The great explorer Swing Holding.
1865, Swing Harding was born in a middle-class family in the Swedish capital. There is nothing unusual about family and early experiences. Its uniqueness lies in its unique sense of the times. It was the era when19th century was swallowed up by great geographical discoveries. Western geographers, perhaps the whole intellectual community declared war on the blank spots on the map, and the fleets that conquered the polar regions sailed out of the harbor one by one. The unknown people alone could become famous overnight because they drew a river in the tropical rain forest or marked the altitude of a certain virgin peak. Breathing tasted such an atmosphere, which made Swinheding have a persistent fascination with the unknown world. Therefore, when he 19 years old (just graduated from middle school), he learned that he had the opportunity to be a tutor in distant Baku, and he set foot on the road of leaving home without hesitation. After work, he paid all his salary for his travel expenses and made his first investigation trip to Persia and the Middle East.
1In the autumn of 886, Dangheding entered the university to study. 1890 In April, Swing Harding once again set foot on a trip to the Middle East. As an interpreter of the diplomatic mission of the Kingdom of Sweden, he successfully completed his mission and started his second adventure in Asia with the support of the king. 1890 to 12 entered Xinjiang province of China from Russia and arrived in Kashgar, a famous city in Central Asia. 189165438+1At the beginning of October, Swing Harding left China and returned to Sweden. 189310 June 16, swinholding left his hometown for Asia again. 1In February, 894, he entered the Pamirs and stayed at the foot of Mustag Mountain for a while, trying to climb this veritable "father of icebergs". 1 894 may1arrived in Kashgar. 1895 February 17, Sven Hedin went to the Taklimakan desert. Due to inexperience and bad conditions, he was rescued by a camel team that happened to pass by.
1899, with the support of King Ruidian and the Nobel Prize, Swing Harding made his second expedition to Xinjiang. 1900, due to an accidental opportunity, he discovered the ancient city of Loulan. 1907, Swing Harding came to China for the fourth time, and his main goal was Tibet.
Sven deliberately set foot on the land of China again in the winter of 1926. This time, instead of going to China alone, he brought an expedition composed of Swedes, Germans and Danes. However, the investigation was still in preparation, and it was unanimously opposed by the academic circles in Beijing. After nearly six months of negotiations, Swan Harding reached an agreement with the China Academic Association in Central Plains and Beijing on the upcoming visit. The most important part of the agreement is that: this investigation is composed of a scientific investigation team in northwest China by China and Sweden; Other schools have absorbed five China scholars and four China students; All animal and plant specimens, cultural relics and mineral samples collected and excavated by the delegation are the property of China.
On May 9, 1927, Swing He Ding and Xu led an unprecedented modern scientific investigation team to leave Beiping and go to the northwest.
193365438+1October 2 1, swinholding and others were entrusted by the railway department of Nanjing central government at that time to investigate the feasibility of building a traffic artery across Chinese mainland. 1In the summer of 933, Swing Heding put forward that priority should be given to solving the Xinjiang problem. The specific measures were: firstly, building and maintaining trunk highways connecting the mainland and Xinjiang, and further laying railways leading to the hinterland of Asia. Paying attention to strengthening the ties between the mainland and Xinjiang has been repeatedly emphasized by politicians and scholars in China who are far-sighted and concerned about the country and people since the Revolution of 1911.
The whole expedition started at 1927 and ended at 1935. These eight years' experiences, joys and sorrows, successes and failures, gains and losses are all truthfully recorded in the eight years' exploration in the hinterland of Asia.
