The Loess Plateau Through the Eyes of a Painter

Author: Zhou Lu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-01-01
Features: As a child, I often heard my father talk about paper-cutting, folk songs, yangge dance, Yan River, Baota Mountain, Qiaergou, urban carving, land reclamation, and the literacy movement. In the mid-1980s of the 20th century, I first came to the Loess Plateau of Shaanxi, which was a journey to fulfill a long-held dream. When I returned and showed my photos to my father, he was overjoyed. He murmured, "Things have changed here, but some places are still the same." That same year, at the national print exhibition, one of my early works, which initially received little attention and featured Shaanxi folk paper-cutting style, finally won a major award. This left me flabbergasted and unforgettable for life. From then on, every Chinese New Year, I would pack my bags and set off for the Loess Plateau. Every series of prints I created afterward depicted scenes and objects of the Loess Plateau. Every time I went on a research trip, I gained new insights, but at the same time, I felt a new sense of regret, always thinking there was something missing, never fully satisfied—this became the motivation for my next journey. I became addicted to research trips, gradually increasing from once or twice a year to three, and eventually, I poured all my effort into convincing my superiors to take a leave of absence and transfer to a small county in the heart of the Loess Plateau to serve as a deputy culture commissioner. Although I held the position of deputy culture commissioner, I didn’t handle any official matters and instead devoted myself to walking along the banks of the Yellow River and deep in the plateau, visiting villages and households, climbing ridges and peaks, and essentially became a full-time photographer. The Loess Plateau has always been a focal point of attention. In the distant past, it was famous as the cradle of the five thousand years of Chinese civilization. Legend has it that the ancient sage Fuxi lived in the Yanchuan County area, which is still known as the Fuxi River Village today. According to the Yanchuan County annals, "Fuxi looked up at the heavens and down at the land, discerned the yin-yang fish, and created the Bagua diagram." In the middle period, it contributed vast forests and vegetation to the First Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s efforts to consolidate his empire. The world’s first highway, the Qin straight road, passes through this region. In modern times, it embraced the Central Red Army, a revolutionary force, with its frail yet passionate arms. Today, it remains a land of loess, where the people of the plateau continue to work silently and diligently, living and multiplying on this land, moving the sun from the east to the west every day. The millennia-old gullies and the century-old loess plateaus are crisscrossed with countless gullies carved by rain and wind over thousands of years or even longer. These gullies divide the plateau into fragments. The ancestors did not abandon this land; they dug caves for shelter, gathered to form villages, and scattered across the gullies and peaks of the Loess Plateau. On the knife-sharp ridges, they cultivated fields shaped like the gentle curves of a mother’s body, which are known as loess plateaus or ridges. These are the granaries that sustain the people, their hope and reliance for survival. For thousands of years, people have continued to live here, where vegetation is almost gone, sandstorms rage, and drought prevails—a land deemed uninhabitable by UNESCO. Yet, they passively welcome the changing seasons, from spring to winter. Even when people feel they are about to leave this world, they must choose a high and far-sighted plateau for their final resting place, closing their eyes with blessings for their descendants to live happily and thrive. The Loess Plateau has witnessed countless moving stories and countless depictable scenes. Folk art, which emerged almost in sync with human origins, has always accompanied people. The paper-cutting, embroidery, face flowers, and carvings are simple yet elegant, adorning cave dwellings with unique charm, forming a gallery of pure and sincere cave art. These folk arts were never intended to please others but rather reflected people’s yearning for life, hope for the future, prayers for prosperity, and aspirations for their descendants—a form of self-entertainment. Similar forms include waist drums, yangge dance, daoqiang, and xintianyou. The rough and vigorous Ansha waist drum, once used to beat drums for battle and celebrate victories, is now a necessary prop for celebrating harvests, festivals, and New Year greetings. The folk song goes: "Dress in new clothes and dance the yangge, shedding a year’s fatigue in the first month. Row the drought boat, beat the waist drum, and find ways to cheer and shout." On the undulating land with gullies, wherever people live, you can hear the soul-stirring, high-pitched, and passionate songs of xintianyou. The people of the Loess Plateau have always faced the earth with their backs to the sky, toiling all year round, sweating, planting sparingly, and relying on the whims of the heavens. In their daily labor, they "sing to relieve sorrow, express emotions, improvise spontaneously, and sing freely," pouring their hearts out in longing for happiness and love. The vast and rugged Loess Plateau provides a profound, expansive, and boundless stage for the free and unrestrained xintianyou. Every xintianyou is a beautiful scene, and every depiction of xintianyou is a beautiful scene. In any portrayal of the Loess Plateau, you will find the notes of xintianyou. One person, one feeling. Although I was born in the south and have explored the water towns of Jiangnan, the residential areas of southern Anhui, and climbed famous mountains like Huangshan and Lushan, the Loess Plateau still moves me more and inspires me to create. And the simple, kind, hardworking, and honest people of northern Shaanxi haunt me—"Three days without seeing my brother, the passersby on the road have asked about him." I possess, I enjoy alone; you possess, we share together. May the places where my gaze lingers also catch your attention.