After 4 hours’ train, we left Beijing behind us and set foot on the land of Central China’s Henan province. To the northwest of Anyang City lies a city called Linzhou, which sounds a stranger to most people. However, if one starts to talk about the Red Flag Canal (红旗渠 hóng qí qú) of Lin County, the album of old days will unfold in surges.
The Red Flag Canal has always been used as an example of the people, guided by Mao Zedong Thought, harnessing Nature. Together with Dazhai and Daqing, it has been held up for study and emulation as a model of the validity of the story of “The Foolish Old Man Who Removed the Mountains”, one of the “Three Constantly Read Articles”.
The Great Wall of Water in China
Without the Red Flag Canal, the Lin County in the north of Henan province could still be unknown to the public.
The Red Flag Canal is an irrigation canal located 80 km northwest of Anyang in the northern extremity in Henan province.
Along the way to Red Flag Canal, Taihang Mountain extends long and wide, and is all covered with green trees. The Red Flag Canal now has become a scenic spot, welcoming tourists all over the country.
Lin County, locates in the northwest of Henan Province. Lying at the eastern foot of the southern part of Taihang Mountain, it is where Henan, Shanxi and Hebei provinces meet. The mountainous and rocky county has a very thin layer of soil and is dotted with hills and peaks. The eastern part is about 300-400 meters in elevation. In the west the Linlu Mountain at the eastern foot of Taihang Mountain is about 1,500 meters high above the sea level. This piece of land used to be in the sea 2,500 million years ago. Later volcano explosion and crust movement turned the sea into ancient land of gneiss. Year after year the land sank into the water and became coastal region. Around 1,100 million years ago the continental shelf rose again and grew into steep terrace hills of quartzite.
That was not the end of story. About 500 million years ago a new round tectonic movement finally formed the top layer of limestone on the mountain. Ups and downs of the land left the Linlu Mountain with three distinctive layers, recording the history of ancient Lin County. The cliffs of Linlu Mountain soars up into the sky and set a sharp contrast with Linzhou Basin. Half way up the mountain is the famous Red Flag Canal, winding through the green mountains like a flying belt.
Linzhou is a mountainous area with draughts in almost all seasons. In the memo of the Lin County, there are records of about 100 natural disasters, 30 draughts and maneating phenomenon between 1436 and 1949. An inscription describes that in the 2nd year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu, there were 117 people in Lin County. However, only 11 survived 3 or 4 years later. The bodies piled up like a hill. In all, the problem of water bewildered the 100 thousand people in Lin County.
According to the guide, when there was no Red Flag Canal a few decades ago, it was a naked mountain. Villagers had to carry water from places far away. Raising a fish pond was just unpractical.
In the 1950s, the Lin County acted to the call of the government to facilitate water conservancy projects. There were a few reservoirs built later on. However, at the end of 1956, a big draught happened here. It was rainless, and the reservoirs lacked water and became empty.
The only method was to find water from outside. Yang Gui was the county mayor at that time. Under his leadership, the committee put forward a crazy idea, even to nowadays people - to build a river on the rock purely by manpower, to draw the water to the county from Zhanghe River.
During a decade, people in Lin County worked extremely hard to build the Canal. It was a real challenge. And once, the rock fell down during the construction, but villagers didn’t withdraw. The water was drawn into the canal on April 5, 1965. Three months later, the whole project was completed. If the stones dug from the canal were put together into a wall of 2 meters long and 3 meters wide, it could connect Guangzhou and Harbin.
There are mainly three tourist sights in the area, Watershed, Youth Cave and Luosi Pool.
The canal was indeed a miracle to everyone at that time. The main canal was 70.6 kilometers. From the starting point in Shanxi province to the end in Lin County, there was only 8.8 m fall in altitude. If there were any mistake, the canal, with such a long distance, would fail to draw water to the county. In addition, there were hardly tools or machines to help dig the hard rock stones of the Taihang Mountain.
Building the canal was such a huge project at that time. The source of the canal locates on the slope of Houbi Cliff, Shicheng Town of Pingshun County in Shanxi Province. The trunk canal, being built on the hilly slope of Taihang, is 70.6 kilometers long, 8 meters wide at the bottom and 4.3 meters high with a slope of 1/8000 degree. The designed flow capacity is 25 cubic meters per second. The sluice gate lets out two flows, the left one meeting Hero Canal in Hejian Town with a slope degree of 1/5000, capacity of 14 cubic meters per second and irrigation coverage of 57,990 acres, the second one running eastward to Madian Village of Hengshui Town with a length of 46.7 kilometers, width of 3.5 meters at the bottom, height of 2.5 meters, flow capacity of 7.7 cubic meters per second, 1/2000 degree of slope, and irrigation coverage of 19,110 acres. When the river reaches the 500-meter point, the third canal shows up and goes all the way eastward with a length of 10.9 kilometers, width of 2.5 meters at the bottom, height of 2.2 meters, flow capacity of 3.3 cubic meters per second, 1/3000 degree of slope, and irrigation coverage of 11,862 acres. The crisscross network of trunk, lateral and branch canals provides irrigation for the 88,962-acre farming land in Lin County.
