代表作2.
原文：
On timeless rivers, life finds a peak
Three mighty waterways provide the lifeblood for a natural wonder, report Yang Yang in Beijing and Li Yingqing in Kunming.
Yang Yang/Li Yingqing
Editor's note: China is home to 56 UNESCO World Heritage sites. To find out how these natural and cultural gems still shine and continue to inspire the nation in this new era of development, China Daily is running a series of reports covering 10 groups of selected sites from across the country. In this installment, we explore an oasis of biodiversity nestled amid the mountains of Yunnan province.??It is a story transcending time, a witness of sea changes, a land with "mystery rivers", an ark of life, a symphony of natural wonders, a museum sheltering the eternal and the transitional, a piece of evidence showing that life can be both tough and frail, and a history that records people's changing perceptions of nature.??It is the Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas in the northwest part of Yunnan province, which is located in Southwest China.??The story began about 40 million years ago, when the Indian Plate collided with the Eurasian Plate, raising the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and creating the rumpled peaks of the Hengduan Mountains.??The roof of the world, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, cradles the sources of the longest rivers in Asia. In between the precipitous north-south ranges of the rippling Hengduan Mountains runs a mighty trio of waterways－the Nujiang in the west, the Lancang in the middle and the Jinsha in the east.??Respectively they are the upper streams of the Salween River, which runs through Myanmar, the vast Mekong River and the Yangtze River, the world's third-longest watercourse.??One singular thing about the three rivers is that they run abreast for 170 kilometers through Yunnan, before the Jinsha River turns drastically northeastward and finally meets the East China Sea.??Another is that they run unusually close to each other. The shortest distance between Lancang and Jinsha measures 66 km, and between Lancang and Nujiang, the distance is less than 19 km.??That was how, in 1985, this geographical wonder, highlighted on a satellite map, drew the attention of an expert from UNESCO, which marked the commencement of a long journey to apply for inclusion on the World Heritage List.??UNESCO selects world heritage sites according to four criteria: aesthetic importance, outstanding examples representing major stages of Earth's history, exceptional examples of significant ongoing ecological and biological processes, and the most significant natural habitats for in situ conservation of biological diversity. Meeting one of them is usually adequate.??The Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas went on the list in 2003. Liang Yongning, a professor of geology from Kunming University of Science and Technology in Yunnan, says it is the only world heritage site in China that meets all four criteria.??Covering 1.7 million hectares, the site consists of 15 different protected areas that have been divided into eight clusters, each providing a representative sample of the full range of the biological and geological diversity of the Hengduan Mountains, Shangri-La included.??Back in the autumn of 2002, Liang, an expert on the team preparing the area's application for inclusion on the list, received two experts from UNESCO who were sent to investigate the region.??Two decades ago, the area was one of the most impoverished in China. It was blocked by unscalable mountains and rushing rivers. Roads were carved into escarpments and some bridges were merely cables which people used to get across roaring torrents together with their animals.??"We thought it would take one month to complete the expedition because we needed to cross the three rivers, as well as the divides and watersheds in between, to see all of them. At that time there was no highway connecting the rivers," he says.??However, no matter how big the sites are, UNESCO allows, at most, two-week investigations.??With the help of local people, they planned an east-west route that started from the Jinsha River and ended west of the Gaoligong Mountains located on the west bank of the Nujiang River.??"We tried everything. If there was a highway, we took off-road vehicles. If there was no highway, we rode horses, and if even