Open "Jewelry Box on the Indian Ocean"

Open the world map and focus on the southeast side of India. The water -shaped island is Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka has a long history of more than 2,000 years. In the Indian epic "Ramayana", she recorded her in the name of "Lanka", which means "bright land". In our country, people knew the existence of Sri Lanka a long time ago. The names of Sri Lanka recorded in the ancient books were as many as 30, and the most common of which was the "Lion State".

Buddhism, Sri Lanka's cultural password

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Because it is adjacent to India, the birthplace of Buddhism, Buddhism prevails here. "History" is the most important chronological history of Sri Lanka. It was written in the distant 5th century. Among them, there was such a story: the Buddha himself set aside the island 3 times and left footprints on the top of the Holy Mountain in the central and southern parts. The book's more formal record in the book is that Buddhism was introduced to Sri Lanka in the 3rd century BC. At that time, Ayaka unified India, believed in Buddhism, promoted the Dharma, and a third assembly of Buddhism. King Ayu sent 9 to the regiment to the Fa, and one of them came to Sri Lanka.

The Fa Music Mission was led by the son of Asho Kings Mo Pu Tuo. After meeting with the king of Sri Lanka, Mosu Tuo was very happy, and the king agreed to vigorously promote Buddhism in Sri Lanka. It is said that thousands of people converted within a few days. As a result, Sri Lanka built a large temple, founded the bhikkhuni ring, and moved from India to the branches of the Saint -Timi tree. Since then, Buddhism has taken root in Sri Lanka.

The corridor of the Buddhist Temple is decorated with the exquisite and complicated Buddhist murals of Sri Lanka.

It is no exaggeration to say that Buddhism has paved the background of Sri Lanka.

The genes of Buddhist culture have completely penetrated into the lives of Sri Lankans or even blood. Buddhism not only achieved the life of the Sri Lankans, but also shaped the country of Sri Lanka. Therefore, it is impossible to really know Sri Lanka without understanding Buddhism.

The Buddhist Temple in the second largest city of Sri Lanka, at 7 o'clock in the evening, is the most lively moment. Countless local Buddhists and foreign tourists embraced the temples to see the style of Shakyamuni Buddha's teeth.

When I was a kid, I heard that there were only 2 Buddhist relics in the world, one in the eight major places in Beijing, and the other in Sri Lanka. At that time, I didn't know where Sri Lanka was specific, but I felt very far away. Nearly 30 years later, I came to Sri Lanka. In front of the Buddha's dental room, there was a set of small empty fields surrounded by railing, which gathered several Sri Lanka families. It is said that in order to enter this space at a close range, many people started applying for this privilege a year ago. Seeing Buddha teeth at close range is the happiest thing for Sri Lankans.

This Buddhist teeth are the treasures of the entire country. According to the Buddhist scriptures, after Sakyamuni was fierce, many relics were burned out, of which only 4 Buddhist relics were burned. It explains the location of these four Buddha teeth in "Saying All the Miscellaneous Things of the Pi Nayer": "The Buddha has the Bettery relic, one in the release of the emperor, one in the Phanthara country, and the other in the Linglinga Kingdom. In the Amusi Hailong Palace, each tower is supported. "It means that the Buddha teeth are in the heavens and one in the Dragon Palace. There are only 2 in the world, and they are in India. One is brought back to China by a monk Fa and worshiped in Lingguang Temple in Beijing. Essence

Such a precious price is naturally worshiped by Sri Lanka. The kings of the past see the teeth of the Buddha as a symbol of the orthodoxy of the royal power. Sri Lanka's history has been relocated several times, and this Buddhist teeth in the 16th century came to Kangti.

The annual Buddhist festival is the most important festival in Sri Lanka.

In Aourad Pusler in Sri Lanka, a Buddhist sacred land is a place where Buddhists all over the world are longing for, where there is a bodhi tree with more than 2,000 years old.

In the early Buddhist beliefs, no Buddhist worship appeared, Buddhists used the Bodhi trees where Shakyamuni and Buddha enlightened as the object of worship. In Sri Lanka, they could see this historical trace. Construction of the stupa and Bodhi tree.

Anurad Pula was the first capital in Sri Lanka's history. The 5th century AD declined. The capital moved to the second ancient city of Bonnarovo, and the 16th century moved to Kangti, south of the south. The three ancient cities constitute a large triangle on the map. Sri Lanka's culture and Buddhist relics are concentrated in this "cultural triangle".

