Live Your Best Lives
Road trips are slowly coming into China. The Sichuan-Tibet Highway, the Qinghai-Tibet Highway, the Yunnan-Tibet Highway, the Xinjiang-Tibet Highway, the Tarim Desert Highway, the Duku Highway... countless stories have been left on these roads, which are either dreamy or magnificent, or magical or dangerous.
However, those roads are too far after all, while the Beijing North First Road, which is less than 300 kilometers away from Beijing, is easy to reach.
At the intersection of the northern Hebei mountains and the Inner Mongolia Plateau, in Datan Town, Fengning County, on the top of the Bashang Grassland, the 150-kilometer Beijing North First Road, accompanied by continuous windmills, is hidden in the mountains. It is primitive and mysterious and is the next most beautiful self-driving road in China.
The distance is not far, north of Beijing. It only takes a leisurely weekend to get away from the city, drive along the direction of the windmills, across the grasslands, across the hills, across the forests, and past the houses.
Located in Fengning Bashang, the First Road in Northern Beijing boasts a unique cuisine steeped in Bashang tradition. Here, you can savor oat noodles and yams (potatoes), two of the three treasures of Bashang, as well as Bashang lamb.
The most important thing is that in the farmyard, you can taste the authentic food that was grown and raised here. Those common vegetables taste very different after simple processing.
The First Road in Northern Beijing was only developed in recent years. There are no high-end hotels or resorts yet, but there are many down-to-earth farmhouses in the village. The rooms are spacious, bright, clean and sanitary, and provide free WIFI, which can meet the basic accommodation needs of tourists.
We recommend the Tianlu Inn, located within the Tianlu (First Road) area of northern Beijing, near Qiansongba and Liushugou, enjoying a prime location. Compared to the surrounding farmhouses, the Tianlu Inn is larger, consisting of a single building with a considerable number of rooms. The inn also offers integrated dining and lodging, ensuring both food and lodging options are met.
The most convenient way to travel on the Tianlu, the first Tianlu in northern Beijing, is to drive yourself.
Arrive from various locations by car, and then drive to measure every inch of the Beijing North Tianlu. The Tianlu is very wide, and you can stop and go as you please, but you can almost walk into the scenery along the way without having to walk.
It should be noted that the 150-kilometer Beijing North Day 1 Route consists of multiple sections, including A, B, C, D, E, and F. The road conditions are relatively complicated, so you need to do your homework in advance to avoid getting lost.
Mr. Lu Xun said in "Hometown", "In fact, there was no road on the ground. When more people walked on it, it became a road." This first road in northern Beijing did not exist originally. It was not because of the large number of people, but because of the strong wind that this road was created.
The Bashang area, located in the Inner Mongolia wind source region, boasts frequent air convection, perennial northerly winds, and strong winds, resulting in abundant wind energy resources. Since the beginning of the new century, my country has vigorously developed clean energy and actively built a clean, low-carbon, safe, and efficient energy system, with wind power becoming a key development project. Bashang, thanks to its natural advantages, has become one of the regions with the largest installed wind power capacity in China and has been designated one of the first national million-kilowatt wind power demonstration bases.
In order not to damage the forest landscape, the original wind and electricity roads, fire prevention roads and village roads in the forest area were opened up during the development and adjustment planning and design, forming the current 150-kilometer "First Road in Northern Beijing".
During the construction of the "First Highway in Northern Beijing," not a single ton of sand or soil from the forest farm was used. Instead, the roadbed was constructed from 1.5 million tons of blasting slag left over from the construction of the Zhangcheng Expressway. This not only solved the problem of raw materials but also dealt with the waste left over from the construction.
Today, the first road in northern Beijing is still different from many scenic highways. It is not a dangerous section that must be passed to get to a certain place. Except for local villagers and wind farm workers, few people need to pass through here.
Although it has been developed into a scenic spot, it still maintains its original natural state. It is not ostentatious or deliberate. It just silently guards the windmills on the earth and quietly waits for people to discover them.
The first road in northern Beijing was created because of windmills. It lies across the Fengning Baotou area, passing through mountain tops, through seas of clouds, and across grasslands, winding and undulating. There is no clear route. Where there is wind, there are windmills, and where there are windmills, there are roads.
Standing on the road, looking at the windmills swaying in the wind ahead, I suddenly remembered the words of the Sixth Patriarch Huineng: "It is not the wind that moves, nor the flag that moves, but the heart of the benevolent that moves."
The car drives along the gravel road, stopping and starting along the way, with no destination in mind, only the scenery before us. We gaze at the gentle hills above the dam, the towering mountains below; we wait for the sunrise on Qiansong Dam, watch the sunset from the top of Dongshan Mountain; we pray before the Mani pile, wait beneath the birch forest, or encounter farmers harvesting wheat or shepherds returning from their sheep-grazing. On the First Road in Northern Beijing, we encounter the most beautiful scenery, and those poetic and distant dreams can be easily relived here.
Qiansongba National Forest Park is located in Datan, Fengning Manchu Autonomous County, Hebei Province. It is the main scenic spot of the first grassland in northern Beijing. Qiansongba, with an altitude of 1,982 meters, covers an area of 100 square kilometers. It is the largest forest park closest to Beijing and is named after the primitive spruce growing in the valleys and gullies.
Walking along the first road in northern Beijing and deep into Qiansongba, it is hard to imagine that the picturesque forest farm before our eyes was ravaged by sandstorms and had dried-up rivers and wells 20 years ago.