The Watershed plays an important role in this regard. It is not only a water control for the three trunk canals but also a water divide geographically. It took great pains for the decision-makers and designers to work it out properly, and it is also a vivid reflection of the local people’s persistence and diligence. The Youth Cave is another example to show how resolute they were. The Youth Cave is a very high tunnel in Linlu Mountain. Standing at the ominous position one could not help trembling in the wind. There are a lot of calligraphic works painted by famous artists around. The natural landscape can be described as dramatic, magnificent, perilous and overwhelming. It is at the position where one could fully interpret the proverb that people, and people alone, are the driving force of world history.
In the most difficult days, 300 young people gathered here to build the 300-meter-long and 8-meter-wide tunnel. The young people could only feed themselves with herbs and algae, but continued with the work stealthily.
The construction of the Red Flag Canal has brought great changes to the small village, and also the Lin County. The canal has improved the living conditions of people in Lin County. They received a great harvest. The land could yield 50 kilograms of crop originally, but now it is about 10 times of that. And villagers started to plan their own fish ponds and fruits.
“Red flag canal spirit”, which stands for self-reliance, hard work, solidarity and cooperation, and unselfish devotion, is the vivid incarnation of Chinese characters and is the precious spiritual treasure of the country.
Red Flag Canal is also named as “Great Wall of Water”in China. In the 1970s, Premier Zhou said to the international friends proudly, “There are two miracles in China. One is the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge, and the other is the Red Flag Canal in Lin County.”
Today the Red Flag Canal is still lying quietly in the mountain and stretching out on the land of Lin County. A memoriam was erected to commemorate those devotees.
The Wonderland of Yuntai Mountain
Henan province is considered the cradle of Chinese civilization due to its location on the Yellow River. This rich historic heritage has endowed Henan with numerous historic treasures, but also beautiful sceneries. Yuntai Mountain is one of them you shouldn’t miss.
Yuntai Mountain is situated in Xiuwu County, about 30 kilometers(18.6 miles) from Jiaozuo City. This mountain is among the first group from all over the world that received the title of World Geologic Park from UNESCO in 2004. It is also the only famous scenic area in Henan Province having the titles of National 5A Grade Tourist Attraction, National Forest Park, National Geologic Park, National Water Conservancy Scenic Area and National Macaque Natural Reserve.
The park is known for its massive gardening areas, overhanging high cliffs, flying waterfalls, secluded valleys and spring water.
The mountain is also notable for its peculiar peaks, which stretch far into the distance. The main peak, Zhuyu, is 1,308 meters above the sea level. Mounting by the scaling ladder to the top, you can have a wonderful overview of everything at your feet. Looking further north into the Taihang Mountain, you can see the mountains and hills extending continuously. Looking south to the Huaichuan Plain, you can see the Yellow River winding its way like a belt. The place is also famous for its numerous rivers, lakes, pools and springs. The highest waterfall in the country — Yuntai Skyscraper Waterfall, which is 314 meters high like a huge pillar, looks especially magnificent, forming a unique spectacle along with other waterfalls, such as the Tianmen Waterfall, Bailong Waterfall, Huanglong Waterfall and Y-shaped Waterfall, dashing abruptly downward. Moreover, the spring water here tastes so sweet and cool that you will never forget such refreshing experience. Also, the Qinglong Canyon here, renowned as “First Canyon in Central China”, attracts many people for ecological touring by its mild climate, rich water resources and various vegetations.
Apart from its splendid sceneries of mountains and rivers, the Yuntai Mountain has temperate climate of continental monsoon. The four seasons here are quite distinctive. With the north Taihang Mountain as its natural defense, it is less windy but always sunny and hot with less rain, which is a typical climate in Central China. However, the weather is changeable in different areas of the mountain due to different regional conditions and sea levels. Covered by large pieces of thick forests with abundant spring resources, the mountain is also rich in varieties of exotic plants, flowers and herbs. Besides such valuable herbs as ginseng and magic fungus, there are over 200 kinds of Chinese herbs, such as cornus officinals, forsythia suspensa, and Chinese angelica.
The Red Stone Canyon, which is a rare canyon sight in north China with waterfalls, lakes, pools and gullies, is highly acclaimed by gardening experts as a “natural gallery for mountain and river collections” because of its grand and exclusive landscapes.
It is the geologic relic of a crustal movement that took place 1.4 billion years ago, and rare Danxia landform in northern China. This gorge gathers many springs, waterfalls, streams, pools and gullies, so it is named “the corridor of superfine landscape” by experts. The southern side of the gorge is so narrow that it is only one-thread wide. Towering cliffs stand facing each other as a gate and torrents scour a gully down the cliffs. Here the White Dragon Waterfall is divided into three sections and drops in level of about 50 meters. Myriad springs and waterfalls dash against cliffs, making numerous colorful beads in sunlight like a natural fresco. White stalactites that grow in the quartz sandstones become simple and elegant under the red cliffs. Two emerged red stones look as if two lovers are locked together in a long kiss. Nine dragon pools make a stream whose water is so limpid that many beautiful stones can be seen clearly.
The Taihang Mountain Rhesus Monkeys are a kind of second-class protected animals belonging to the primate family in evolution system. Living in groups in cold places at the most northern latitude, they grow very big in size with long furs and short tails.
On Yuntai Mountain, I’m sure that you can not only enjoy the beauty of the landscapes and see the essence of the landscapes, but also understand the history of the earth that is dozens of billions of years earlier than human civilization.