In the vast land, the remnants of the wall are more vicissitudes in the afterglow of the sunset; On the top of the ridge, the Great Wall of Warring States Qin stands quietly. This is the starting place of the Great Wall of Qin in the Warring States of Tongwei - Siluoping Village, Bangluo Town.
Guo Jiezhen has long lost count of how many times he has walked on this ancient road in search of historical relics.
"The Great Wall of Qin in the Warring States Period does not represent the smoke and blood of war, it is a link connecting the north and the south, communicating the east and the west, like a cultural bloodline." Guo Jiezhen said.
Photo by Guo Jiezhen and Wang Han
Not archaeologists, but often digging for the remains of civilization
He is not a professional archaeologist, but he knows every tile and every section of the city wall on this ridge well.
The loess road is vertical and horizontal, and the Great Wall of Qin is winding and undulating. According to historical records, in the thirty-seventh year of King Zhaoxiang of Qin, Qin had Longxi, Beidi, and Shangjun, and built the Great Wall to resist Hu. Now Tongwei is under the jurisdiction of Longxi County, and the Great Wall of Qin in the Warring States period also hovers between this mountain and the valley. Guo Jiezhen said that the surface of Tongwei is covered with loess, and the loess is very strong after being humidified and rammed, which is an ideal building material at that time, and the Great Wall of Qin is also mostly made of local materials.
"Regarding the field research of the Great Wall of the Warring States of Qin, I mainly surveyed the rubble fragments and piers along the site." Guo Jiezhen introduced that the tiles along the line are the main reference materials for his archaeological dynasties, and the slabs and tiles contain many important information about the construction and development of the ancient Qin Great Wall, from which we can get a glimpse of the changes in the Qin period.
The tiles found by Guo Jiezhen (photo provided by the interviewee)
The remains of the Great Wall of Qin, which winds between the moat beam of Siluoping City and the Xujiabao Fort, have become the holy place in Guo Jiezhen's heart. He shuttled back and forth countless times, just to pick up the broken pieces scattered in history, these tiles are like lost stars, silently telling the story of thousands of years.
Guo Jiezhen picked up a heavy bag of "treasures" from a corner of his home, which were tiles he had carefully collected from around the ruins of the Great Wall of Qin. In Guo Jiezhen's eyes, they are priceless treasures, and every crack and color carries a heavy history and vicissitudes of life.
I'm not a geologist, but I often cross mountains and mountains alone
Guo Jiezhen is not a geologist, but he has left a solid footprint among the rugged mountains and rivers, just to trace those traces that have been forgotten by time.
"I don't have a precise measuring instrument, and I don't have a better means of transportation." Guo Jiezhen sighed lightly, but his face was full of smiles. The road ahead is full of shackles, but it ignites the burning heart of exploration. From one pier to another, Guo Jiezhen carefully measured the length of his feet with his feet as rulers. Every step strives to be steady, counting silently in my heart, and what accumulates between the steps is an accurate estimate of the distance, and it is also an endless admiration for the ancient ruins. Or slowly circumnavigate the pier for a week, outlining its solemn silhouette with footsteps, and each step is a gentle touch of the past glory.
Take the step as the pen to draw the vein of the Great Wall. Guo Jiezhen's footsteps are light and firm, shuttling between the ruins and broken walls, and whenever the traces of the Great Wall quietly disappear from sight, he reorients himself to the Great Wall looming in the distance. Using itself as the starting point, the tiles hidden among the vegetation were excavated left and right to determine the direction of the Great Wall.
Although nothing was often found, the regret was only for a short time. Next time, he will embark on another journey from here, re-searching for traces of the Great Wall, until those broken fragments are connected in his heart, creating a deep memory that resonates with this ancient land.
The legacy of the Great Wall of Qin, like a silent giant, touches the softest corners of every soul in its unique way.
Guo Jiezhen led a team to walk the ruins of the Great Wall of Qin (photo provided by the interviewee)
He is not a historian, but he often buries his head in the long scrolls of ancient history
The less than 15-square-meter wing room in Guo Jiezhen's home seems to have hidden things. Between the four walls, books are piled up, and some of the covers have long been yellowed.
Siluoping Village is located in a remote area and the transportation is inconvenient, so the express can only be rushed to Bangluo Town to pick it up, but this has not stopped Guo Jiezhen's thirst for knowledge. "My colleagues at my school often help me with the courier, and everyone once joked that when they saw the teacher holding a stack of books, they knew that they were helping me get it." Over time, every corner of the house is gradually filled with books.
In order to deeply explore the mystery of the site of the Great Wall of Qin in the Warring States Period, Guo Jiezhen spared no effort to collect relevant information. Whenever the article mentions, he will trace back to the source and buy back those related books one by one. "Even if there is only one chapter or section related to the Great Wall of Qin, I will buy it back and take a look." Guo Jiezhen said.
At first, he just shared his research experience with his circle of friends, but he didn't think about it, but it triggered a wide range of forwards from friends. Gradually, people in the neighborhood knew that there was a "Great Wall Pass" here.
When the Tongwei County Government organized the compilation of the Tongwei Great Wall Chronicles, the compilation team heard about his deeds and invited him to go to the Great Wall site for a field investigation. Under the guidance of Guo Jiezhen, the whole investigation process was smooth and unimpeded, as if the long river of history was also slowly unfolding in front of him, showing a magnificent picture.
Guo Jiezhen is a non-professional, but with the heart of a scholar, he keeps walking on the banks of the long river of history, taking love as the boat and persistence as the sail, continuing the thousand-year-old cultural context and writing a contemporary chapter.
(The authors are Wang Han and Li Xiaoyan, 2023 graduate students of the School of Journalism and Communication, Lanzhou University; Instructors Tan Zeming and Li Xinxin are teachers at the School of Journalism and Communication, Lanzhou University)