8月14日

Editors’ Notes:

General Secretary Xi Jinping encouraged the youth to “Measure the vast land of the motherland with footsteps, discover the Chinese spirit with eyes, listen to the people’s voices with ears, feel the pulse of the times with hearts, and integrate the deep bond with the motherland and shared destiny with the people throughout students’ studies and career pursuits.” During the summer of 2023, teachers and students from the School of Language and Communication Studies embarked on a social practice journey. In the name of youth, they traveled to the snow-capped plateau. By train, they visited alumni, engaged with local communities, witnessed development, and pursued dreams. They experienced the spirit behind the construction of the Qinghai-Xizang Railway, strengthened their ideals and beliefs in “letting the flowers of youth bloom where the motherland needs them most,” and told the Chinese story of “The Sky Road connecting Beijing and Lhasa.” This series of image-text post is jointly presented by the Beijing Jiaotong University “Tell China’s Stories Well” Media Convergence Studio and China News Services, showcasing the sights, feelings, and thoughts of BJTU youth traveling along the Qinghai-Xizang Line and sharing the touching stories discovered during their practice.

Passing Lanzhou—Meeting the Hexi Corridor

The train glides forward as the sunset’s glow fades away

Farewell to the bustling Beijing, witnessing the enchanting northwest

With unceasing steps, the exploration never ends

The homeland of stars, a hymn to nature

In the daytime, yellow sand swirls all over the sky, and the sun shines scorchingly hot

Silence reigns, broken only by the whistling wind

It makes people feel tiny yet integrated with the vast and boundless desert

At dusk, the setting sun meets the frontier desert

It’s like poetry painted into a picture, a scene to lose one’s soul in.

At night, the starry sky stretches endlessly, we converse with nature

Let our thoughts embrace the entire Milky Way

A chessboard of yellow and green, a dialogue between human and sand

The yellow sands halts its steps before the forest

Hanjiaoshui (Cry-for-Water) Township no longer thirsty

Patches of yellow flowers and green grass set off each other beautifully

A glance at the Hexi Corridor spans a thousand years

The train plunges deep into the northwest, stopping at Lanzhou, Gansu, which is called the cradle of Chinese civilization. Standing where the ancient Silk Road once wound through, the weight of history keeps us awake long into the night.

Outside the window, there was no swirling sand, instead, cattle and sheep nestled together, herdsmen’s songs drifting in the air, and lush green grass growing freely. It feels like stumbling upon a desert oasis, vividly experiencing the boundless expanse described in “The sky resembles a dome, enveloping the land.”

Lanzhou before our eyes is a city that has traversed history along the upper reaches of the Yellow River. The “Golden City” in dreams, accompanied by the melodious songs from the river valley oasis, pulsed with vitality. Here bloomed vibrant roses and lived humble people.

The Silk Road that haunts our dreams

I once read that in the late 19th century, German geographer and geologist Ferdinand von Richthofen named “the transportation route in the Western Regions between China, Central Asia and India from 114 BCE to 127 AD, which mainly focused on the silk trade” the Silk Road. On this road, which winds through river valleys and deserts, extends west of Central Asia, and connects different human civilizations, goods, caravans and cultures flow endlessly. This road continuously injects impetus into the economic development of the regions it links.

This was ancient transportation! Perhaps the land beneath the train’s wheels was once traversed by Persian merchants riding camels laden with goods a millennium ago. History thus brings us together on this journey. The train paused briefly at the platform. Some arrived at their destination, while new travelers boarded, ready to depart. I stood there, quietly absorbing it all.

Continuing the journey from Lanzhou

My thoughts drift back to June 22, 2014. On this day, the eastern section of the ancient Silk Road, jointly nominated by China, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan under the title “Silk Road: The Road Network of the Chang’an-Tianshan Corridor,” was successfully inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. It became the first transnational collaborative project to achieve this recognition. The Silk Road resembles a silk ribbon, connecting East and West, ancient and modern. Now, silk has transformed into railroad tracks, and the caravans that once departed from Chang’an have become trains heading westward. Centuries later, they continue to narrate the story of civilizations converging and humanity thriving together.

After a brief stop at Lanzhou Station, the train slowly pulled out of the platform, heading toward Xining.

The train traversed the edge of sandy terrain, where the green barriers along the route bore witness to the achievements of three generations of desert control workers. Like the streak of green on the train’s body, oases spread along the railway, continuously crossing mountains and valleys, reaching ever farther distances. Oases, like pearls in the desert, often have settlements nearby. Witnessing this scene, I felt a sense of wonder, as if witnessing a connection between humanity and nature, one that has gradually grown into a silent, mutual understanding.

Thus, we encountered the Hexi Corridor and met the Silk Road, carrying the blessings of the Belt and Road Initiative as we began our journey across the plateau. The train continues its journey, and the development of northwest transportation routes presses forward relentlessly…