Qingtu Lake

Qingtu Lake

Qingtu lake, located in the lower reaches of Shiyang River, is a lake in Minqin County, Gansu Province. It completely dried up in 1959,

It used to be the largest lake in Minqin, but because of the sharp decrease of surface water and groundwater level in the oasis, Qingtu lake is now dead in name.

cease to exist except in name

Qingtu lake used to be the largest lake in Minqin. Due to the sharp decrease of surface water and groundwater level in the oasis, it was completely dried up and desertified around 1957. Tengger Desert and Badain Jaran Desert "shake hands" here. The sand layer in this area is 3-6 meters thick, the wind sand line is 13 kilometers long, and the quicksand is pushing towards the oasis at the speed of 8-10 meters every year, which seriously threatens the living environment and industrial and agricultural production of neighboring towns and the smooth operation of minzuo highway, and causes immeasurable losses to the local people. Qingtu lake is now in name only.

It is often said that "Minqin city has no North Gate". It is not that there is no north gate, but that the north gate is buried in the desert. Although this statement is somewhat exaggerated, it also reflects the seriousness of sandstorm damage on the north line of Minqin. Qingtu lake is not far from Zhiyun village, Xiqu Town, which is the northernmost village in Minqin County. It is also one of the villages in Minqin County, which borders on the desert and is in the forefront of sand resistance and prevention. It was only in the 1990s that it was buried in the rolling yellow sand and became part of Badain Jaran, the third largest desert in China. Data show that in Minqin Lake area, including Qingtu lake, the desertification land has increased by 2.3% every year in recent years, and 7000 mu of land has become desert every year. A poet of Minqin once warned people in a poem with the words of an old man of history:

"Don't forget,

Three thousand years ago, it was an ancient sea,

Three hundred years ago, it was still sparkling here,

Thirty years ago, there was still a willow forest in Yatang,

And 30 years later,

Today, 30 years later,

But you've only got it,

A desert,

A barren ridge,

A pair of silly eyes,

Two dry lips

the waters and skies merge in one colour

* * * king Yu combating the flood be accomplished in the book of Shang, Yu Gong and Shui Jing Zhu, which is called "blue sky and vast expanse of water." It is one divides into two. * it is one of the 11 Great Lakes recorded in Shang Shu Yu Gong. It is a huge freshwater lake with an area of at least 16 thousand square kilometers and the largest water depth of more than 60 meters. Later, CHO Jo Ze was divided into two parts, the western part of which was called the West Sea, also called Hugh Tu Ze. Qingtu lake is the largest lake in Minqin oasis. It was once a blue wave with an area of more than 4000 square kilometers. Its water area is second only to Qinghai Lake. At the beginning of liberation, Qingtu lake also had an area of more than 100 square kilometers. There used to be a beautiful geomantic treasure land with water and grass, clear water, water and grass, lake light and waves, and water birds.

There are many beautiful legends about it: it is said that when the wind is clear and the moon is bright, the orchestral music in the lake is melodious and pleasant, which can be heard for several miles. Some people say that golden buffalo lurked underwater in the early years of Qingtu lake. When it was dry every day, it would come out of the water and spray rain and dew in all directions, making the water around it Tengteng Teng. It rained constantly, and the crops often got good harvests. Later, the golden buffalo was stolen by foreign "changmaozi", so Minqin fell into the dilemma of drought. In addition, there is a widely spread legend that King XiuTu of Xiongnu, who was stationed on the Bank of Qingtu lake, was defeated in the battle with the Han army. He wanted to lead his troops to surrender, but the news leaked that he was killed by another king hunxie of Xiongnu and robbed his Jinren. Because of refusing to become the subjects of hunxie king, his troops committed suicide in the lake. Since then, there has been a strange phenomenon in Qingtu lake. Every night there are faint sounds of singing and playing musical instruments in the lake. The singing is very desolate, but you can only hear two words: "lose me", "lose me". Later, a learned man came by and guessed the content of the song. It turned out to be the famous Xiongnu folk song: losing my Qilian mountain makes my six animals not free; losing my Yanzhi mountain makes my women lose color.

