Magic designs by China ——the lost art in desert
文 彭纳
汽车一路西行，追逐着挂在正前方的落日，远处的黄河拐了个大弯奔流而来，沿路而行，河谷的那端便是宁夏沙坡头国家级自然保护区。
The car was chasing westward the setting sun. The Yellow River in the distance rushed down along the road after a big twist. At the end of the river valley is located the Shapotou National Nature Reserve in Ningxia.
沙坡头位于宁夏回族自治区中卫市，是中国第四大沙漠腾格里沙漠的东南缘，也是全国20个治沙重点区之一。
Shapotou, situated in Zhongwei, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, marks the southeastern edge of the Tengger Desert, the fourth largest of its kind nationwide. It is also one of the 20 key areas for desertification control in China.
宁夏沙坡头（网络图片）
落日余晖为沙坡头渡上了一层浑厚的金，一行玩沙归来的游人兴奋的声音和着黄河水声飘向远方，消散在河谷上空。远处的腾格里沙漠在夕阳的映照下，显得沉稳、神秘，有一种出乎意料的柔美。
The afterglow gilded Shapotou with a thick layer of gold, below which the shouts of joy from a group of tourists returning from playing with sand mixed with the roar of the Yellow River and gradually dissipated over the valley. The Tengger Desert in the distance looked calm, mysterious, and unconventionally graceful in the setting sun.
馆内乾坤
Inside the museum
沙漠，处处充斥着危险却也蕴含着浪漫，文人骚客以充沛的情感为她留下了数不尽的绝句，“春风不度玉门关”“西出阳关无故人”抒发着颠沛流离的伤感，“一扫清大漠，包虎戢金戈”“驾长车，踏破贺兰山缺”寄托了守卫边疆之志。这一次，当我们走进位于沙坡头的沙漠博物馆时，沙漠荒蛮、野性的一面被揭开。
The desert is full of dangers yet romantic. Too many quatrains were written for the desert. The lines such as “The spring breeze doesn’t cross Yumen Pass” and “You will see no more old friends beyond the Yang Pass” express the homeless and miserable sense. Those like “The general mops up enemies with shining spears wrapped in tiger skin” and “Let us ride our chariots through the Helan Pass” indicate the resolve to defend the borders. This time, we walked into Shapotou’s Desert Museum to reveal the barbaric and wild nature of the desert.
走进博物馆，仿佛打开了一个百宝箱，通过展板、光电板、投影、触摸屏、动感影院等声、光、电技术，沙漠的形成与发展、世界沙漠与中国沙漠的分布、神奇的沙漠生命、沙漠文化与沙漠传奇、荒漠化与沙尘暴、沙漠治理与沙产业等不同板块将沙漠的方方面面剖析在人们面前，将大众从沙漠的浪漫印象中抽离开来，以更科学的角度为人们展示沙漠的前世今生。
The museum is like a treasure chest. The formation and development of deserts, the distribution of deserts across China and the world, the magical desert life, the culture and legends of deserts, desertification and sandstorms, and desert governance and the sand industry are told through display panels, photoelectric panels, projections, touch screens, 3D theaters and other sound, light, and electrical means. In this way, the desert, previously a romantic object, is better depicted from a scientific perspective.
落日余晖为沙坡头渡上了一层浑厚的金（网络图片）
除了沙漠本身，其孕育的沙漠生态体系也被一层层剥离在游人的视野之中。展厅内，稀有鸟类、水生以及两栖动物、甲壳类生物以及各类植物的标本，打破了人们对沙漠缺少生命的刻板印象，将沙坡头生物多样性的灵动面展示给游人。由沙雕、壁画以及牧民日常生活组成的沙漠文化展区，则展示出了沙漠袅袅炊烟的生活面。
Besides the desert itself, the ecosystem it nurtures is also disclosed to visitors. In the exhibition hall, there are specimens of rare birds, aquatic animals, amphibians, crustaceans and various plants. The biodiversity in Shapotou shatters people’s stereotype about the lack of lives in the desert. The desert culture exhibition area, with sand sculptures, murals and daily routines of herdsmen, shows the scenes of life in the desert.