horses couldn't go on, we went on foot," he says.??It was a hard expedition. In the area, a world of sierras, stand 118 glaciated peaks of more than 5,000 meters above sea level. The highest is Kawagebo Peak (6,740 meters) in Dechen county of Dechen Tibet autonomous prefecture, in the Lancang River Grand Canyon. This protected area is inhabited by the endangered Yunnan snub-nosed monkeys.??Liang remembers how the weather kept changing when they climbed over the Biluo Snow Mountains located in the Lancang-Nujiang divide. Biluo's snowcapped range extends 142 km with 15 glaciated peaks measuring over 4,000 meters above sea level. The 4,500-meter-high Laowo Mountain stands out as the most beautiful. Elevation drops 3,200 meters before reaching the Lancang River.??"At some points, we very cautiously rode horses along narrow roads on the cliffs. Actually, when we prepared for the expedition, several people were injured while trying the dangerous roads," he says.??The expedition lasted 12 days. When the experts departed, one of them, Canadian Jim Thorsell, gifted Liang a book.??It was a copy of an excerpt from The Mystery Rivers of Tibet by British botanist and explorer Francis Kingdon-Ward, who traveled across the three parallel rivers and the watersheds in 1913 to collect plant species for British horticulture businesses and scientific research.??Liang found their route overlapped in many respects with the one Ward traveled nearly 90 years prior.??"Thorsell read the book and told me the natural conditions of the area had not changed much over the years," Liang says.??Ward devoted the whole fifth chapter to the sacred mountain of Kawagebo. It was also a waypoint on the UNESCO expedition.??Kawagebo and other glaciated peaks, such as Biluo, Baima and Haba snow mountains, represent the spectacular beauty of the site.??In addition to the magnificent skyline of the glaciers, the area is also granted with other outstanding scenic landforms, such as alpine karst, especially the Stone Moon above the Nujiang Grand Canyon, and the "tortoise shell" of the alpine Danxia, a landform characterized by its reddish sandstone features.??As elevation drops from over 6,740 meters to 760 meters, the area presents every kind of natural view in the Northern Hemisphere except those of oceans and deserts－glaciers, alpine valleys, alpine lakes, alpine meadows, broad-leaved and coniferous forests, and so on.??Having witnessed a literal sea change, the area is a museum of geology, housing a collection of diverse rock types, such as alpine sandstone landforms, granite monolith and a range of karst formations.??Despite bordering tropical Myanmar to the west, the area provides various climates for creatures living in subtropical, temperate and frigid zones, making it the region with the richest biodiversity in China.??Such unique geographical locations, and hydrogeological and weather conditions create diverse atmospheres, which are summarized by the local people as "the weather changes every five kilometers".??Being located at the juncture of East Asia, Southeast Asia and Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the area not only provides a corridor for the migration of species, endemic or otherwise, but also preserves species that can rightly be called living fossils－for example, the Cyathea tree ferns which hark back to the time of the dinosaurs.??The area, described by locals as "tens of thousands of creatures living on one mountain", shelters more than 20 percent of higher plant species (of relatively complex or advanced characteristics) and 25 percent of animal species in all of China.??For example, the big tree rhododendron is native to the Gaoligong Mountains. Since 2015, people have sought to cultivate the critically endangered plant. The good news is that 60 percent of the 80 saplings planted in the wild in 2017 have survived. So have the 200 saplings planted in May last year.??Apart from fauna and flora, the area is also home to 16 ethnic groups, including Tibetan, Lisu, Bai, Pumi and Derung, who, regardless of having different languages, cultures and traditions, live harmoniously together.??Today, as more creatures perish at an ever-increasing speed around the world, in the inaccessible mountains of the Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas, new species are discovered, almost every year. This, alone, makes it an authentic natural wonder.
