Chapter 11 The second part of Xinjiang Qapqal Xibe folklore-1

From September 26 to October 13, 1993, I went to Chabuchar Xibe Autonomous County in Xinjiang to conduct a survey on Shamanism. This survey yielded a lot. In June 2004, I went to Shenyang to participate in the commemoration of the 240th anniversary of the westward migration of the Xibe people. Once again, I met many comrades of the Xibe nationality. To my ears, their Mandarin with a Xinjiang accent was like a beautiful folk song, refreshing and refreshing. People are intoxicated. In 1982, there were 83,000 Xibo people in China, distributed in Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and Ili in Xinjiang.The Xibe people in Xinjiang account for 30% of the total Xibe population.The place I am going to is Chabuchar Autonomous County in Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture.There are 8 residential areas in this autonomous county. The Xibe people call them 8 Niulu, which are somewhat similar to townships in the interior.Niulu originally means arrow in Xibe language, and it is the basic unit of the Eight Banners System in Qing Dynasty.With the long-term garrison of the defenders, the garrison gradually developed into a large-scale village, making the word "Niulu" a common name for the settlement.

There are many epic events in Chinese history, and what they leave to mankind are not only stories, but also great spiritual wealth.Once we have heard these stories, we will be moved, admired, longed for, and nostalgic... Among these stories, the westward migration of the Xibe people should be the most exciting one. In the twenty-ninth year of Qianlong (1764), the Qing government moved a large number of Xibe people to the Yili area in order to strengthen the defense of Xinjiang.The 5,000 soldiers and civilians of the Xibe nationality who have lived in the northeast of the motherland are reluctant to say goodbye to their relatives in their hometown. Ordered by the imperial court, he vowed to defend his family and the country to the death, and went to Xinjiang to guard the border despite the dangers of Guanshan.He Yeer said in the article "Xi Bichen and His Leaving Home" that the Xibe army set out from Shengjing (Shenyang), trekked thousands of miles, and after untold hardships, migrated to the Ili area of ​​Xinjiang to settle down.The expedition team was divided into two teams and set off on the 10th and 19th day of April in the 29th year of Qianlong. At that time, the traffic conditions were very difficult, and the soldiers and civilians only relied on ox carts, horses, camels, etc. to walk through the deserted Gobi. Sandy beaches, climbing steep mountain roads, crossing the vast snowfields, braving the wind and snow, overcoming thorns and thorns, took one year and ten months to complete the journey of more than 20,000 miles!When they arrived at Uliasutai, 2,596 of the livestock borrowed by the government were exhausted due to long-term driving, and there were only 440 left.Guan Xingcai, a poet of the Xibe nationality, sang in his "Song of Moving to the West": "The car is rumbling, eating and sleeping in the wind every night; the road is long, and the days are exhausting."The hardships suffered by Xibe soldiers and civilians cannot be described in words.

The Xibe people take the safety of the motherland as their own responsibility, and they are not afraid of hardships and dangers. They use the self-sacrifice of the nation to witness their loyalty to the country, and even hard-hearted people are moved by it.The epic history of the Westward Migration of the Xibe people has set up a spiritual monument of this nation. It has touched others and inspired Xibe people from generation to generation. They have passed on the torch of their ancestors from generation to generation. On the wild boar-infested wasteland, he built his new home and guarded the territory of the motherland.As the "Song of Moving to the West" said: For two hundred years, gold and iron horses have galloped freely, and the claws of Tsarist Russia should not be allowed to insult and devour them. Every village is a hero's castle, and every inch of land has been defended with life and blood!

The Xibe people in Chabuchar are divided into 8 Niulu, and each Niulu has the leader Niulu Zhangjing, and the actual jurisdiction over all the Xibo people and the entire Xibe camp is the chief, and Zhang Jing of the 8 Niulus is under his command.Tong Keli introduced in the article "Reclamation and Its Historical Status": Xiboying is a trinity organization of military, administration and production. The barren face of the Qapchar region.Chabuchar means "granary" in the Xibe language. I went to Chapchar with a feeling of worship. Departed from Beijing on September 21, 1993. After arriving in Urumqi, he successively went to the Autonomous Region Ethnic Affairs Commission, the Federation of Literary and Art Circles, and the Autonomous Region Ethnic Language and Writing Committee.Finally, in the language and writing committee, I found a guide and translator who accompanied me to Qapqal. His name was Qi Cheshan, a Xibe linguist and a Xibe native.I knew his name in 1986, when I was following the story of Murcha Yejun, the director of the Heilongjiang Manchu Institute, interviewing the Chakra people (the Chakra people are a branch of the wild Jurchen, now belonging to the Manchu).Once, Mr. Mu showed me a draft of "Nishan Shaman" translated from Manchu. I thought the translation was very good. At that time, I paid attention to the translator's name, and he was Qi Cheshan.

We bought a long-distance bus ticket to Yining, which is a sleeper.Qi Cheshan told me that although it was September, it was still very cold in the car at night, so I should prepare a thicker coat.So at the market in Urumqi, I spent 80 yuan to buy a green cotton padded jacket that looked like it could be completely unthreaded after wearing it for a month.It is very thin, with white cotton balls the size of millet grains poking out from the inside.Unexpectedly, cotton clothes also have disposable items. On the 25th, we embarked on a journey.After passing the suburbs of Urumqi, there are fewer and fewer villages and towns.Xinjiang is really a wonderful place.For a while, the Gobi is full of eyes, endless, no green, and it is desolate; for a while, it seems to be in a fairy mirror, with lush forests, gurgling streams, blue sky and white clouds, and vast grasslands.The wild flowers by the water are in full bloom, white, yellow, purple, red, layer by layer, piece by piece.On the chest of the green grassland, they compete for splendor and spout green fragrance.Occasionally, a car passes by the lake, and the light mist floats on the lake. In the sunset, the distant mountain peaks lie on their backs like a mysterious giant under the blue sky, sucking the water light from the lake, and counting the sky slowly. white clouds.

In a blink of an eye, there was the drowsy Gobi Desert again.In the car, apart from the grunts of those who are tired from the journey, it is the tired sigh of the car motor.A gust of cool wind woke me up, and the car had already arrived at Guozigou.Near the top of the hill, the car stopped. It turned out that the car in front had broken down and blocked the narrow lane. The cars were lined up and waiting patiently.Suddenly, light snowflakes fell from the sky, which surprised people. Who would have thought that it would snow in August of the lunar calendar?Snowflakes brought us a surprise, it eased the anxiety of waiting for the bus.