介绍：船夫号角的回声

几个世纪以来，黄河中游一直是连接华中与华北的重要水道。

For centuries, the middle reach of the Yellow River had served as an important waterway connecting Central And Northern China.

黄河养活了我们全家。

The Yellow River raised my whole family.

然而，随着时间的推移，它作为交通动脉的重要性逐渐湮没在历史中。

However, as time went by, its significance as a transportation artery faded into history.

孩子们连对村子都没什么感情，更别提这条河了。

The kids are not even emotionally attached to the village, let alone the river.

跟随我们走进荷叶坪——这座古老的渡口、也是名曲《黄河九十九道弯》的诞生地，并与词曲作者的孙辈对话。请继续关注我们12集系列《黄河拼图：船夫号子的回响》的第四集。

Join us as we visit He Ye Ping, an ancient ferry port and birthplace of the renowned song titled 99 Bends on the Yellow River, and talk to the songwriter's grandchildren. Stay tuned to episode four of our 12 part series, the Yellow River Mosaic, Echoes of the Boatman Shanty.

2021年9月28日，在黄河中游的古老港口村荷叶坪。58岁的李海福站在黄河边的悬崖上，唱起祖父传下来的歌。这首歌已在中国传唱了一个世纪。

09/28/2021 at He Ye Ping, an ancient port village along the middle reach of the Yellow River. Standing on a cliff by the Yellow River, 58 year old Li Hai Fu was singing a song of his grandfathers. The song had been heard across China for a century.

你知道黄河有多少道弯吗？在那许多道弯上，你知道又有多少只船？

Do you know how many bands there are along the Yellow River? On the many bands, do you know how many boats?

用山西方言唱来，这首歌叫《黄河九十九道弯》。它歌唱的是二十世纪初在黄河中游蜿蜒河道上讨生活的船工。其中一位船工叫李思命，是河边山村荷叶坪李家第三代纤夫。上世纪二十年代，他根据世代船工传唱的众多劳动号子，作词谱曲，创作了这首歌。

In Shanxi dialect, the song is entitled 99 bands on the Yellow River. It sings the life of the boatman working along the meandering Yellow River in the Middle Reach in the early twentieth century. One of the boatmen was Li Suning. He was a third generation helps man in his family at Heiping, a mountain village by the riverside. He wrote the lyrics and composed the song in the nineteen twenties based on the numerous work songs chanted by generations of boatmen.

这首歌立刻在黄河两岸走红。当时，这段河道是货运主干道，商贸繁忙。数百名船工以此为生，把粮食、煤炭、皮革蕨菜等各类货物运往宁夏、内蒙古等地。这首歌又名《黄河船夫曲》，使荷叶坪成为黄河滋养的黄土文明的一处象征遗迹。一个世纪过去了。

It became an instant hit along both sides of the Yellow River. At that time, this section of the river was the main highway for freight transportation and bustled with business activities. Hundreds of boatmen made a living there, transporting grain, coal, fern leather, and all sorts of goods up and down to places such as Ningxia and Inner Mongolia. The song, also named the Yellow River Changthi, made He Yaping a symbol relic of the lowest land civilization fed by the Yellow River. A century passed.

新修的公路让我们的进村之路顺畅许多。词曲作者的孙子李海福向我们讲述了李思命的故事。

Our trip to the village was made much easier with a newly built road. Li Hai Fu, the grandson of the songwriter and composer, told us Li Simin's story.

我爷爷一生很苦。他十几岁就跟着父亲上船干活，一干就是四十多年。

My grandpa lived a hard life. He had followed his father's footstep to work on the boat since he was a teenager. That had been his life for over forty years.

黄河航运的历史可以追溯到公元前200年。从20世纪初到60年代的鼎盛时期，这条水道船只密集，就像今天的高速公路。当地人把十几岁的男孩送去河上当学徒。小伙子们每年从春到初冬都在船上做船工，只有河面结冰时才停工。久而久之，最熟练、最勇敢的人会成为一流的舵手。

The shipping history on the Yellow River dates back to 200 BC. During its peak from the early nineteen hundreds to nineteen sixties, the waterway was packed with boats like our modern highways. The locals send their teenage boys to work as apprentices on the river. The young man would work as boatmen every year from spring to early winter months, except only when the river froze up. Given time, the most skillful and courageous ones would throw into first rate helmsman.

村里的老船工给我们演示他们当年如何在船上指挥。他握着舵柄，高声发号施令。在他的指挥下，五到七人的船队会操纵船只穿过700公里长的晋陕大峡谷，驶过最狭窄的河段和最急的弯道，像蛇在灌木丛中滑行一样顺畅。哪怕一点点失误或计算错误都可能致命，船就会撞上两岸的峭壁。

The elder helps men in the village showed us how they commanded their crew on the boat. Manning his steeling balls, the helps men shouted out the At his command, the five to seven member crew would maneuver their boat through the 700 kilometer long Jinshan Grand Canyon on the lowest plateau, passing the narrowest point and sweeping turns of the water bed as smoothly as snakes slithering through underbrush. A single tiny mistake or miscalculation could be fatal, and the boat would crash into the cliff walls on either side of the river.

我知道黄河有九十九道弯，九十九道弯下有九十九只船。

I know there are 99 banks on the Yellow River. 99 boats are under 99 banks.

李海福一家世代在黄河上做船工。

Li Haifu's family had worked as boatmen on the Yellow River for generations.

