Qinghai Lake, in ancient times called “West Sea”, also known as “fresh water” or “fresh sea”. It is called “Tsowen Bo” in Tibetan, which means “blue lake”; In Mongolian, it is called “Kukunor”, which means “blue ocean”. With an area of about 4300 square kilometers and a circumference of more than 360 kilometers around the lake, it is twice as big as the famous Taihu Lake. The lake is long from east to west, narrow from north to south, and slightly oval in shape. At first glance, it looks like a fat aspen leaf. The average horizontal depth of Qinghai Lake is 17.8 meters, the maximum water depth is 32.8 meters, the water storage capacity of 105 billion cubic meters, the current lake elevation of about 3,200 meters, the salt content of 12.49 grams per liter. According to geological studies, about 20 million years ago, what is now the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau was a vast ocean. Later, due to the continental plate extrusion and crustal movement, the seabed gradually uplifted upward, and became the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, which is now known as the “roof of the world”. In the Qinghai Lake area, a huge basin lake was formed because of the fault collapse in the process of crustal uplift, and the lake water flowed into the Yellow River from the outlet. Later, about 130,000 years ago, there was a violent mountain building movement in the east of Qinghai Lake, and the different peaks of Riyue Mountain rose in the east of the lake, sealing the outlet of Qinghai Lake and making it an inland lake.
The wind and the horse have four edges
Now you see this building is the “wind horse four edges” sculpture flying in the sky at the top of the sun and moon, which means that Buddhism and customs complement each other, that is, Buddha’s light shines, prosperity and prosperity, human harmony and sentient beings are happy. “Wind horse” is called “Longda” in Tibetan, Longda is a 4-6cm piece of paper, printed in the middle of a strong horse, is the horse we see, the horse on the back is said to be the sutra, so “wind horse four edge” is also called “BMW sutra”, the wind horse to the brilliant sun, the plateau people’s wishes for a better life, the prosperity of the motherland.
Second, poetry square
The wall presented in front of you is the “Qinghai Lake Poetry Wall”, which was built to commemorate the Qinghai International Poetry Festival. 45 meters long and 4 meters high, it is the world’s first poetry memorial wall integrated with the natural environment. Qinghai Lake International Poetry Festival is one of the seven international poetry festivals and the only international poetry event in Asia. The Qinghai Lake International Poetry Festival was held on the shores of Qinghai Lake in August of the following year. This poetry wall is engraved with the heads of 29 great Chinese and foreign poets in history, the poets’ signatures, the names, portraits and resumes of the poets who have won the Golden Tibetan Antelope International Poetry Award and the Qinghai Lake Poetry Declaration. In the future, it will continue to record the Qinghai Lake International Poetry Festival and major events in the contemporary world poetry circle, and it is a dynamic and growing poetry memorial plaque.
- Tibetan tribes
The Tibetan tribe is located on the east side of the lake, which is a scenic spot that fully displays the Tibetan customs, diet, living and production. It covers an area of dozens of acres, and has Tibetan herdsmen living and production facilities such as residential houses, tents, fences and shooting ranges. Visitors can intuitively show the family life of thousands of Tibetan households and ordinary residents, and can see the whole process of folk art such as shortening, milking and making thangka and silverware by Tibetan herdsmen. (Qinghai’s Tibetans are dominated by those who speak the Amdo dialect, with the exception of Yushu), but they are just as good at singing and dancing and hospitable as the Tibetans of Kangba, the tribe we are visiting today. The first thing we saw was the gate of the tribe, which was made of flat stone, with the words “Tibetan tribe” written in both Tibetan and Chinese characters, and the white Hada and the skull of a yak with the meat removed hung next to it, which symbolized auspice and exorcised evil spirits. After entering the gate, there is a vehicle on our left, named “early water raft”, which is also the earliest water transport in Qinghai Lake. Next, we will see a cone-shaped building, you will see its colorful fluttering cloth, printed with Tibetan Buddhist scriptures, we call it “prayer flags”, and also call it “wind turning Sutra”. Whenever it is blown by the wind, Tibetans think that the scriptures on the prayer flags have been recited, and they also pray for themselves once. Under the prayer flags there are small yellow buckets, which we call the “Mani bucket”, also known as the “hand turning Sutra”, because it contains the scriptures. If you want to pray for yourself and your family, you can turn it, but note that you must turn it in a clockwise direction, left in right out.
