In the distant future, people would be telling the legendary story of Tucheng making land. It is said that a long long time ago, there was a country in the world called China. It was located in the east of Asia. Due to its large population and limited land, lots of people had to leave their home to work in other parts of the country. Among the migrant workers, there was a middle-aged man （ aged 36 ） surnamed Tucheng, often called Tuchengzi by others. He was strong, healthy and honest. Because he was born a stammer and he was a little slow-witted, he had been a farmer since he graduated from junior middle school. Later on, his parents passed away, he followed his uncle to work in other places. Tucheng was very thrifty in daily life and he never wasted a penny. He saved several tens of thousands of RMB yuan after living an unstable life for over 10 years. He did not get married back then, yet he lived a quiet and easy life alone.
At this moment, an idea came into Tucheng ' s mind, which was to make artificial cultivated land. After observation, he found that all soil was changed from rocks. But it was too slow to change rocks into soil by the energy in nature. He wondered if he could make soil by grounding the rocks into powder and adding farmyard manure to grow crops. Although Tucheng was not born intelligent, his determination and perseverance were overwhelming and he decided to stay single. He bought all the necessary tools, such as hammer, jemmy, pin, pry bar, metal screen, axe, spade, thick sheet iron and roller and then set off for the inner mountains alone taking with him simple luggage.
During the remaining 67 years in his life, Tucheng had experienced all the hardships in the world. He made one mu cultivated land on a barren snake-shaped mountain using these primitive tools. In the last few years of his life, Tucheng used his own excrement as fertilizer and produced enough grain for him to live on. After his death, Tucheng passed this one mu land to a young man, who also used his own excrement as fertilizer and produced enough grain for himself. This descendent made another mu cultivated land in his lifetime. After the death of this descendent, the two mu land was passed on to the third young man, who made another mu cultivated land in his lifetime. After his death, the three mu land was passed on to the fourth young man and it went on like this. No one could know how many generations had passed when the mountain was covered with all kinds of crops, including wheat, corn, rice, beans, vegetables, fruits and grass, a thriving scene.
Later on, this was discovered and made public, so people began to follow suit and the boom of making artificial cultivated land started. People made cultivated land one generation after another. They overcame many difficulties, lived through various harsh environments and lived on and on. In memory of Tucheng, the name of the snake-shaped mountain was changed into Tucheng Mountain . Around Tomb Sweeping Festival every year, many people would go to the mountain to spread flowers, admire the terraced fields on the mountain to order to show respect to Tucheng.
Wu Mingshi (an anonymous person)
Feb. 4, 2006 |
