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The one on the ridge
A unique landscape
✦ Author: Wu Xueli
At noon in summer, you can drive through the mountains as if you are in an endless sea of green. Although it was the height of summer and the scorching sun was scorching, the eyes were full of green, vigorous and lush, fresh and tender but refreshing, and the heat had already escaped without a trace, and the bottom of my heart was cool and comfortable.
The car follows the winding local road, sometimes jumping up the ridge, sometimes passing through the canyon, and the melodious birdsong outside the window is combined with the laughter inside the car, like a concerto between man and nature in the quiet valley. The sun shines through the clouds and onto the green sea, making the green leaves brighter and clearer. The continuous ridges are like waves in the green sea, surging layer by layer to the horizon. Wisps of white mist rising from the forest float into the sky like silk, decorating the blue sky with white clouds. From time to time there are clear streams singing in the valley, springs and waterfalls falling, and the occasional call of animals, these birds, pheasants and other animals seem to be very lively, they are not afraid of people, and they are even more cheerful to see us coming. Nature is so wonderful, in different seasons, at different times, every hour and every minute is a picturesque and beautiful drama.
While reveling in the dreamlike beauty of nature, someone suddenly shouted: "Look at the roadside!" Look at the side of the road! ”。 Everyone came back to their senses and looked at the side of the road, only to see rows of neatly trimmed green belts, stretching like hedges and winding along the highway into the distance, at first glance, it is no different from the artificial green belt in the city, which is not surprising. But a closer look reveals that it is striking. It is a green belt formed entirely by wild firethorns, with lush branches and dense leaves, neatly arranged next to each other, all pruned in the same shape, like a solid green wall.
These firethorn rhizomes are as thick as an adult's arm and look like they've been planted for at least 15 years. It's just so shocking, and the eyes are reluctant to leave for a long time, because this kind of firethorn is not a green seedling artificially cultivated by the nursery, but a kind of wild evergreen shrub that grows naturally in our mountains, grows very slowly, the old branches are dark brown, the small leaves are green and shiny, obovate, the edge is jagged, the tip of the tooth is curved inward, like a small flower., densely turned, lush and verdant. The inflorescence is umbel-shaped, and the petals are white and nearly round. In late autumn, the fiery red bean-like fruits adorn the branches, dazzling like flames. Hence the name Firethorn.
It's the height of summer, we can only see a touch of emerald green, if it's autumn, that fiery red scenery isn't drunk! In addition, the fruit of firethorn is very sweet and edible. It has been confirmed by modern scientific research that it is a very good health food, which has the effects of invigorating blood and stopping bleeding, eliminating accumulation and stopping dysentery, and delaying aging. Nowadays, it is also cultivated artificially and made into beverages or health wines. In fact, in our local folk, it also has a well-known name: life-saving food. In the past, when food was scarce, every autumn and winter, people would go over the mountains and mountains to collect life-saving red fruits and take them home as rations to satisfy their hunger. I don't know how many hungry people have been saved, so everyone affectionately calls it life-saving food.
Seeing that so many life-saving food has been planted on the side of this 54-kilometer-long road, and it has grown so big, where did these life-saving food seedlings come from? Who planted it? And who is in charge of pruning so well? In addition to enjoying the beautiful scenery, with the shock and curiosity of the green belt, with a mind full of questions, I walked the connecting line between Manchuan Town and Zhaochuan Town in Shanyang County, Shaanxi Province - Manzhao Highway.
It has been many years since we have walked this winding highway over the mountains and mountains, and this time we decided that the Advisory Committee would go to representative towns and villages to conduct research on changing customs and social governance, so we had the opportunity to set foot on this ridge road again. When I came back, I always wanted to write down something, but I was afraid that the words would not reach the meaning. A few days ago, I also consulted on some information about the construction and greening of the Manzhao Highway, but I barely started writing until today.
Our Shanyang County is a typical mountainous county, with beautiful scenery, large mountains and dense forests, and ravines. Zhaochuan Town and Manchuan Town are both towns that are far away from the county seat. Now Manchuan Town is along the Fuyin Expressway, which shortens the distance from the county seat, and the road connecting the two towns is a local highway hovering between thousands of mountains and ravines.
It is understood that this highway was built in 1975, the whole section is between the mountains and the ravine, due to geographical conditions and financial limitations, when it was built only the sandy road surface that can be opened to traffic, every summer rainstorm or winter heavy snow, will cause part of the road surface to collapse and debris flow blockage, need to spend manpower and material resources to repair. In 2007, after widening, reconstruction and hardening, the road condition was significantly improved. In order to maintain and manage the road on this ridge, the county rural road management bureau has expanded the maintenance team, and a total of 27 maintenance public welfare posts have been set up, each of whom manages and protects two kilometers of road, and attends no less than 22 days a month to be responsible for various maintenance work. According to reports, because the salary of the road maintenance public welfare post was very low at that time, only more than 500 yuan per month, the maintenance workers were basically local residents, so it was more convenient for them to eat and live in their own homes.
Regarding the firethorn green belt, the situation is like this: at that time, because of economic difficulties, the road was really unable to green on both sides of the road after the road was reconstructed, and most of the road was on the ridge, drought and lack of water, and the general greening seedlings were difficult to survive, so the Rural Highway Administration decided to adopt: "self-collection, self-planting and self-protection mode" to green the road, and called 27 road maintenance workers to dig life-saving food seedlings on the mountain every day, plant them by themselves, and manage them until the greening of the whole road section was completed. This is the "self-picking, self-cultivation and self-care model". Because the life-saving food is a local seedling, it is cold and drought tolerant, and the survival rate is very high, which not only saves the cost of greening, but also solves the problem that other seedlings are difficult to survive. In this way, before coming to work every day, these 27 road maintenance workers first go to the mountains to dig up life-saving grain seedlings, and then plant them on the roadside in turn, and are responsible for planting, raising and pruning. In addition to normal maintenance work, they rely on their industrious hands day after day to create miracles on the high mountains. For more than ten years, they have been taking care of these seedlings like their own children, and finally made them thrive into this beautiful scenery on the side of the road. This unique green belt is unique in the province and even in the country. Shanyang County Local Highway Administration of this self-reliance, innovative model of practice, has been fully affirmed by the higher management departments, they overcome difficulties, due diligence, and try to maintain the local roads in the county, year after year by the provincial and municipal authorities commendation awards!
Speaking of which, you can understand how a green belt can be impressive. You can imagine that back then, every morning, road maintenance workers in orange vests, pouting heads, wrinkled faces, and calloused hands collected saplings in the mountains. When you pass by the road, it seems to see the orange red reflecting the green trees, the sun, the red leaves, and the snow, reflecting the figure in every corner of the road. They work in obscurity year after year under extremely difficult conditions for a meager wage, and it is precisely because of their decades of hard work that they have achieved today's fruitful results. Just like a line of CCTV: "All greatness is created by both hands". Thinking of this, one can't help but have a heartfelt reverence for these road maintenance workers. It is their diligence and simplicity that make this world more beautiful!
Author: Wu Xueli (Yuyan)
Born in 1965 in Shanyang County, Shaanxi Province, he has worked in education, radio and television, culture and tourism and other departments, and is now retired. Hobbies such as literature and art, travel, etc
Reviewer: Gu Lan / Typesetting: Wang Shan
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