而展厅内最引人注目的焦点，莫过于一个个由麦草编织而成的方格，这些方格是几代治沙人奋斗的成果，也是整座沙漠博物馆最为精髓的展示内容。聆听着讲解员的讲述，我们仿佛回到了62年前的宁夏中卫沙坡头，那时候的这里，目光所及全无绿色，飞沙走石黄沙溢，正是在这样的环境之中诞生了令世界震惊的“中国魔方”。
The most eye-catching things in the exhibition hall are the squares woven with wheat straw. The squares mark the achievements of generations in desertification control, and they are the essence of the museum. The guide took us back to the Shapotou, Zhongwei, Ningxia, 62 years ago when there was no plant at all but full of sand and rocks. From it the “magic designs by China” were created and amazed the world.
中国魔方
Magic designs by China
一段传奇的开始总带着一丝偶然，被誉为“中国魔方”的“麦草方格固沙法”同样如此。
A legend may start with a contingency. That is how the sand-fixing grid with wheat straw, known as “magic designs by China,” was invented.
“方格固沙是怎样研究出来的？”一同参观沙漠博物馆的人群中，终于有人忍不住问出了大家共同的疑问，“麦草方格的落地其实相当偶然。”讲解员不急不缓地给出了答案。
“How was the sand-fixing grid invented?” A visitor proposed the question that was wanted to be asked by all. “It is quite a contingency actually,” answered the guide.
但是怎样的一个偶然成就了这段传奇，讲解员却并没有急着解答，而是从历史深处探究了治沙的初始。
The guide, however, did not explain immediately, but started with the beginning of desertification control in history.
追溯沙坡头的治沙史，要从1950年说起。当年10月，中卫固沙林场在腾格里沙漠东南前沿正式建立。这是国内最早的、以防沙造林为目的而建造的国有专业林场。
It could be dated back to 1950. In October of that year, Zhongwei Sand Fixing Forest Farm was officially established on the southeast frontier of the Tengger Desert. It is the earliest state-owned forest farm in China dedicated for sand prevention and afforestation.
正是从那年起，沙坡头经历了从荒漠到绿洲的巨变，这样的巨变是靠时间和经验垒出来的。
It was from that year that Shapotou experienced the huge change from a desert to an oasis, thanks to people’s long-term efforts and experience.
成片的麦草方格（网络图片）
1951年4月，从中国林业大学干部专修班毕业的张宗朗毅然来到宁夏，在9次进出沙漠中，他与同事最早发现并培育出了花棒、柠条等被称为“治沙先锋”的旱生树种，为沙坡头生物治沙奠定了基础，至今仍旧运用于治沙之中。
In April 1951, Zhang Zonglang, a graduate from the cadre program at China Forestry University, came to Ningxia resolutely and determinedly. Zhang and his colleagues were the first to discover and cultivate xerophytes, known as “desertification control pioneers”, such as scoparium and caragana microphylla, after nine visits to the desert. They laid the foundation for desertification control in biological way in Shapotou, and the way is still used in desertification control today.
然而，在固沙治沙初期，因自然环境异常恶劣，植物固沙行不通，林场还尝试过卵石铺面、沥青拌沙、草席铺面等固沙方式，但一阵大风过后，这些措施就被掩埋殆尽。
In the early stage, other ways of sand fixing were tried in the farm, such as pebble paving, asphalt mixing and straw mat paving, because plants did not work under the extremely harsh condition. Unfortunately, all failed after the gale blowing.
时间流逝，1957年春很快到来，这一年，中国第一条沙漠铁路——包兰铁路进入沙坡头施工段。在中卫境内6次穿越沙漠的包兰铁路，沿途沙丘裸露，植被覆盖率极低，干沙层厚达10厘米至15厘米。曾有国外专家预言：包兰铁路“存活”不了30年就会被沙漠淹没。
As time went by, the spring of 1957 witnessed the construction of Shapotou section of Baotou-Lanzhou Railway, China’s first desert railway. Baotou-Lanzhou Railway, which traverses the desert six times in Zhongwei, is flanked by sand dunes with extremely low vegetation coverage. The dry sand is 10-15cm thick. Some foreign experts predicted that Baotou-Lanzhou Railway would be covered by sand within 30 years.
