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.
译文：
编者按：中国拥有56项联合国教科文组织登记在册的世界遗产。这些自然和文化的瑰宝经过历史长河的洗礼而闪耀依旧，繁衍生活于斯的人民代代相传的文化在新时代迸发出新的光彩。《中国日报》的系列报道《大美中国》在全国范围内选取十组遗产地。在本期当中，我们将探寻隐于云南省崇山峻岭之中万物共生的乐土。
三江并流：不朽的长河，生命的巅峰
三条大江孕育了自然的奇迹。杨阳发自北京、李映青发自昆明的报道。
它是一个时间之外的故事，是沧海桑田的见证者。它是一方流淌神秘河流的大地，是一艘生命方舟，一支自然奇迹的交响曲，一座庇护永恒和瞬息的博物馆。它是一枚证据，证明生命既坚强又脆弱；是一段历史，记录着人们不断变化的自然观。
它是坐落于中国西南云南省西北部的三江并流保护区。
这个故事要从4000万年前讲起。那时，印度板块与欧亚板块发生碰撞，抬升起青藏高原，造就了褶皱般的横断山脉。
世界屋脊青藏高原孕育了亚洲最长的河流。褶皱般的横断山脉纵贯南北，在巨大陡峭的山脉间，三条大江并行直下--怒江在西，澜沧江居中，金沙江在东。
它们分别是流经缅甸的萨尔温江、巨大的湄公河、以及世界第三大河流长江的上游。
（下转18版：“考察”）
副标题：虽崎岖难行，却得天独厚
不同寻常的是，这三条大河在云南境内并排奔流170公里，直至金沙江向东北方向拐了一个大弯，最终汇入中国东海。
另一个奇特之处是，三条大江间隔不远。澜沧江和金沙江之间的最近距离为66公里，澜沧江和怒江之间的最近距离则小于19公里。
正因为此，1985年，这一地理奇观在卫星地图上突显，吸引了联合国教科文组织一位专家的注意力，由此开启了申请进入世界遗产名录的漫长旅程。
联合国教科文组织在选择世界遗产点时有四条标准：重要的审美价值、表现地球演化主要阶段的突出例证、包含重要生态和生物演化过程的例证、为生物多样性就地保护最重要的自然栖息地。一般满足一个标准即可进入世界遗产名录。
2003年云南三江并流保护区成为世界遗产。
云南昆明科技大学教授梁永宁说，三江并流是中国境内唯一满足所有四条标准的世界遗产。
三江并流保护区占地170万公顷，由包含15个保护区的8个保护群聚落构成，每个保护群聚落内都包含横断山脉所有生物和地理多样性的代表样本。香格里拉也在其中。
2002年秋，三江并流申遗专家组成员梁永宁接待了两位前来考察的联合国教科文组织专家。
二十年前，这个区域曾是中国最贫困的地区之一。高耸的大山和汹涌的河水将它与世隔绝。人们在悬崖峭壁上凿开道路。桥梁有时仅是一条钢索，人们和动物一起滑索过河，身下河水激流咆哮。
“我们当时想，这次考察，要跨越三条大河、翻越三座山脉以及它们之间的分水岭，得一个月才能完成，才能看全整个区域。那个时候，三江之间也没通高速，”他说。
然而，按照联合国教科文组织的规定，不管遗产点的面积有多大，最多只允许调研两周。
于是，在当地人的帮助下，申遗专家组设计了一条东西路线：东起金沙江，西至怒江西岸的高黎贡山。
“我们想尽一切办法。有公路，我们就乘越野车。没有公路，我们就骑马。如果马也过不去，我们就步行，” 梁教授说。
考察过程十分艰苦。三江并流境内，巨齿状的山脉连绵不绝，共有118座海拔超5000米的雪山。最高峰卡瓦格博峰，高达6740米，位于迪庆藏族自治州的德钦县内，地处澜沧江大峡谷。澜沧江大峡谷是濒危物种滇金丝猴的栖息地。
梁永宁记得，考察队翻越澜沧江和怒江的分水岭碧罗雪山时，天气瞬息万变。碧罗雪山延绵142公里，有15座海拔超4000米的雪山。其中最壮美的一座是老窝雪山，高4500米。碧罗雪山与澜沧江之间的高度落差达3200米。
“我们骑着马，就在悬崖边走，很小心。实际上，我们准备考察路线的时候，这条路太险，有好几个人都受了伤，”他说。
专家组共考察了12日。在回程之际，加拿大专家吉姆·桑瑟尔送给梁教授一本书做礼物。
书是英国植物学家、探险家弗朗西斯·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，为英国的园艺市场和科研采集植物。
梁教授发现他们的考察路线在很多地方都与90年前沃德的路线重合。
“桑瑟尔读了这本书，告诉我，这么多年过去了，这里的自然环境没有太多变化，”梁教授说。
《神秘的滇藏河流》第五章全部用来讲述神山卡瓦博格峰。这也是此次联合国教科文组织的一个考察点。
卡瓦格博峰和诸如碧罗、白马和哈巴等雪山，展现了三江并流世界遗产摄人心魄的自然之美。
除了壮美的雪山，大自然也赋予三江并流保护区其他地貌奇观，如高山岩溶，特别是悬在怒江大峡谷之上的石月亮；高山丹霞“龟背壳”，其特点是红色的砂石地貌。
由于三江并流保护区内海拔落差巨大，上至6740米，下至760米，境内因此拥有了北半球除海洋和沙漠以外的所有自然景观--雪山、高山峡谷、高山湖泊、高山草甸、阔叶林和针叶林，不一而足。
四千万年前，三江并流之地曾是一片汪洋大海，随着地壳运动抬升成为大陆，所以保护区是天然的地质博物馆，收藏着丰富多样的岩石类型，如高山砂石地貌、花岗岩和多种卡斯特地貌形态。
三江并流保护区与西边的缅甸接壤，但它却为亚热带、温带和寒带的物种都提供了生存气候，使其成为中国物种最丰富的区域。独特的地理位置、特殊的水文和天气条件造就了丰富多样的气候条件，即当地人所说的“十里不同天”。
三江并流保护区地处东亚、东南亚和青藏高原过渡地段，不仅为本地或异地物种提供了迁徙通道，也保存了古老的活化石物种，如与恐龙同时代的桫椤。
三江并流保护区，正如当地人所说：“万物集一山”，庇护了中国20%的高等植物种类（拥有相对复杂或高级的特征）和25%的动物种类。
例如，高黎贡山的特有物种大树杜鹃。自2015年，人们一直努力培育这一极度濒危的植物。好消息是，2017年种植的80棵种苗存活了60%。去年（2021）年五月栽培的200株树苗也均已成活。
除了动植物，三江并流保护区内，包括藏族、傈僳族、白族、普米族和独龙族在内的16个少数民族居民和谐共处--尽管语言、文化和传统不同。
今天，全世界都面临着物种加速灭绝的现状，然而，在云南三江并流保护区人迹罕至的大山中，每一年都有新的物种发现。仅这一项，就使得三江并流成为当之无愧的自然奇迹。
