minor kingdoms had been set up by national minorities, rising
to power one after another. Helianbobo rose on the Ordos Plateau and founded a
small kingdom called Xia, occupying the whole plateau and surrounding grass-
lands. He once stormed into Chang-an. His courtiers advised him to make it his
capital, but he insisted on returning to the Ordos Plateau and personally chose a site
to build his future capital, Tongwan. It was recorded in a chronicle that when the
construction of the city was about to begin, he appeared on the scene himself and
mounting a high spot nearby, looked about him and declared with pride: “Among
the innumerable places I have seen between the north of the Horse Mountain and the
south of the Yellow River, there is no country like this, which is surrounded by vast
stretches of grassland and a limpid river”. Here, “north of the Horse Mountain”
refers to an area on the loess plateau north of the present Liupan Mountain, “south
of the Yellow River” refers to an area at the southern edge of the Yin Mountains,
“the limpid river” refers to today's Red Willow River, noted for its turbid waters,
and “vast stretches of grassland” refer to the present Mowusu Desert.
Unlike the delta area where the ancient city of Ju-yan stood and the alluvial plain
near the city of Yuhun, both arid regions receiving very little rainfall, the city of
Tongwan enjoyed quite good natural conditions, with an average annual rainfall of
nearly 100 mm and plentiful water sources. Why, then, has it also turned into a
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