Yongtai Turtle City Travel Diary‖Visiting the Sea

The second season of the documentary "Amazing Village" introduces an ancient city in the Gobi Desert in the northwest. It is also called "Yongtai Turtle City" because it looks like a golden turtle when viewed from a bird's eye view.

Nowadays, there are too many ancient cities with the same styles and similar experiences. The taste left by history is gradually covered by bar folk songs, coffee cats and dogs, or other fresh literature and art. Returning to Yinchuan from Xining, we plan to go to this ancient city to see how different it is in this ancient city in the yellow sand.

Along the way, the scenery on the roadside is beautiful when we approach Turtle City. Some green trees have begun to appear on the Gobi. There are very few cars. Turtle City has not been developed into a tourist attraction. There are no tickets, and the cars are parked outside the city gate.

Turtle City is located on the Gobi Desert in the Hexi Corridor, which is an important transportation artery of the Silk Road. Most of the many cities on the ancient Silk Road were related to military affairs. Yongtai Turtle City was built in the 36th year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty, mainly to defend against the invasion of northern ethnic minorities. Yongtai means "never eliminate the invaders, peace and stability ".

Entering from the south gate and passing through the two-layer city wall, you can see the villages in the city. You can't see tourists or too many villagers.

This place is indeed different from most other ancient cities. Turtle City is too desolate. If you walk in the ancient city of Dayan, the ancient city will give you whatever you want. Although the music and wine, the beauties and stories, and the lazy cats and dogs in the sun are all there for visitors, they also attract tourists. Get what you want. In Turtle City, it is difficult to buy a bottle of Coke, but this is the real Turtle City.

It is said that in the 1950s, more than 1,300 people settled in Turtle City. At that time, the grasslands and trees outside the city were still quite lush, unlike the deserted Gobi desert today. Nowadays, due to successive years of drought and the continuous deterioration of the surrounding environment, residents living in Turtle City have moved away one after another. Not many people remain in the ancient city. In the past, "wines and businesses, flags were clearly visible, tea pavilions and restaurants were floating in the air at all times." The prosperity of "Xiang" no longer exists.

Turtle City is not big, and the atmosphere of life is no longer strong. There are many ruins and endless lamentations.

Walking further in, you can finally feel the life here, with one or two dogs barking, three or two houses with smoke coming from the kitchen, and you can see the residents inside from time to time.

There is no coffee or milk tea here. Brother Jiao saw a family baking something, so he went into the house and bought some. It was okay to satisfy his hunger at noon. Of course there are no B&Bs or bars here, but you can also see scattered houses with accommodation signs.

Although Turtle City is not very old, it is still more than 400 years old, and these rammed earth walls are still intact. There are still many places in China where rammed earth walls have been preserved for thousands of years. The ancient earth ramming technology is really It's incredible.

Walk around inside and feel the desolation of the northwest and the loneliness of Turtle City.

This is a toilet that is still in normal use.

Perhaps because there are still villagers settled there, there are still many tree-lined places in Turtle City.

From a slightly higher place, you can see Mount Lushou in the distance.

What is a little surprising is that there is a well-preserved primary school in Turtle City, but it no longer plays an educational role and has become a national cultural relic protection unit.

Walking out of the school, the scene outside was the same as before.

The steel cable passes through the earthen wall.

Out of Wengcheng, out of Turtle City.

Wherever there are people, there is water, and there is water in Turtle City, but the sudden appearance of a pool of clear water on the yellow sand Gobi is really surprising.