Located in Datan, a lush, water-rich area, this was once a nomadic Mongolian region, hidden for thousands of years, pristine and untouched. However, in the late 1990s, overgrazing, deforestation, grassland degradation, river drying, and the encroachment of sand and the resulting retreat of people reduced Qiansongba to a barren mountaintop, riddled with ravages of wind and sand. Memories of "the vast expanse of the sky, the boundless wilderness, the wind-blown grass revealing cattle and sheep" have long faded. Consequently, this crucial water conservation area for Beijing and Tianjin became a major source of wind and sand damage.
After realizing the importance of the ecological environment, Qiansongba Forest Farm began to consciously restore vegetation, combining artificial afforestation with closed-mountain reforestation to maintain the original ecology of the first grassland in northern Beijing; mixed coniferous and broad-leaved trees, and a combination of trees, shrubs and grasses to restore the forest ecosystem.
Together with villages, farmers and herdsmen, we will build a multi-species, multi-level and multi-functional ecological protection forest barrier to build our own green home.
In early summer of 2000, Qiansongba Forest Farm built eight large characters with stones on a bare hillside: "Greening Fengning, Protecting Beijing and Tianjin". Since then, with the mission of "blocking sand sources and retaining water sources for Beijing and Tianjin, increasing resources and expanding financial resources for the local area", it began a 20-year-long afforestation program, which will continue to be maintained, and built a solid ecological barrier north of Beijing.
Twenty years later, Qiansongba has achieved its most beautiful appearance, earning revenue through its "breathing" and attracting visitors with its "appearance." In early 2018, Qiansongba Forest Farm, along with Saihanba Forest Farm, was named a 2017 "China Forest Experience Base" by the Forest Leisure Experience Branch of the China Forestry Industry Association, citing its rich forest resources, diverse vegetation, and significant leisure and experience offerings. Qiansongba Forest Farm once shouldered the nation's historic mission of "rebuilding the three Saihanbas." Now, alongside Saihanba, Qiansongba has earned its own name.
Qiansongba National Forest Park occupies only a small portion of the Qiansongba Forest Farm, but it's its most essential part. Long-term closures for reforestation have allowed thousands of pristine spruce trees, averaging 300 years old, to grow naturally in the canyon, interspersed with birch, larch, mountain willow, and river willow, shading the sky.
Fortunately, in Qiansongba today, the next generation of trees has slowly grown, and the forests, grasslands, farmlands, sandy lands, wetlands, mountains, rivers... are slowly unfolding like a painting.
Herds of cattle, sheep, and horses graze and rest in the places that suit them best. Occasionally, various wild animals such as pheasants, squirrels, and wild boars come out to join in the fun, adding a bit of liveliness to the autumn scenery on the dam.
The movie "Out of Africa" showed us the classic scenery of the savanna. However, there is also a savanna less than 300 kilometers north of Beijing.
Savanna, as the name suggests, is a grassland dotted with sparse trees. Another common name for savanna is "savanna," derived from the English word "sawanna," a description of the grasslands of southern America by Spanish merchants during the Age of Discovery, meaning "few trees and tall grass." Besides Africa, savannas are also found in tropical regions such as South America, Australia, India, Myanmar, and Thailand. Although not specifically mentioned, these savannas all refer to tropical savannas.
China also has savannas, including those found in dry, hot river valleys and along the western coast of Hainan Island. These are also specifically tropical savannas. Later, scholars discovered the unique temperate savanna on the Inner Mongolia Plateau, which attracted considerable attention.
Not far from the Inner Mongolia Plateau, in Datan Town, Fengning Manchu Autonomous County, Chengde City, is the starting point of the first grassland in northern Beijing, the Liushugou savanna, located at the intersection of the Bashang Plateau and the northern Hebei mountains, and is also a temperate savanna.
Liushugou Savanna is named after the mountain willows and river willows that are everywhere. It combines grassland, forest, wetland, stream and shrubs. Due to its ecological diversity, it has changed its name several times. But my favorite is still this savanna, which can evoke countless associations just by hearing the name.
The temperate savanna is a unique ecosystem. While it may lack the wildness and pristine beauty of the tropical savanna, it possesses a distinct flavor. Neither grassland nor forest, it lies somewhere between the two, adapting to both offensive and defensive conditions, its appearance shifts with changing circumstances. This variability enriches the ecology of Liushugou, adding a touch of vitality and charm to the area.
Between the grassland and the forest, umbrella-shaped trees stand on the ground, seemingly in disorder, but just right, embellishing the grassland and restraining the forest.
Yet, Liushugou seems completely unaware of its uniqueness and continues to live its life as usual. Its inhabitants have lived here year-round, farming or herding, remaining unmoved by the comings and goings of travelers from afar.
They only care about the weather and road conditions, food and vegetables. They don’t know, or don’t care, that their lives are the pastoral idyll that countless people struggling in the city yearn for.
The climate in Bashang is cold, windy, and arid, making many crops unviable. Only hardy crops like oats and potatoes, which thrive in the harsh climate, can adapt. Corn, even though it thrives in diverse locations, can't produce cobs here; it grows against the wind, providing a delicious source of food for cattle and horses. Fruit, on the other hand, can't survive and must be brought in. Therefore, the rows of vegetables growing alongside the oats are incredibly valuable. They bring a touch of greenery to the lives of the people of Liushugou and help them through the cold winter.
As the sun sets, cattle graze by the sparse trees, reluctant to leave. The herders, unhurried, simply watch over the cattle, waiting patiently. The horses, in their own world, are free and unrestrained. As the sun gradually fades, the horses are reluctant to leave. Only when the herders gallop over do they reluctantly bid farewell to the sparse trees, meeting again tomorrow.
I took one last look at the horse herders riding by, then turned and left. Standing on the Tian Road through the savanna, watching the horse herders riding by, Haizi's "September" suddenly rang in my ears. Perhaps it was too heavy and tragic to be appropriate at this time, but it still stubbornly rang out.
