Stroll at ease

Author: Fan Jie
Author Country: China
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-07-01
Features: "After I wrote this book, what else will Yu Qiuwei write?" This is something that anyone who knows Fan Jie would immediately recognize as something he said. Among my classmates, only one Fan Jie is unforgettable at first sight. Some people need to be introduced a hundred times, yet you still can't remember their faces—such people lack personality and have ordinary appearances. But Fan Jie was different. Whenever he spoke, he would drop many "fresh insights," and his demeanor was always "unconventional." His face had a natural gift; his features were rugged, with slightly prominent cheekbones, and he had a pair of expressive, small squinty eyes. It was said that many girls in school called him handsome, but I couldn’t see why. Instead, his small squinty eyes made him unforgettable. Perhaps because he had once served in the Bingtian Karakoram Mountains, his posture wasn’t perfectly straight, but his head was held high, giving him an air of solemnity. Fan Jie was a few years older than me. When I first entered university, I had just moved from the countryside, while Fan Jie had already had a glorious history of "upgrading" to the northern Shaanxi cave dwellings and participating in the "upgrading" movement before joining the army. Therefore, he had great confidence in his experiences and knowledge, and many classmates regarded him as a talented and eloquent figure. He was sincere and, yet often misunderstood. He was kind and loyal in his interactions but couldn’t ignore others’ opinions of him. He studied philosophy and had some research on Laozi and Zhuangzi, but he could never fully understand them because his mind was always restless.
When his soul returned to nature, he attended a conference in Urumqi, Xinjiang. The conference arranged a visit to Tianchi. Anyone familiar with Xinjiang knows that there is a Tianshan Mountain there, and Tianchi is located halfway up Bogda Peak on the Tianshan. It takes about two hours to travel north from Urumqi, within the jurisdiction of Fukang County in Changji Prefecture. Before coming, I always thought Xinjiang was in the far northwest, filled with vast deserts and towering mountains, and that it must be desolate, arid, and desolate from a living perspective, a place that was quite frightening. But the journey to Tianchi far exceeded our expectations. The sides of the road were covered with trees, and the scenery was very pleasant. The denser the trees became as we climbed higher, the more lush the leaves were. Streams of water occasionally flowed between the rocks and trees, abundant, clear, and rushing. The beautiful scenery sparked everyone’s enthusiasm, and we talked and laughed nonstop. Before we knew it, the car arrived at the halfway point, and a few steps could take us to the view of Tianchi. As the saying goes, "seeing is not as good as hearing," and visiting many scenic spots often leaves one somewhat disappointed. But Tianchi was different; the scene was truly beyond words, or rather, it was impossible to fully describe it in words. A deep, bottomless lake, vast and tranquil; surrounded by slopes covered in spruce trees, tall and magnificent; distant snow-capped mountains in the distance, majestic and imposing; a brilliant sun in the clear sky, dazzling and radiant. The azure sky, the grayish-white peaks, the emerald slopes, and the jade-green lake, each layer complementing the others, forming a harmonious and inseparable picture, a masterpiece that was hard to depict. You truly have to marvel at the wonders of nature for creating such a paradise. It exudes elegance in its boldness, reveals the harmony of colors in its contrasts, holds warmth in its stillness, and generates a subtle grace in its richness. Simply too beautiful! Too breathtaking! Especially in such a remote and mountainous place. Beautiful places often have beautiful legends. Anciently known as "Yaochi," it is said that three thousand years ago, the King of Zhou traveled west and feasted with the Queen Mother of the West here. As he left, she sang, "White clouds in the sky, mountains and rivers between, may you not die, and return again." The name "Tianchi" dates back to the 48th year of the Qianlong reign in the Qing Dynasty, from the inscription on the "Record of Digging a Water on Lingshan Tianchi" by Mingliang, the regional commander of Xinjiang. It means "clear heaven" and "divine pool." It stands over 1,900 meters above sea level and is formed by snowmelt from Bogda Peak. The water is over 90 meters deep, crystal clear, like jade.
As soon as our group hurriedly arrived at the lake, we took out our cameras to capture this elegant and beautiful scenery. We laughed, played, and threw stones into the water, merging ourselves with the sincere emotions and the extraordinary landscape. Upon seeing our arrival, Kazakh herdsmen in groups of three or five immediately gathered around us. This is the homeland of the Kazakh people, where white yurts, the dwellings of the herdsmen, are scattered across the surrounding slopes. Most Kazakhs live by herding and are accustomed to moving frequently, making the yurt their mobile homes. From time to time, wisps of smoke drifted from these yurts, adding color and romance to the environment. These herdsmen wore traditional clothing and headgear unique to the Kazakhs, each holding a horse ready for riding. They were taking tourists up the mountain. They spoke halting Chinese and negotiated prices with the visitors. The visitors couldn’t refuse the herdsmen’s persuasion and haggled, eventually being led onto horsebacks and taken to the summit. I really didn’t want to spoil the excitement of seeing this beautiful scenery, so I avoided the herdsmen’s persistence and the crowd heading up on horseback. Instead, I found a quiet slope and climbed up alone.