- Black yak tent.
We went to visit the most nomadic characteristics of the tent, people called it the “black yak tent”, it is very simple to build, just with a few sticks, and then fixed around can be used to live, his characteristics reflect the herdsmen by water and grass living habits. Well, you can come with me to visit the tent, the tent in the middle of the simple boat stove, on both sides of the typical Tibetan style long table and Tibetan carpet. In order to prevent the surrounding wind from entering the tent, yak woven bags and cow and sheepskin bags are pressed around the edges. In front of the tent is a small square, we know that Tibetans are a good singing and dancing people. Every festival, Tibetans will wear the most beautiful clothes in the middle of the square gas a bonfire, around the fire to jump happy Guzhuang dance.
The Queen Mother of the West
Now we see this open arms, graceful and elegant statue is the legend of the West Queen mother, the legend of the sixth day of the sixth lunar month every year, the West Queen Mother will set up a peach banquet here, feasting on various gods, and folk not only believe that the Queen Mother (West Queen Mother) has the medicine of immortality, but also a blessing, giving son, risk eliminating disaster auspicious heavenly mother. In the largest Yao pool of the West Queen Mother, can people feel the wonderful charm of Kunlun mythology?
Six, Mani stick
The simple religious structure standing in front of us is called the Mani Sutra pole, which is a simple religious structure common in Tibetan people. The wooden pole in the middle is firmly fixed with stones, and the colorful cloth strips printed with scriptures are tied to the flagpole or pulled around the flagpole with cow hair rope. The colorful cloth strips represent different meanings. Green represents the grassland, white represents the white cloud, yellow represents the moon, blue represents the blue sky, red represents the sun. Prayer flags are a way for the Tibetan people to pray for blessings. When prayer flags flutter in the wind, they are equivalent to chanting sutras. In this unique way, the Tibetan people pray for peace and good luck and express their infinite reverence for nature.
Seven, the pagoda
The area around Qinghai Lake can see a lot of Tibetan-style stupas, stupas have different architectural shapes and functions. From the shape point of view, there are mainly altar city type and overlying bowl type. The Tibetan-style stupa you see now is a Tibetan-style overlying bowl pagoda, which is a common religious building in Tibetan areas. There are as many as 108 different kinds of stupas around Qinghai Lake. With a wide shoulder and a round belly, it is like an inverted monk’s bowl, and because it is shaped like a bottle, it is commonly known as “bottle tower”. The top of the pagoda is generally plated with gold copper canopy, with wind chimes hanging on the edge, and there is a gilt flame pearl pagoda on the top of the canopy, which is majestic and beautiful, giving people a sense of purity and solemnness. Generally, on the first and fifteenth day of every month, Tibetan people come to simmer mulberry trees and offer sacrifices, praying for the protection of gods. The pagoda has become a totem worshipped in the ancient Tibetan heart with its king’s gas and unconquerability.
- F-type pier
Located on the lake side of Qinghai Lake Scenic spot, the “F” type deep into the lake is the dock for visitors to enter the lake and take a cruise. There are many scenic spots on the dock, and it is also the best place for tourists to get close to the lake and enjoy the elegance of the lake, including the snow yak stone collected when the Yellow River is stopped, the fish bridge, the water square, the white pagoda, the prayer flags, and the stone monument of “Qinghai Lake National Scenic Spot” erected by the Ministry of National Construction. You can take a cruise to the torpedo tower, Erlang Sword, three stone, sea heart Mountain and other scenic spots on the lake to visit.