一列行驶在包兰铁路上的火车经过中卫沙坡头地区（图 新华社）
“要治沙、先固沙”这是治沙人的共识，在包兰铁路的建设中，如何固沙成了一项重要工作。在此之前，林场职工和科研人员共同尝试了平铺式沙障试验，但效果并不理想。一天，正在休息的职工随手捡起了驼队落下的一捆麦草，插进沙里。大风过后，其他一同种下的植物悉数被黄沙吞噬，唯独这捆麦草坚强地挺立在沙丘之上。过后没多久，林场职工便在沙漠中扎下“人定胜天”“中卫固沙林场”等字样，风暴过后，意外发现几个字当中，方块形的字没有被沙子埋没。受到启发的职工们开始尝试用麦草扎出圆形、三角形、马蹄形……试验证明，1米见方的麦草方格固沙效果最好。
It is the consensus that sand should be fixed first before desertification control. During the railway construction, how to fix sand became an important task. Before that, employees and scientific researchers of the forest farm jointly did the flat sand barrier experiments, yet with unsatisfactory results. One day, employees at rest picked up a bundle of wheat straw that a camel team had dropped, and inserted it into the sand. All other plants were blown away by a gale except this bundle. Not long after that, those employees used wheat straw to form such Chinese words in the desert as “man can conquer nature” and “Zhongwei Sand-fixing Forest Farm.” After a windstorm, they found that only the square ones were not buried by sand. They were inspired and tried making round, triangle and horseshoe shaped bundles with wheat straw. It turned out that the sand fixation effect of the wheat straw grid that was one square meter large was the best.
当讲解员讲完这段故事，大家才明白两次无心插柳成就了“麦草方格固沙法”，成功阻挡了流沙的脚步，也保证了沙漠铁路上钢铁巨龙60余年的平安呼啸。
Visitors now understood from the guide that the method indeed came out from two contingencies. It has helped control the drift sand and ensured the normal operation of trains on the desert railway for over 60 years.
以岁月之名
In the name of time
“1977年，在联合国全球沙漠化会议上，中国代表被请上讲坛介绍‘麦草方格固沙法’，目前这种方法也在世界上被广泛推广和应用。”在中卫土生土长的讲解员特意提起了“中国魔方”的世界亮相，“治沙是世界性的难题，但我们这里有了这项世界级的发明。”
“In 1977, a Chinese representative was invited to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification and made introduction to the ‘crisscrossing lines of wheat straw.’ It is now widely promoted and applied all over the world.” The guide who was born and raised in Zhongwei mentioned the debut of the magic designs by China, “desertification control is a worldwide problem, but we made this world-class invention.”
据统计，60多年来，中卫固沙林场职工扎设半隐蔽式格状草50万公亩，培育沙生植物1亿多株，在腾格里沙漠植树造林253.5万多亩，建设林区面积56612.4亩。
According to statistics, employees of the farm in Zhongwei has planted 5,000 hectares of semi-concealed crisscrossing lines of grass, cultivated more than 100 million psammophytes, planted more than 2.535 million mu ha of trees in the Tengger Desert, and built a forest area of 56612.4 mu for the past 60 years.
正是有了这些年的累积，如今走进沙坡头景区，处处绿植让人忘却了腾格里的存在，更让人领略到这里集大漠、黄河、高山、绿洲为一体的美景。体验中国最大的天然滑沙场，骑骆驼穿越腾格里沙漠，乘越野车沙海奔驰……享受人与自然的和谐共生之美。
Thanks to that, visitors in Shapotou Scenic Area today can see green plants everywhere and even forget the existence of the Tengger Desert. Visitors may enjoy the beautiful landscapes of the desert, the Yellow River, mountains and oases, and have fun in the largest natural sand skiing resort in China. They are also allowed to ride a camel cross the Tengger Desert or take an off-road vehicle through the desert, so as to feel the harmonious co-existence of man with nature.
宁夏中卫市（图 新华社）
麦草方格固沙并不是一朝一夕的事，展厅的资料墙上写满了几代治沙人的艰辛岁月，“用铁锹把干草深扎到沙粒中，组成一个个1米×1米的正方形十字网格。再把网格中央的沙子分别推到干草周围，对麦草方格进行加固。在干草附近撒上草籽，等下了雨慢慢地就会长出更多沙生植物。”寥寥数语总结出了方格固沙的原理，却写不尽治沙人付出的艰辛。
The crisscrossing lines of wheat straw for sand fixation were not created overnight. The great efforts of generations for desertification control are displayed on the information wall of the exhibition hall. “They inserted the dry straw into sand with spades to form square grids one meter long on each side. Then they pushed the sand in the center of the grids toward the dry straw to reinforce the grids. Grass seeds were scattered near the dry straw, and psammophytes would grow out when it rained.” The principle was illustrated in a few words, but the great efforts were beyond description.