譯文：
編者按：中國擁有56項(xiàng)聯(lián)合國教科文組織登記在冊的世界遺產(chǎn)。這些自然和文化的瑰寶經(jīng)過歷史長河的洗禮而閃耀依舊，繁衍生活于斯的人民代代相傳的文化在新時代迸發(fā)出新的光彩。《中國日報》的系列報道《大美中國》在全國范圍內(nèi)選取十組遺產(chǎn)地。在本期當(dāng)中，我們將探尋隱于云南省崇山峻嶺之中萬物共生的樂土。
三江并流：不朽的長河，生命的巔峰
三條大江孕育了自然的奇跡。楊陽發(fā)自北京、李映青發(fā)自昆明的報道。
它是一個時間之外的故事，是滄海桑田的見證者。它是一方流淌神秘河流的大地，是一艘生命方舟，一支自然奇跡的交響曲，一座庇護(hù)永恒和瞬息的博物館。它是一枚證據(jù)，證明生命既堅強(qiáng)又脆弱；是一段歷史，記錄著人們不斷變化的自然觀。
它是坐落于中國西南云南省西北部的三江并流保護(hù)區(qū)。
這個故事要從4000萬年前講起。那時，印度板塊與歐亞板塊發(fā)生碰撞，抬升起青藏高原，造就了褶皺般的橫斷山脈。
世界屋脊青藏高原孕育了亞洲最長的河流。褶皺般的橫斷山脈縱貫?zāi)媳保诰薮蠖盖偷纳矫}間，三條大江并行直下--怒江在西，瀾滄江居中，金沙江在東。
它們分別是流經(jīng)緬甸的薩爾溫江、巨大的湄公河、以及世界第三大河流長江的上游。
?。ㄏ罗D(zhuǎn)18版：“考察”）
副標(biāo)題：雖崎嶇難行，卻得天獨(dú)厚
不同尋常的是，這三條大河在云南境內(nèi)并排奔流170公里，直至金沙江向東北方向拐了一個大彎，最終匯入中國東海。
另一個奇特之處是，三條大江間隔不遠(yuǎn)。瀾滄江和金沙江之間的最近距離為66公里，瀾滄江和怒江之間的最近距離則小于19公里。
正因?yàn)榇耍?985年，這一地理奇觀在衛(wèi)星地圖上突顯，吸引了聯(lián)合國教科文組織一位專家的注意力，由此開啟了申請進(jìn)入世界遺產(chǎn)名錄的漫長旅程。
聯(lián)合國教科文組織在選擇世界遺產(chǎn)點(diǎn)時有四條標(biāo)準(zhǔn)：重要的審美價值、表現(xiàn)地球演化主要階段的突出例證、包含重要生態(tài)和生物演化過程的例證、為生物多樣性就地保護(hù)最重要的自然棲息地。一般滿足一個標(biāo)準(zhǔn)即可進(jìn)入世界遺產(chǎn)名錄。
2003年云南三江并流保護(hù)區(qū)成為世界遺產(chǎn)。
云南昆明科技大學(xué)教授梁永寧說，三江并流是中國境內(nèi)唯一滿足所有四條標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的世界遺產(chǎn)。
三江并流保護(hù)區(qū)占地170萬公頃，由包含15個保護(hù)區(qū)的8個保護(hù)群聚落構(gòu)成，每個保護(hù)群聚落內(nèi)都包含橫斷山脈所有生物和地理多樣性的代表樣本。香格里拉也在其中。
2002年秋，三江并流申遺專家組成員梁永寧接待了兩位前來考察的聯(lián)合國教科文組織專家。
二十年前，這個區(qū)域曾是中國最貧困的地區(qū)之一。高聳的大山和洶涌的河水將它與世隔絕。人們在懸崖峭壁上鑿開道路。橋梁有時僅是一條鋼索，人們和動物一起滑索過河，身下河水激流咆哮。
“我們當(dāng)時想，這次考察，要跨越三條大河、翻越三座山脈以及它們之間的分水嶺，得一個月才能完成，才能看全整個區(qū)域。那個時候，三江之間也沒通高速，”他說。
然而，按照聯(lián)合國教科文組織的規(guī)定，不管遺產(chǎn)點(diǎn)的面積有多大，最多只允許調(diào)研兩周。
于是，在當(dāng)?shù)厝说膸椭?，申遺專家組設(shè)計了一條東西路線：東起金沙江，西至怒江西岸的高黎貢山。