Hope, in the next shovel

Sri Lanka is known as the "jewelry box on the Indian Ocean", which seems to have endless gem reserves.

About 90%of Sri Lanka's land is distributed with mother rocks that can produce gemstones, and its types account for half of the 200 kinds of gems and semi -gems in the world. There are more than 30 species of precious gems, including ruby, sapphire, cat eye stone, garnet, golden emerald, sea sapphire, purple green stones, moonstone, etc., especially sapphire. Like Princess Diana's engagement ring, now inherited in the hands of Princess Kate, the oval sapphire inlaid on the ring comes from Sri Lanka, as well as the "Blue Belle" of 423 carats embellished on the Crown of the British Queen, and and and and and that 80%of the high -end gems in the National Museum are from Sri Lanka.

In 500 BC, Buddhists from northern India discovered the gems deposited in the riverbed. After that, people polished natural gems and used them to make lists. The port here has also become a trading place for traders swarming in the name of Mu Gem. After that, the gems were sent to the trading market in Asia and Europe through the hands of dealers, through the ancient Silk Road and maritime trade. The rough stones and roughly processed ruby ​​and sapphire were held in their hands by jewelry dealers.

Gravity is the product of the earth. Like all the products on the earth, people are attached to different values. The gem is also invested in the cost and time of mining, cutting, polishing, and even the life of human life during the birth of its reborn. The price of Fei is incorporated into his arms, inlaid between his fingers, and hanging on his neck, becoming a symbol of people's identity and status.

Because of work, the author went to the Sri Lanka gem mining area for inspection, and the mining owner Pasan greeted him himself. He was wearing a baseball cap, wearing ordinary shorts, and he was barefoot like all workers, and his body was stained with mud. The only difference is that there is a rough gold chain on the neck. I asked him if he earned the gemstone. He grinned and opened, and his teeth were stained by betel nut juice.

In the center of Sri Lanka, there is a mountain that crosses the entire country, and the gem is produced here. On both sides of the mountains, the Cambrian Crystal Crystal System containing quartz rocks, marble, and other sediments. The broken rocks sprinkle a large amount of gemstone sediments on the riverbed of the lower valley. In continuous practice, people slowly discovered the law of excavating gems in the riverbed.

Later, the workers improved the excavation method, hitting a well under the ground, reaching the underground gemstones, and then radiating to the four sides, which reduced the damage to farming land to a certain extent, but also increased the danger. sex. In recent years, the local government has banned large -scale mechanical mining of gems in river beds. Therefore, more mine owners have changed in small -scale mining on land. These private gem ores are distributed in coconut forests or fields next to the highway.

Entering the mine, Passan signaled that I took off the slippers, rolled up my trousers, and patted my shoulder at ease, and repeatedly made my hands grasping. I nodded, bent and drilled across the crossbar, lowered my legs and sat on the entrance of the cave, turned to kick the first wooden ladder, and helped a long flat on the wooden ladder with a hemp rope. There are some regrets. The distance between the wooden steps is very high. Only when the weight of the whole body is put on the arm can we step on the next level of the wooden ladder. Water and mud made the wooden ladder very slippery. I took a breath in front of my small arms, and desperately drove out of my head for a while to climb up.

The mine is located in Latnapla, central Sri Lanka, and is called "Gem City" for producing gemstones. This ordinary gem ore is in the rice fields by the highway. You can only see the straw shed in the middle of a green cultivated land from a distance. In the ground more than ten meters from the ground, several miners are digging the soil like earthworms. They hung these precious soil on the ground, and each pair of soil contains hope.

423 carat's "Blue Belle".

The bottom of the well is a mud that is about to be over the calf, and the well mouth hangs on top of the head like a square moon. A dark -looking old miner supported a wooden pole, and the candle with liquidity was glued at the top, indicating that I followed him to the horizontal cave next to him. Put candles every one or two meters, and use candlelight to basically see the structure of the cave. This is a long square mud hole. People can only squat and move inside, not upright. The short -cut wooden section supports soil, and the wet leaves of the ferns grow out of it.

You may think that the gem ore will be a glorious picture, and gems should be set on the walls on all sides. People just need to reach out to remove them, and they will not think that the environment is so darker and dangerous. The old miner pointed at a hose buried in the water, which was more oxygen than that of oxygen; after a while, the sound of rumbling sounds came from a distance, and the tube slowly rose to spray a large bubble; however The top of the cave is very low, as if it will be smashed at any time.