Xu Xiake (1586- 164 1 year) is a famous macro-ancestor, whose name is Xia Ke. He was born in a famous rich family in Jiangyin, Jiangsu. Ancestors are all scholars, which can be called scholarly family. His father, Xu Youmian, never wanted to be an official or associate with power. He likes to visit and enjoy the surrounding scenery. Influenced by his father in his childhood, Xu Xiake likes reading books such as history, geography, adventure and travel notes. These books made him love the magnificent rivers and mountains of the motherland from an early age and determined to travel all over the world. At the age of fifteen, he should have passed a boy exam and failed. Seeing that his son had no intention of becoming famous and was no longer reluctant, the father encouraged him to read widely and become a learned man. Xu Xiake's ancestors built a scroll building to collect books, which created good conditions for Xu Xiake's extensive reading. He studies very hard, and when asked, he can remember everything he has read. The library at home can't meet his needs, and he also collects some books that he has never seen before. As long as he sees a good book, even if he has no money, he will take off his clothes and change books. At the age of nineteen, his father died. He really wanted to go out and visit famous mountains and rivers, but according to the moral standards of feudal society, "parents are here, don't travel far". Xu Xiake didn't immediately prepare for a long trip because of his old mother in class. His mother is a cultured and reasonable woman. She encouraged her son to say:
"As a man the gentleman, should aim at the quartet. Go out to travel! Go to heaven and earth to stretch your mind and broaden your knowledge. How can I stay at home and do nothing, because I am here, like a chicken in the fence and a pony on the shaft? " After hearing this, Xu Xiake was very excited and determined to travel far. Before he left, he wore a traveling crown made by his mother and left his hometown with simple luggage on his shoulders. This year, he was twenty-two years old. From then on, until his death at the age of 56, he spent most of his time traveling.
Without any government funding, Xu Xiake traveled to 16 provinces including Jiangsu, Anhui, Zhejiang, Shandong, Hebei, Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong _ Guangxi, Guizhou and Yunnan. East to Putuo Mountain in Zhejiang, west to Tengchong in Yunnan, south to Nanning in Guangxi and north to Panshan in Jixian County, Hebei Province, covering more than half of China. What's more, during more than 30 years of travel and investigation, he mainly walked, even rarely took a boat, and often carried his own luggage. Most of the places he has been to are desolate backcountry or sparsely populated frontier areas. He is not afraid of wind and rain, tigers and wolves, keeps company with Changfeng and Baiyun, feeds his hunger with wild fruits and quenches his thirst with clear springs. He was dying several times, risked his life and tasted the hardships of the journey.
At the age of 28, Xu Xiake came to Wenzhou to climb Yandang Mountain. He remembered that there was a big lake on the top of Yandang Mountain in ancient books, so he decided to climb to the top and have a look. When he climbed to the top of the mountain with difficulty, he saw that the ridge was straight and there was nowhere to stay. How can there be a lake? But Xu Xiake still refused to give up and continued to walk on a big cliff, and the road was gone. He carefully observed the cliff and found a small platform below, so he tied a long cloth belt to a rock at the top of the cliff, then grabbed the cloth belt and hung it down. When he reached the small platform, he found that the bucket below was too deep to get down. He had to grab the cloth belt, climb the cliff, and climb up with difficulty, ready to climb back to the top of the cliff. Crawling and crawling, the belt broke. Fortunately, he grasped a prominent rock skillfully, otherwise he would fall into the abyss and be shattered. Xu Xiake tied the broken belt, struggled to climb, and finally climbed to the top of the cliff. On another occasion, he visited Huangshan Mountain and was caught in heavy snow on the way. The local people told him that in some places, the snow was waist-deep, so he couldn't see the way to climb the mountain clearly and couldn't get up. Xu Xiake was not scared. He leaned against an iron bar to find his way. Up the mountainside, the mountain becomes steeper and steeper. Shady places on the hillside are the hardest to climb. The road was covered with thick ice, steep and slippery. When you step on it, you will slide down. Xu Xiake dug a hole in the ice with an iron bar. Step on the pit, climb slowly step by step, and finally climb up. Monks on the mountain were very surprised to see him, because they had been trapped in the mountain by heavy snow for several months. He also walked through three dangerous roads in Wuyishan, Fujian: Baizhang dangerous ladder in Wang Feng, dolomite steep cliff, "chicken breast" and "dragon ridge" connecting bamboo shoots. When he arrived in Wang Feng, the sun was about to set, and he couldn't find his way down the mountain. He grabbed the hanging thorn with his hand and rolled down. He is in Songshan Mountain in Zhongyue, and he also hangs down the gorge from the top of the Taishi. Xu Xiake's amazing travel notes can indeed show that he is an ancient man.
