Ding Zhen manages the pond really well: riding a pony at the foot of the snowy mountain and lying on the grass for a day.

"My home is in Litang County, Ganzi Prefecture, Sichuan Province, and I live at the foot of Gani Snow Mountain." In the past few days, Ding Zhen, a Kangba man, has become popular on the Internet with his pure and handsome appearance, and his hometown Litang has also entered people's sight.

Litang, located in the west of Sichuan Province, is the only place where National Highway 3 18 enters Tibet. Many tourists on the Sichuan-Tibet line pass by here and go to Daocheng Aden, Linzhi and Lhasa to find the legendary magnificent scenery.

But before Ding Zhen, few people knew that Litang itself was a scenery that should not be missed.

Litang, Ganzi, Sichuan, I believe many people have an impression because of the famous landmark "G3 18". It is 3118km from Shanghai and 654km from Chengdu. It belongs to the southeast edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the middle section of the Hengduan Mountains, and can be classified as the famous Kangba area. Because it is 40 14 meters above sea level, it is also called "the world's high city". The poet Cangyang Jiacuo once left a love song "White crane, please lend me your wings, don't fly far, just turn around and fly back in Litang", adding countless romantic colors to this small town.

30 million years ago, the Indian Ocean plate continued to collide with the Eurasian plate, and the majestic Himalayas began to uplift. Under the great force, the southwest region under the rule of Wang Yang was folded and deformed in the north-south direction, and finally the Hengduan Mountains today were formed. The mountains intercept the warm and humid airflow, and the abundant surface water breeds rivers. On this land, Jinsha River and Yalong River run through it, and Shaluli Mountain runs through the north and south, bringing Litang completely different beautiful landscapes such as mountains, rivers, forests, lakes and grasslands.

The Gane Snow Mountain, hidden in the depths of Litang, belongs to the middle section of Shaluli Mountain in Hengduan Mountains, with an altitude of 6,204 meters. It is the third highest mountain in Sichuan and the thirteenth goddess among the 24 sacred mountains in Tibetan areas. Every summer, abundant monsoon sweeps across the plateau, forming snowfall in the high mountain area of Ganes Mountain, and glaciers develop accordingly. In the long process of ablation, the water winds down and passes through the mountains, and a piece of plateau forest that covers the sun grows wantonly, represented by spruce in western Sichuan; The forest is next to the original bushes and grasslands; The bottom of the valley is winding rivers and dense swamp meadows.

There is a small water pool on the grassland, which reflects the clear blue sky, long white clouds and continuous snow-capped mountains. That is the "Eye of Ge Nie". Different from the "Eye of the Devil" in Aiken Spring in Qaidam Basin, the pond of the Eye of the Devil has a circle of aquatic plants, which are as lifelike as pupils, so it is called "Eye of Heaven".

The melting water of snow and ice in Monster Mountain provides a continuous source of water for Litang River. There are a series of swamp wetlands and lush grasslands along the river bank. This is the largest grassland in the middle section of the Shaluli Mountains-Maoyaba Grassland, with an altitude of 3,800-4,500 meters. Although it is not as vast as the Inner Mongolia prairie, it has a unique alpine grassland landscape. Every year from July to September, the Maowuba prairie is lush with colorful wildflowers, and cattle and sheep roam in a sea of flowers for food. From a distance, the blue sky, white clouds, snow-capped mountains, clear water and green grass complement each other, presenting a touching beauty feast.

In the northern part of the grassland, walk along the 3 18 national road for dozens of kilometers until you reach the foot of Haizi Mountain. Haizishan is located between Litang and Daocheng, with an average elevation of 4,500 meters. There are 65,438+065,438+045 Haizi scattered around, ranking first in the country in scale density. Some Haizi have a light blue center and a dark blue periphery with clear circles; Some are seasonal lakes, which can only be filled in the rainy season; Some Haizi are distributed in strings, like pearl necklaces on high mountains ... The largest Haizi on Haizi Mountain in Litang is Ran Jincuo, covering an area of 2.75 square kilometers. The lake is rich in plateau yellow croaker, which nourishes alpine creatures such as yellow ducks, wild birds, water deer, argali and forest musk deer. Some people say that the lake on the mountain is a drop of tears on the surface of the earth, while the lake on Haizi Mountain is more like a diamond dropped by God.

Mount Ganni brought water and nourished the grassland. Every August, Litang holds the Grassland Jockey Club and Market Festival. Tough Kangba men and beautiful Kangba girls gathered in Maoyaba grassland from all directions to show their charm and skills. Ding Zhen said after the explosion that he didn't want to leave Litang and wanted to take Xiaomuzhu to the Jockey Club, which made people more curious and looking forward to Litang Jockey Club.

Before the annual horse meeting, herdsmen put on national costumes, rode horses, and camped on the grassland near the county seat with tents, pots and pans, yak meat, ghee, zanba and candy. Almost overnight, the spectacular tent city was born. On the right day, riders wear bright Tibetan robes and lead their precious horses to the starting line. At the command, they galloped away, and the scene was crowded with people. Horse racing here is not only a simple speed comparison, but also endurance races, jogging races and equestrian races. Among them, riding handstands, hiding the horse's belly, flying and shooting, overlooking Hada and so on are the most thrilling. Therefore, there is a saying in Tibetan areas that "Ganzi Litang is the biggest horse racing festival in Kangba area".

The popularity of Litang Jockey Club has deep geographical and historical origins. For thousands of years, Litang has been an important town on the ancient tea-horse road. Tianquan, Qionglai and other local teas on the western edge of the Sichuan Basin, Chengdu silk has been continuously imported into Tibetan areas from here. Different from today's Sichuan-Tibet line, the merchants can only cross the shoulder of Ganeshan from Litang to the west, not through Haizi Mountain, but through Bomi Township at the bottom of the valley to Balong and Batang in Zhu, all the way up and down. From the south of Kangba to Lhasa, you can only ride horses and walk. In ancient times, horses became the most important means of transportation in Litang.