Qinghai Lake Cruise Company has a variety of different kinds of luxury cruise ships, now we go to feel the feeling of boating on Qinghai Lake, on the lake tour, of course, it is necessary to have a certain understanding of Qinghai Lake, now I will be the general situation of Qinghai Lake and the legend of Qinghai Lake to you to make an introduction, Qinghai Lake, is the largest inland, ranked second in the world and the highest elevation of the saltwater lake. It is a huge treasure lake full of magical colors, rich resources, rich historical and cultural deposits, and deeply concerned by the world. It is a national AAAA scenic spot famous at home and abroad.
- Qinghai Lake Natural Wonders.
The mystery of Qinghai Lake is diverse, in addition to the unique landscape of dragon water absorption, the most characteristic is the Kaihu Lake. There are two kinds of Wenkai and Wukai in the Kaihu of Qinghai Lake, which is really a very unique landscape. The time to thaw the lake is about early April every year; One day, suddenly a strong wind, from morning to evening chaos, the next morning, the first day or a thousand miles of frozen lake, is already a blue lake, even a little of the remaining ice residue can not find, let people feel the mystery of nature. This is what happens most of the time. People call this kind of lake Wenkai.
The pre-Qin period of Lake Wukai was also the first chaotic wind, which made the ice of the frozen lake suddenly rise in temperature and quickly approach 4℃. As we all know, water has the smallest volume at 4 ° C, so when the ice sheet of the lake reaches 4 ° C, it suddenly explodes, and then it is followed by separation and drift. Such a lake is not quiet, the sound of thick ice cracking, the sound of thin ice cracking, burst out together, like ten thousand horses galloping on the prairie, and like thunder rolling from the sky. Coupled with the roar of the wind that swept across the thousands of square kilometers of the lake, it was extraordinary, deafening and jaw-dropping to those who watched. Then there are the large and small pieces of ice, which are pushed by the wind, bumping against each other, now rushing towards the shore, now surging towards the heart of the lake. The ice cubes stand up and then crash down, this place stands up, that place falls again. That formation, as the local people legend, is the West Sea dragon King in the big parade, because this thaw method is fast and violent, majestic, so called “Wukai Lake”.
Ten, sacrifice sea culture.
The building located on the lake is China’s torpedo launch experimental base, built in 1965, is China’s first torpedo launch experimental base, it is of great significance to the construction and improvement of the Chinese navy. At the base we can also see two torpedoes, about 7.6 meters long, each weighing about 2 tons, a range of 8 kilometers, 39 knots per hour.
In Qinghai Lake, you can also witness or personally participate in some ethnic activities, such as sea sacrifice. There is such a legend that an emperor of the Han Dynasty sent an emissary to the Qiang land to give the Qiang king a bag of needles (needles are symbols with elite soldiers), and the Qiang king realized that the Han Emperor would send troops to occupy the Qiang land, the Qiang king gave the Han Emperor a bottle of water wrapped in blue cloth in return. When the Han Emperor saw this water, he concluded that the Qiang was a threat to the sea of Han. So they sent spies to investigate. The spy saw the overflowing sea between the plateaus, stormy and surging. If dozens of people dig for dozens of hours, it is possible to overturn the river in an instant and cover the entire Han Dynasty from the danger of disaster. When the spies returned, they reported what they had seen to the emperor. The emperors and ministers of the Han Dynasty discussed that the solution to eliminate this hidden danger was to send envoys to Qinghai every year to worship the god of the sea and pray that the sea water would not overflow to the disaster. The Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties regarded “Tsowenbo” as a sacred lake, and gave Tsowenbo the titles of “King of Guangrun”, “Spirit”, “Water God” and so on. For thousands of years, people of all ethnic groups have also named “Tsowenbo” as a sacred lake, especially in the Tibetan Year of the Sheep, people flocked to Qinghai Lake to worship, turn the sea, offer sacrifices to Russian Bo, and throw precious bottles into the lake to offer sacrifices to the dragon God. The festival is held in April, June and August of the lunar calendar each year, and the official sites for the festival are Chahan City, Shatuo Temple and Ketuya Huo. There are many mountain deities around Qinghai Lake, which is the original Tibetan deities and has a very sacred status in Tibetan ideology. It is regarded as the god of earthly protection and one of the advanced forms of natural force, and its formation is based on the animistic concept. Local people in the sea at the same time, but also in the seaside and mountains to sacrifice Russian Bo, simmer mulberry sacrifices, to seek the “God of the sea” and the god of the mountain bless peace, good weather, crops, six animals flourishing.