After a day's trek, no matter how tired, no matter where he stayed, Xu Xiake insisted on recording the harvest of his investigation. There are more than 2.4 million words in his travel notes, but most of them are lost. What remained was the famous Travels of Xu Xiake, which was compiled into a book by later generations. With more than 400,000 words, this book is a great "fantastic book" integrating science and literature.
Xu Xiake's trip is not only for innovation and success, but also for exploring the mysteries and laws of nature. For example, his visit to Jianxi and Ningyangxi in Fujian is an example. Liling and Maling are the cradles of Jiangxi and Ningyangxi respectively. The heights of the two ridges are roughly equal, but the flow of the two streams into the sea is quite different. Jianxi is long, Ningyang is short. After investigation, Xu Xiake found that the water flow in Ningyangxi was faster than that in Jianxi. "The more urgent the trip, the more urgent the water flow", that is, the shorter the trip, the more urgent the water flow. This famous conclusion in geography was drawn by Xu Xiake through on-the-spot investigation. His investigation and study of mountains and rivers, waterways, geology and landforms has made achievements beyond his predecessors.
He inspected the waterway sources of many rivers, such as Zuoyou River, Xiaohe Riverside River, tributaries of Xiangjiang River in Guangxi, Erpanjiang River in the north and south of Yunnan, and the Yangtze River, among which the Yangtze River is the deepest. The mighty Yangtze River flows through most of China, and where it originated has long been a mystery. In the geography book Yugong in the Warring States period, there is a saying that "the Minjiang River leads to the Yangtze River", which has been used by later books. Xu Xiake has doubts about this. He took the question of "Sanqin in the north, Wuling in the south, and Shimen Jinsha in the west" and found out that Jinsha River originated at the southern foot of Kunlun Mountain, which is more than 1,000 miles longer than Minjiang River, so he came to the conclusion that Jinsha River is the source of the Yangtze River. Due to the limitation of the conditions at that time, Xu Xiake failed to find the real source of the Yangtze River. But he took an extremely important step and found the source of the Yangtze River. No one found out for a long time after him. It was not until 1978 that the state sent an investigation team to confirm that the real source of the Yangtze River was Tuotuo River in Gladin Cave, the main peak of Tanggula.
Xu Xiake is also a pioneer in the scientific investigation of limestone landforms in the world. Limestone is widely distributed in the southwest of China. Xu Xiake made a detailed investigation in Hunan, Guangxi, Guizhou, Yunnan and other places, and described, recorded and studied different limestone landforms in various places in detail. He also inspected more than 100 limestone caves. In Jiuyi Mountain in southern Hunan, he heard that there was a flying Longyan, so he asked the local monk Mingzong to show him the way and investigate with a torch. Flying Longyan is a huge cave with twists and turns. There are holes in the cave, full of pits and water, so it is difficult to walk. Xu Xiake didn't care at all, and went deep into it. He doesn't care if his shoes will run away. Mingzong advised him to go back several times, but he wouldn't listen. It was not until the torch was almost burned out that he reluctantly came back. He doesn't have any instruments, only by visual steps, but most of his investigations are very scientific. For example, the records of seven-star rock 15 caves in Guilin are generally consistent with the field survey conducted by our geographical researchers today. More than a hundred years after Xu Xiake's death, Europeans began to investigate limestone landforms. Xu Xiake can be regarded as the earliest limestone geomorphologist in the world.
Xu Xiake has made many contributions to geographical science. In addition to the above, he also studied geothermal phenomena such as volcanoes and hot springs, and carefully described and investigated natural phenomena such as climate change and plant changes due to different terrain. In addition, he vividly described and recorded the situation of agriculture, handicrafts and transportation, the evolution of scenic spots and historical sites in various places and the customs and habits of ethnic minorities. His wonderful book is also of great literary value, and every article can be said to be a beautiful prose.
The last time Xu Xiake went out was on 1636, when he was 5 1 year old. This time, I mainly went to the southwest of China, arrived at Tengyue (now Tengchong, Yunnan) on the border between China and Myanmar, and returned to my hometown at 1640. He fell ill soon after he returned to his hometown. During his illness, he also looked through his own collection of rock specimens. Before he died, he still clung to the two stones he brought back during the inspection.
Xu Xiake's spirit of loving the motherland and science and courageously climbing the peak in scientific career is always worth learning by future generations.