Causes of death

The only surface runoff in Minqin is from Shiyang River in the north of Qilian Mountain. With the change of climate conditions and the aggravation of water consumption in the upper and middle reaches, the amount of water from Shiyang River to Minqin through Hongyashan reservoir has been decreasing year by year in recent years at the rate of more than 15 million cubic meters, and now it is less than 100 million cubic meters. The main reason for the disappearance of Qingtu lake is the construction of Hongyashan reservoir, which destroys the replenishment water of Qingtu lake and the local underground water system, and leads to the desertification of this area. Up to now, due to the loss of upstream water supply, neutralization, erosion and dilution, salinization has moved and expanded year by year from the five townships in the most downstream Lake area, which will affect the whole Minqin and Shiyang River Basin. The groundwater in the dam area is seriously overdrawn and will eventually be exhausted. In addition, the resettlement of the Chongxing reservoir area in Minqin has over raised the groundwater level, which makes the surface water salinized due to strong evaporation. The reservoir itself is an unscientific project with heavy siltation, large area and fierce evaporation, which violates the water cycle and the law of harmony between human and water in arid areas and the reasonable relationship between human and nature. It will certainly be punished and retaliated by nature. I wonder if there are such problems in today's Three Gorges Project.

When the Hongyashan reservoir was built in 1958, there was a dispute between "building" and "not building". One side, led by Secretary Tang Deshou, is mainly engaged in reservoir construction. He thinks that it can prevent flood and irrigate, and ensure income in drought and flood. The advantages outweigh the disadvantages. Li Yuxin, the local magistrate of Minqin County, thinks that there is no need to build a reservoir. He thinks that the waste of money is not worth the loss. Minqin has always been developing agriculture and animal husbandry at the same time. When agriculture was affected, the vast pastoral areas had vast and abundant grassland, and were compensated by camels, cattle and sheep. However, in the general situation and climate of China at that time, the major school finally gained the upper hand, because the national background at that time was to "take grain as the key link" and "open up farmland". However, just over 40 years later, in the summer of 2004, a thing that made 300000 Minqin people scared and scared, and called for heaven and earth finally happened: the Shiyang River stopped flowing, the Hongyashan reservoir completely dried up, and the bottom of the reservoir was facing the sky. People living here look up and ask: where is the way out tomorrow?!

Reappear the blue wave

On November 30, 2010, according to people's Daily:

Qingtu Lake in Minqin County of Gansu Province, which has been dried up and desertified for more than half a century, has reappeared a blue wave with a water surface of about 3 square kilometers, which indicates that after three years of ecological management, the deterioration trend of ecological environment in Minqin County of Gansu Province, one of the three major sources of sand dust in China, has been effectively curbed.

In order to revitalize Qingtu lake, Minqin County injected 12.9 million cubic meters of ecological water into Qingtu lake. Due to evaporation and leakage along the way, more than 4 million cubic meters of groundwater was consumed, and finally 8.6 million cubic meters of water entered the lake.

The blue water surface is sparkling, the sparse reed grass is swaying tenaciously in the cold wind, and the soaring water birds are dancing their wings to chase and play on the water surface It's hard to believe that this is Minqin Qingtu lake, which dried up more than 50 years ago. Zhang Yongwen, director of the Foreign Publicity Office of the Publicity Department of Minqin county Party committee, said that after a large amount of ecological water was injected into Minqin Qingtu lake, groups of red billed ducks, egrets and other wild water birds chose to live here, showing a harmonious natural ecological picture.

Reasons for recurrence (according to Wuwei Daily News)

use

Address: Minqin County, Wuwei City, Gansu Province

Longitude: 103.093792

Latitude: 38.624351

Chinese PinYin : Qing Tu Hu