Under the mine, the weird shadow of the candlelight was shaking, and the miners put the sludge at the end of the tunnel into the basket with their hands, and they wanted to dig gemstones from here. These miners were excavated forward like this, and their luck seemed to be destined to be in this sediment. This dark and hot underground scene has a huge contrast with the bright land in the jewelry shop.

The 45 -year -old mine owner Pasan, who worked in a local black tea factory before. Due to the low salary, he was determined to leave the tea factory and summoned several neighbors to make a living of excavation of gems in the ground. Some people in the industry once described the excavation of gems as "going to the casino", because can it be dug or dig, how much can be dug, all of which are lucky, and there is no such thing as Pasan.

After digging out some mud ore sand from the ore, the miners will make their wishes to God, then come to the river not far, rinse the soil with river water, and find the rough stones of gems in a gravel. The sweat and life they excavated in the dark world will be rewarded at this time.

Before starting to dig a mine, Pasan and everyone will hold a sacrifice ceremony. They made a wish to the gods and distributed the money to the poor to the poor. Pasan did not give the workers a fixed salary, but after selling gems, the workers could receive 2 % of the income as remuneration. Therefore, in the 8 hours of working every day, most of them are constantly excavated in the humid and dark underground, laying the bracket for the newly dug caves, bypassing the foundation of the room and the root of the tree, and constantly taking away the groundwater.

The soil dug out of the ground contains only a small amount of stones of different sizes. Workers will wash away the soil in the small river by the mine and separate small stones. These rough stones will be collected and selected uniformly. The workers put the 笸箩 on the river bank, first prayed at it, and then carefully pulled them away to find the lucky star of the day.

Pan San put a few natural gems in my hands, which were dug out of his mine. These natural gems look dull, trivial, and differently. There is no "royal temperament". They can't see too obvious colors. Each one is not more than half of the corn grains. However, the experienced miners can accurately pick out the valuable one from a bunch of authentic gravels.

Climbing up from the mine is much more rare than climbing down, and finally returning to the ground made me feel relieved. Looking at my clothes that I was stained with mud, I sincerely said to the mine owner: I now understand how hard and danger of your work. Passan said: The oxygen pipe under the mine has only been installed recently, because not long ago, workers lost their lives due to hypoxia.

Each ore can produce up to about $ 50,000 gems. After the mining is completed, the mine will be re -filled with the soil.

Every morning, in a certain area of ​​Latnapla, a central and southern cities in Sri Lanka, you can see many people wearing white robes gathered together. They are gem dealers. This gem market that opened at 8 am and at 1 pm is a place for the mine owners who sell rough stones and the processing vendors of the acquisition of stones. A group of white robe people held the flashlights used to test the texture of the gemstone, and from time to time, they pulled off the shelf's magnifying glass on their heads. They carefully used the flashlight or the early morning sun to test the texture of each gemstone, and made the final segment of the price.

Everyone has more hidden gems, and is carefully wrapped in small paper bags or a piece of banknotes, looking forward to the expected price. Rogue and roughly processed ruby ​​and sapphire are held in their hands. More gems are in their arms, and they will be open and displayed in front of each buyer who may pay. There are multiple gem trading markets within a few kilometers, attracting gem dealers from all over the world.

Ratnapla is located in a mountain area 64 kilometers southeast of Coronpu, Sri Lanka. It is the largest gem mining area in Asia. It is known for its large variety and outstanding quality gemstone, and has deservedly become the central city of the gem industry in South Asia. The name of this city means "gemstone", "Prara" means "city", and it is the "city of gemstone".

The spinels produced from here are inlaid on jewelry around the world. It is a symbol of identity and status wearing natural gemstones produced in Sri Lanka, including Solomon's Queen, Duke of Windsor, Queen Elizabeth II, and Princess Diana. There is even a 400 -carat red spinel northward, and now sitting in Russia's national treasure collection. There are countless oval spinels, decorated on the crown of the British Empire.

"Tell me what kind of gem do you need?" After I shook his head several times and discounts on him, Mr. Su Jiwa, who had more than 20 years of jewelry sales experience, still asked patiently. After a few rounds, he successfully completed the sales, and the buyers and sellers were very satisfied with the results.

Subsequently, Sujishi took me to visit the workshop for fine processing of the gemstone. A girl who painted her nails as colorful than gems, was carefully polishing the brilliant gemstone who was carefully processed. Mr. Su Jiwa explained: "The gem must first go through experienced veterans to determine how to cut preliminary cutting. The angle of the first knife of the first knife is also very important."