“我們想盡一切辦法。有公路，我們就乘越野車。沒有公路，我們就騎馬。如果馬也過不去，我們就步行，” 梁教授說。
考察過程十分艱苦。三江并流境內(nèi)，巨齒狀的山脈連綿不絕，共有118座海拔超5000米的雪山。最高峰卡瓦格博峰，高達(dá)6740米，位于迪慶藏族自治州的德欽縣內(nèi)，地處瀾滄江大峽谷。瀾滄江大峽谷是瀕危物種滇金絲猴的棲息地。
梁永寧記得，考察隊翻越瀾滄江和怒江的分水嶺碧羅雪山時，天氣瞬息萬變。碧羅雪山延綿142公里，有15座海拔超4000米的雪山。其中最壯美的一座是老窩雪山，高4500米。碧羅雪山與瀾滄江之間的高度落差達(dá)3200米。
“我們騎著馬，就在懸崖邊走，很小心。實(shí)際上，我們準(zhǔn)備考察路線的時候，這條路太險，有好幾個人都受了傷，”他說。
專家組共考察了12日。在回程之際，加拿大專家吉姆·桑瑟爾送給梁教授一本書做禮物。
書是英國植物學(xué)家、探險家弗朗西斯·金敦--沃德所作《神秘的滇藏河流》的一部分。1913年，沃德穿越并流的三江及其水域，為英國的園藝市場和科研采集植物。
梁教授發(fā)現(xiàn)他們的考察路線在很多地方都與90年前沃德的路線重合。
“桑瑟爾讀了這本書，告訴我，這么多年過去了，這里的自然環(huán)境沒有太多變化，”梁教授說。
《神秘的滇藏河流》第五章全部用來講述神山卡瓦博格峰。這也是此次聯(lián)合國教科文組織的一個考察點(diǎn)。
卡瓦格博峰和諸如碧羅、白馬和哈巴等雪山，展現(xiàn)了三江并流世界遺產(chǎn)攝人心魄的自然之美。
除了壯美的雪山，大自然也賦予三江并流保護(hù)區(qū)其他地貌奇觀，如高山巖溶，特別是懸在怒江大峽谷之上的石月亮；高山丹霞“龜背殼”，其特點(diǎn)是紅色的砂石地貌。
由于三江并流保護(hù)區(qū)內(nèi)海拔落差巨大，上至6740米，下至760米，境內(nèi)因此擁有了北半球除海洋和沙漠以外的所有自然景觀--雪山、高山峽谷、高山湖泊、高山草甸、闊葉林和針葉林，不一而足。
四千萬年前，三江并流之地曾是一片汪洋大海，隨著地殼運(yùn)動抬升成為大陸，所以保護(hù)區(qū)是天然的地質(zhì)博物館，收藏著豐富多樣的巖石類型，如高山砂石地貌、花崗巖和多種卡斯特地貌形態(tài)。
三江并流保護(hù)區(qū)與西邊的緬甸接壤，但它卻為亞熱帶、溫帶和寒帶的物種都提供了生存氣候，使其成為中國物種最豐富的區(qū)域。獨(dú)特的地理位置、特殊的水文和天氣條件造就了豐富多樣的氣候條件，即當(dāng)?shù)厝怂f的“十里不同天”。
三江并流保護(hù)區(qū)地處東亞、東南亞和青藏高原過渡地段，不僅為本地或異地物種提供了遷徙通道，也保存了古老的活化石物種，如與恐龍同時代的桫欏。
三江并流保護(hù)區(qū)，正如當(dāng)?shù)厝怂f：“萬物集一山”，庇護(hù)了中國20%的高等植物種類（擁有相對復(fù)雜或高級的特征）和25%的動物種類。
例如，高黎貢山的特有物種大樹杜鵑。自2015年，人們一直努力培育這一極度瀕危的植物。好消息是，2017年種植的80棵種苗存活了60%。去年（2021）年五月栽培的200株樹苗也均已成活。
除了動植物，三江并流保護(hù)區(qū)內(nèi)，包括藏族、傈僳族、白族、普米族和獨(dú)龍族在內(nèi)的16個少數(shù)民族居民和諧共處--盡管語言、文化和傳統(tǒng)不同。
今天，全世界都面臨著物種加速滅絕的現(xiàn)狀，然而，在云南三江并流保護(hù)區(qū)人跡罕至的大山中，每一年都有新的物種發(fā)現(xiàn)。僅這一項(xiàng)，就使得三江并流成為當(dāng)之無愧的自然奇跡。