每当夏天，在四五十度的高温下，林场工人一格一格地扎下干草，这一扎就是几十年。如今，包兰铁路两侧长满了植被，铁路基本摆脱了流沙的威胁，而更多地区对方格的运用也极大地阻止了腾格里沙漠的继续扩张。
Employees insert the dry straw under high temperatures of 40-50°C every summer, which has lasted for decades. Now plants are overgrown on both sides of Baotou-Lanzhou Railway, which is no longer threatened by drift sand. The use of such grids in more regions has slowed down the expansion of the Tengger Desert.
沙坡头诞生的绝不仅仅只有“中国魔方”，在这片土地上，治沙从未停下过脚步：
Shapotou witnessed not only the magic designs by China, but also unceasing efforts to control desertification:
1967年固沙林场开始兴修水利，在半流动沙丘地带找水浇地，还建起了试验性质的果园，为宁夏乃至中国三北干旱沙漠地区引水治沙树立了成功的样板；
In 1967, water conservancy projects were initiated on the sand-fixing forest farm. Irrigable lands were reclaimed around the semi-mobile sand dunes, and experimental orchards built, which set a successful model for water diversion and desertification control in Ningxia and even the Three-North desert areas in China.
20世纪70年代初期，林场又启动了引黄提水治沙工程，把黄河水引上100多米高的流动沙岭；用机械和人力削平上万座沙丘；把樟子松、国槐、红柳、沙棘等种在沙丘上……
In the early 1970s, the Yellow River water diversion and desertification control project was launched on the farm. The Yellow River water was drawn to the mobile sand ridge more than 100 meters high, the top of tens of thousands of sand dunes flattened with machinery and manpower, and plants like pinus sylvestris, Chinese scholartree, rose willow and sea-buckthorn planted on the sand dunes.
沙坡头黄河大桥（王猛 摄）
到20世纪90年代初，腾格里沙漠前沿建起了一个由固沙防火带、灌溉造林带、草障植物带、前沿阻沙带、封沙育草带组成的“五带一体”治沙防护体系，取得了铁路治沙的标志性成果，彻底实现了“沙退人进”的伟大壮举。
By the early 1990s, a desertification control and protection system consisting of a sand-fixing and fire prevention belt, irrigation and afforestation belt, grass barrier and plant belt, frontier sand blocking belt, and sand-sealing and grass-cultivating belt was built in the front of the Tengger Desert. The system is a landmark of desertification control for the railway, and symbolizes the feat of “sand retreating and people advancing.”
如今，固沙林场的技术人员又创造了足以改写固沙历史的技术，他们发现麦草腐化后，能够形成沙结皮。在对沙结皮的形成进行深入研究、反复试验的基础上，技术员们发明了“利用黏土（绿洲耕作土）压沙制作人工沙结皮”的新技术，充分利用黏土遇水后快速产生结皮的特点，把固沙技术又向前推进了一大步，成为继“麦草方格”之后的固沙新方式。
Now the technicians of the farm have created the technology that can rewrite the history of sand-fixing. They discovered that when the wheat straw rots, it can form the sandy crust. With in-depth research and repeated experiments on the formation of sandy crusts, technicians invented the new technology of “using clay to press sand (cultivated soil on oasis) and making artificial sandy crusts” given that the sandy crusts will be quickly formed when the clay meets water. The sand fixation technology was thus promoted further and became a new way following the “wheat straw grid.”
走出博物馆，清风送来秋日凉爽，不远处的天然滑沙场已经飘荡着游人的欢呼。跟随人流爬上沙坡，向后眺望，腾格里沙漠向远处延伸，看不到边际；转头向下望去，黄河之水仍旧不知疲倦地奔流而去，两岸柳树成荫、随风舞动，好似用绿意写下一首与黄沙和鸣、与自然共舞的诗篇。
Walking out of the museum, visitors felt the cool breeze on that autumn morning. The natural sand skiing resort not far away was already filled with cheers of tourists. Climbing up the sand slope with the crowd and looking backward, one may see that the Tengger Desert spreads far into the distance.The Yellow River water below still rushed tirelessly, and the willow trees on both sides of the bank danced with the wind, which constituted a poem about harmony between the yellow sand and nature in green.
编辑：雷露
审核：向雯
主编：邓灼
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