Now what you can see in front of you is the Mani Stone, which is engraved with the six words of Guanyin Bodhisattva: om, ma, ah, bai, mi, moo. The Tibetan people believe that repeating these six words regularly can eliminate disasters, solve difficulties, and bring peace and good luck.
Xii. Erlangjian Peninsula.
Now we see that the sand belt stretching into the lake in the distance is Erlang sword, Tibetan language called “Langqian and wa”, about 4 kilometers long, legend, a long time ago, a giant elephant does not know where to swim to the wild Motang grassland, because of the soil and water, died in the lakeshore, a huge ivory fell here, this pair of ivory gradually formed the sand bank. From then on, people called it “Erlang sword”.
Next we take a boat to Erlang Jian sightseeing, sightseeing.
Auspicious four Rui
This is a sculpture “Sirui Zhengxiang” built on the sword end of Erlang Jian. The “Auspicious Sirui” is located in the pier square of Erlang Jian. It is composed of harmony Sirui, Tibetan auspicious style and Eight treasures relief base. The whole sculpture is 13.69 meters high, weighs 6.5 tons and invests 1.08 million yuan. The story of elephants, monkeys, rabbits and birds from conflict to harmony is the prototype, implying national unity and social harmony.
- Bird watching platform
Visitors, this is not a bird island, but here you can see a variety of birds that migrate to Qinghai Lake regularly every year. In order to make up for the tourists can not go to the Qinghai Lake bird island bird watching regret, the scenic spot administration set up this scenic spot in Erlangjian scenic spot, according to the living habits of birds, built a suitable environment for their survival, and a variety of birds are bred here.
In order not to disturb the birds, a bird watching platform has been set up here, and the function of the bird watching platform is that people can see the birds, but the birds can not see the people.
Plateau sacred lake Altar
Dear visitors, every year on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month, that is, the Buddha’s birthday, here will be held a huge ceremony of offering to the sea, then, the monks of the temple, the Tibetan masses within dozens of kilometers of the square garden, will gather here, chanting Buddha and chanting, offering sacrifices to Qinghai Lake, for this reason, in Erlangjian scenic area specially built a plateau sacred lake altar.
Sixteen, sacrificial sea area
This is an important place for Tibetan compatriots to worship Qinghai Lake every year. The sacrificial sea is a spontaneous activity of the Tibetan masses who have lived in Qinghai lakeside for generations and come to Qinghai lakeside to offer sacrifices to the sea every auspicious day. This activity originated in the Tang Dynasty and has a history of 1200 years. In 751, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty gave Xihai the title of “Lord Guanggrun”, and in 1041, Emperor Renzong of the Song Dynasty gave the title of “King Guanggrun” to worship the sea.
Seventeen, simmering table
“Sang” means purification in Tibetan language. The Tibetan people think that the dragon in the sacred lake is most afraid of polluting the lake water, so they pay special attention to cleaning and purifying the lake water, and avoid throwing dirty goods such as meat and feces into the lake. It is forbidden to dig stone dirt near the lake and spring, and simmering mulberry is a manifestation of this sacrificial activity. The more important significance is to purify the air and purify oneself with the smoke of aromatic plants such as cypress leaves, rhododendrons, and grains. Only in a clean environment can the gods get close to themselves and bless themselves.