In the showroom, Mr. Su Jiwa stood in front of the mine model and spread his hands and said, "In fact, it is somewhat similar to digging gems to go to the casino, because none of us know if we dig it somewhere, will we dig out whether we will dig it, will we dig it, will we dig it, will we dig it, will we dig it, will we dig it. How many gems will be there in gems. "Digging gems in Ratnapla needs to be approved by the government. Compared with other gemstone producing areas, the gemstones here are not buried deeply, and they may get a lot of benefits. However, the ingredients of luck seem to be greater. Luck may make people become rich overnight, or make a few months of effort to make east streams.

From miners who excavate stone in the underground world in the dark, to the white robe dealers who do not miss any buyer, to the cutting workers, and finally they take out 12 times after the counter to persuade consumers to persuade consumers, They jointly achieved the value of the gemstone.

Ceylon black tea: exotic aroma

A long time ago, it was difficult for the people of Sri Lanka to think of a tea tree, which could not only create unexpected wealth, but also produce a unique flavor and unique aroma through the diverse black tea process. Although a single "traditional craft" is widely used, due to the different soil and climate of major tea areas, dozens of Sri Lanka black tea can also be produced.

Sri Lanka produces 300,000 tons of Ceylon tea each year. These Ceylon tea comes from more than 700 tea processing plants and more than 400,000 growers. These numbers mean that in the 180,000 hectares of Sri Lanka Tea Garden, everything is possible, and the area of ​​these tea gardens is only 6.6 % of the Chinese tea garden area. Prior to 1972, the name of Sri Lanka was "Ceylon" and was famous for its high -quality "Ceylon Black Tea". Today, Sri Lanka has about 745 tea processing plants, and there are more than 150 tea varieties.

Since Sri Lanka started planting tea in 1867, after more than 100 years of development, Ceylon black tea has become synonymous with "high -quality black tea" in the international tea market and sold in 134 countries and regions. For more than 100 years, many international brand tea companies have used Ceylon black tea as the main products under their brand, or as the indispensable main matching raw materials, such as Lidon, Talley, Chuanning, etc.

Why is Ceylon black tea produced with other countries that produce black tea, such as China, India, Kenya, Indonesia, Vietnam and other black tea? The international tea market and black tea experts agreed that Ceylon black tea has a unique and strong aroma, mellow taste, and red and bright soup, so it is well -known. Scientific research also shows that it is Sri Lanka's unique variety, climate, soil, processing technology and other comprehensive factors, which has contributed to the high quality of Ceylon black tea.

Every year in July, tea companies and importers around the world are waiting for the best picking and production season of Uva black tea from August -September. The connoisseur and consumers who love black tea and consumers can't wait to make a new season of Uva black tea. Uva black tea is one of the three high -fragrance black tea in the world. The tea area is located in the eastern mountains in the highlands of the central Highland of Sri Lanka and belongs to high ground tea. The black tea produced has a unique mint and the aroma of flowers, showing the stimulating astringent taste and mellow taste.

The black tea produced by Nuvara Elia is the highest quality black tea in Sri Lanka and is known as the "champagne" in Sri Lanka black tea. Because of the aroma of wild mint, cypress and eucalyptus in the air of Nuwara Elia. The tea area is located at the highest mountain area above 1200 meters above sea level. It has a cool climate and clouds all year round. The average annual temperature is only 10 ° C, and the temperature difference between morning and evening is 5-15 ° C. Such an environment and climatic conditions make the tea produced in the Nuvara Elia region have a unique fragrance. When brewing, there is a light and delicate flower and green grass. When viewing the brewed tea residue, you will find that the tea residue part is green, as if the tea is not complete. This is one of the characteristics of Nuvara Elia black tea.

Generally speaking, Ceylon's most famous tea is black tea. However, since the 1990s, some tea farms and tea companies in Sri Lanka have begun to introduce equipment and technology from China or Japan to test the production of Chinese flavors or Japanese -style fried tea. Now, the Ceylon green tea produced from fresh leaves produced in the central highland of Sri Lanka has become one of the top Ceylon tea. Sri Lanka now has thousands of tons of green tea exports to the world every year. Because most of the tea trees in Sri Lanka are the descendants of the Great Leaf species of Assam. The green tea made with these varieties is compared with the quality of Chinese green tea. It has a strong and strong taste and slightly astringent taste, but after drinking, it will be sweet after drinking.

This article contains the 15th issue of "World Expo" magazine 2022

Editor in charge: ZAN

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