Although neighboring Yunnan businessmen often use mules with better load as transportation tools, the herdsmen in Litang are still used to accompanying horses. On the one hand, it looks gentle from a distance, but it is actually very steep. In addition, glaciers are widely distributed and easy to cause avalanches. So, climbing is not difficult. Horses are more docile than mules. In an emergency, they can follow people's instructions and escape in time, reducing the loss of people and goods. On the other hand, livestock is an important family property of herders. Horses can cultivate excellent breeds from generation to generation and have been passed down and exchanged. Mules are hybrids of horses and donkeys, and cannot breed the next generation. Once lost, it cannot be recovered.

For Kangba men, horses are their closest partners in life. People integrate their understanding, domestication and love of horses into horse racing activities. Riding and gathering the advantages and disadvantages of horses are the most lasting and common activities among herders. About a thousand years ago, in the Gesar dynasty, people even decided their leaders by horse racing. There is a proverb that says, "The horse race should be on the flat grass, and the hero should be on the fierce horse." This worship of horse racing and heroes was carved into the local cultural genes and eventually evolved into a grand jockey club.

Butter tea is made of butter and strong tea. It can drive away the cold in cold weather and make you tired when you eat meat. Tuyuan/Litang County People's Government Office WeChat official account

At the same time, the Jockey Club is also a place for herders and traders to conduct trade activities. Farmers and herdsmen scattered all over the plateau not only need to sell yak meat, horse milk, cheese and other commodities at home, but also need to buy commodities that they and their families need for one year, especially tea for making butter tea.

Most importantly, Shenguai Mountain is a horse in legend, just like Gangrinboqi in Ali, which is endless. It turns out that people hold horse racing, singing, dancing and bonfire parties after worship on the third day of June in the Tibetan calendar every year, and then hold this festival in August in the Gregorian calendar, which finally forms the most attractive horse racing club in China and is included in the intangible cultural heritage of Sichuan Province.

Geographical corridors are often corridors for ethnic migration. Hengduan Mountain Range, located in the southwest of China, is an important dividing line between the first step and the second step, connecting the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, showing a typical "corridor" in geography, and is also a natural channel for the migration of ethnic groups in southwest China. Litang, located in the middle section of Hengduan Mountains, has been the traffic throat connecting Tibet and Yunnan in Sichuan since ancient times. Migrating nationalities come and go, forming their own distinctive national cultures.

Tibetans are the most populous minority in Litang. Most of them live in villages at the foot of the mountain and dams by the river, mainly grazing for a living. This is because Litang has high altitude, low temperature and long winter, so it is difficult to carry out traditional agricultural farming. The grassland here is rich in species and can be called the best pasture in Sichuan and Tibet. Herdsmen can domesticate yaks and sheep in exchange for means of subsistence.

Qianhu Tibetan Village in the ancient town of Le Tong is an important settlement in Litang, which consists of 13 Tibetan villages and more than 4,000 Tibetan dwellings. For thousands of years, Tibetans have rammed loess with wooden pestles and built dense walls to build houses, which are strong and warm enough to spend the long winter. The exterior walls of these buildings are rich in colors, such as white, ginger, crimson and black safflower, among which white is the main color of most houses, because people in snowy plateau regard white as the most auspicious and pure color. Most of these buildings are flat-topped squares with five-color prayer flags that every family must insert.

Located in the north of Litang County, Changqingchun Keer Temple is the oldest and largest Tibetan Buddhist temple in Kangba. Known as the "Lhasa Three Monasteries, the lower Amdo Ta 'er Monastery, Litang Changqing Chun 'er Monastery". Temple buildings are built on the mountain, with high and low levels and distinct levels, and the snow-capped mountains in the distance are magnificent. Every June in the Tibetan calendar, Changqing Kesi will hold the largest and grandest "I wish to be smaller than the sun" (turning to the mountains in June) according to the ancient custom, and there are unique ghee carving games.

Many scholars believe that the Naxi people living in the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau originated from the ancient Qiang people living in the Yellow River valley in northwest China. Because of climate change and war, they moved south to the upper reaches of Minjiang River, southwest to the Yalong River basin and west to the upper reaches of Jinsha River, so their historical heritage is common in the border areas of Sichuan, Yunnan and Tibet. Especially in the Ming Dynasty, the wooden toast of Lijiang immigrated to Batang and Litang in large numbers, and guided the commercial activities along the ancient tea-horse road with strong force, building towers and houses for the people to live in. Litang still retains some houses with Naxi architectural style.

Contrary to nomadic life, the Han people brought their farming habits here after moving to Litang. They found that in the valley below the mountain, the climate is relatively warm, and the average annual sunshine hours reach 2630 hours, which is beneficial to crop growth. Therefore, crops such as highland barley, radish, safflower wheat and white potatoes can be cultivated and planted in the warm season. In order to assist farming, many families will raise cattle. On the cold plateau, yak's viability is far superior to that of yellow cattle, and it also produces more milk and meat than yellow cattle. However, yak is not docile enough to plow the land, and yellow cattle can't adapt to the plateau climate, so the yak that is a hybrid of yak and yellow cattle came into being. It has both docile personality and cold tolerance. It is more suitable for the needs of farming and labor of Han people.

From the snow-capped "Thirteen Goddess" Elf Snow Mountain to the free and vast Maoya grassland, from the long-standing Jockey Club to the distinctive national life, this is the "Ding Zhen World" and a real and beautiful Litang.