黄河养活了我们全家。爷爷和爸爸都靠这条河吃饭。我也上过船，但只干了两年。

The Yellow River raised my whole family. Both my grandpa and dad made a living on the river. I worked on the boat as well, but just for two years.

他说那时候干别的零活更赚钱。其实70年代黄河水量锐减，航运量也随之大减。随着铁路发展，水电站越来越多导致航道受阻，货船最终被历史潮流冲走。靠河吃饭的人只能另谋生路。李海福如今在村里的枣树园干活。

He said by then, he could make more money doing other odd jobs. In fact, the water volume of the Yellow River had been significantly reduced in the nineteen seventies, so was the volume of shipping. With the development of rail transportation, the blockage in waterways due to the increasing number of hydropower stations, freight boats were finally washed away by the tide of history. Those who had worked on the river had to seek alternative jobs for a living. Lee Hai Fu now works in the village's Jujube Tree Garden.

我

I

只要能挣钱就干，我们不挑活。

do whatever makes money. We are not picky about work.

黄河边的惠义坪曾是热闹的码头，如今成了安静的村庄，对年轻人再无吸引力。李海福的同村张金宁说，这里户籍人口800，但常住不到四分之一。

Hueyiping, the once bustling port by the Yellow River, has become a quiet village and is no longer attractive to young people. Lihai Foo's fellow village at Zhangjinning said the place has a registered population of 800, but less than a quarter live there permanently.

60岁及以下的人选择离开去城里找工作。留下来的人大多是生病或年长的，还有小孩。我们村有36000棵枣树。剩下的村民被组织起来照料这些树。枣卖不出好价钱，但多少能带来点收入。

People aged 60 and under have chosen to leave and find jobs in cities. Those who are staying are mostly sick or elder ones and little kids. We have 36,000 jujube trees in the village. The remaining villages have been organized to take care of the trees. Jujube cannot sell at a good price, but they bring some income anyway.

李海福告诉我他年收入大约一万元，这能让他维持生活。他补充说，他没有像其他人那样离开村子，是因为要照顾年迈的母亲。75岁的张吉宁曾是村长，后来去县城工作，退休后回到和平村。

Lee Haifu told me he had an annual income of about 10,000 yuan. That could make his end. He added that he didn't leave the village like others because he had to take care of his mother, losing her age. 75 year old Zhang Jining was once the village head. He later went to work in the county town and returned to Heiping upon retirement.

当他满怀激情地回忆起村子多么依赖黄河时，他情不自禁地唱起了船夫号子。他说，尽管孩子们都住在城里，他还是舍不得离开这条河。

He couldn't help singing the boatman's trinity when he recalled passionately how dependent the village was on the Yellow River. He said he could not bring himself to leave the river even though his kids were all living in cities.

我离不开这条河，我太爱它了。和我同龄的乡亲们夏天还在河里玩。我们跳进河里打水仗。河水来的时候，我们就抽水浇地。

I can't run away from the river. I love it so much. The fellow villagers of my age is still playing the river in summer. We dive into the river and just splash around. We pump water from the river to water the farmland when the river comes.

谈到年轻一代与黄河的联系，约翰摇了摇头。

Talking about the younger generation's connection to the Yellow River, John shook his head.

他们对村子都没有感情，更别提这条河了。他们在镇上或县里上学，然后去城里工作，只有春节这样的假期才回来。你怎么能指望他们爱村子和这条河？

They are not even emotionally attached to the village, let alone the river. They attend schools in a town or a county. Then they work in cities and come back only during holidays like the spring festival. How can you expect them to love the village and the river?

村里的年轻人不再唱船夫号子，也不再跳当地的秧歌。村民们说，他们很多人甚至不会种地，不像父辈那样。所有能在河上驾船导航的人，都像他们描述的老行当一样，已经七十多岁了。张吉宁就像消失的文化与和平现代生活之间最后的纽带，一直努力让这个曾经闻名的滨河村庄的记忆保持鲜活。

Young people from the village no longer sing the boatman's songs. They no longer dance the local yongkodas. The villagers said many of them could not even farm the land as the father's generation had done. All those who can navigate and guide the boat on the river, as how they describe their old profession, are in their seventies. Like the final link between a vanished culture and the modern life in Heiping, Zhang Jining has been trying hard to keep the memories of the once notable riverside village alive.

他说，在像和平这样的村庄充满活力与生机的时期，黄河发挥了关键作用。他希望有一天，这条河能重新焕发生机。

He said the Yellow River played a critical role during the time when villages like He Yaping were filled with vigor and vitality. He hopes one day, the river will revive his image.

我拍村子和当地活动的照片和视频，上传到互联网和我的社交媒体账号，这样更多人能了解我们的村子和母亲河。

I take photos and videos of the village and local activities and upload them onto the Internet to my social media account so more people can get to know about the village and our mother river.

他说，村民们希望发展本地旅游，邀请人们来看黄河。既然新路已经修好，他相信会有更多游客来参观。我们离开后，我一直关注张吉宁的微信。他每月都会定期发布有趣的图片和视频。但今年我开始担心，因为他在微信上没那么活跃了。

He said the city villagers hope they can develop local tourism and invite people to see the Yellow River. Now that a new road has been built, he believes more tourists would come and visit. I have been following Zhang Jingying's WeChat account since we left. He posted there regularly each month with interesting pictures and videos. But I'm getting increasingly concerned this year because he has not been as active on WeChat.

到我录完这期播客时，只发布了三条更新。希望他和何一平一切都好。

Only three updates had been posted by the time I finished this podcast. I hope all is well with him and with He Yiping.