Jindong River and Jin Dong Tun are actually hidden in the corner of the mountain, and the mouth of Jin Dong River is the entrance of Liucheng Shi Si. Looking at the lonely dam at the mouth of the beautiful Jin Dong River, it is hard to imagine that in the early 1970s, it was once the construction site of Jin Donghe Hydropower Station, one of the three major water conservancy projects in Liucheng County. At that time, in response to Chairman Mao's call to vigorously build water conservancy projects, more than 2,000 enthusiastic young people from Liucheng came to this paradise surrounded by mountains and rivers and devoted themselves to the vigorous water conservancy project in Jin Dong. At that time, too many projects were hastily mounted and dismounted, and no one explored the reason why Jin Donghe Hydropower Station was never completed. Only today, with the passage of time, the years of burning passion have gone away from us, but the traces left by the construction in those years are still clear. The slogan "Not afraid of difficulties, man can conquer nature" on Shimen seems to tell us the story of yesterday.
In this legendary Jin Dong River, there is a little-known strange thing-sugarcane tied to a "bamboo raft".
In the past, people in Jin Dong could only grow corn, so there were mountains and wasteland, but they were all poor. Later, the government guided the people of Jin Dong to reclaim wasteland and grow sugar cane to make money, and the villagers realized that sugar cane was sweeter. There are many places in Jin Dong, and there are many kinds of sugar cane, but Jin Dongshan is too big for even ox carts. The Jindong River is too small for motorboats to get in, so every year, all the sugar cane is tied in rows and floated down the mountain. Villagers often use rows of sugarcane to transport some charcoal, pigs and cows to the mountains for take-away, so "sugarcane as a boat to pull sugarcane" has become a great spectacle in Jin Dong.
More than 1,000 tons of sugar cane produced in Jin Dong are floated out every year. Rows of sugar cane are spectacular, but the villagers are helpless about it. There are about 7 or 8 tons of sugarcane in each row, and it takes more than 2 days for each row to float outside the mountain. Therefore, in Liucheng, the sugarcane in Jindongtun is always the first to be cut and the last to be transported to the sugar factory. Inconvenient transportation has become the biggest obstacle to the development of Jin Dong.
Jin Dong is not open to traffic, and it takes more than three hours to walk from Shankou to Jindongtun. Approaching Jindongtun, more than a dozen scattered mud houses were surrounded by a bamboo fence, which is all about Jindongtun. The villagers said that many people in Jindongtun moved out of the mountains to make a living because of poor living conditions. At present, there are only 8 households in Jindongtun, compared with more than 40 households in the past, which is a typical "9938 troops" (all those left are old people and women). Therefore, it is not an exaggeration to use the word "widow" to describe the Golden Cave.
Walking into any family in Jin Dong, you can see a strange phenomenon, with lights hanging and candles lit. There are lights on every wall, but every family lights candles at night. The villagers said that they lack electricity here and are one of the few natural villages without electricity in Liucheng. Why does every household have electric lights but no electricity? In fact, Jindongtun used to build a small hydropower station in the village by using Jindongtun river water, but it was not used for some reason and lacked management. Now there is only one rotten house left in this hydropower station. And the electric lights in the villagers' homes have become luxury decorations. An aunt who has lived in Jin Dong all her life said that the electric light at home is as lonely as her, and she can neither shine nor have a partner. In Jin Dong, it is very common for the elderly to live alone and empty nest.
"Widows" in Taoyuan
If the mountain village can also be divided into men and women, Jindongtun of the upstream village Committee should undoubtedly belong to women: feminine and demure.
Strictly speaking, Jindongtun is just a beautiful widow with charming scenery and a population of only thirty or forty.
There used to be more than 200 people in this small Zhuang village. Due to the inconvenient transportation and no electricity in the village, more and more people moved out. There are only seven left now.
Legend has it that it used to be a bandit settlement, with only two surnames, Luo and Hou. At that time, the Luo family moved to Jindongtun and was attracted by the landscape here, so it was called Houjia. Now, the Hou family has moved out of Jindongtun, and only the Luo family is still guarding this beautiful "widow".
I think the bandit who chose the Golden Cave to settle down in those days should also be a person who knows poetry and painting very well.
The rooster stood happily singing on the rocks in the village, and the crows echoed in the village for a long time. Jindongtun is surrounded by the abrupt Rocky Mountain, which is lush and green. It can really be called violet jade bamboo shoots. The Golden Cave is like a paradise in Tao Yuanming's works.
This mountain village has declined.
There are only neatly stacked tables and chairs in the two mud brick houses in the primary and secondary schools in the village. If it weren't for their thick dust, outsiders would think it was just a temporary winter vacation in primary school.