到吉林赏雾凇
作者 王永利
在北方，在万物萧疏的冬季，除了呼啸的寒风和凛冽的寒流外，大地似乎缺乏了生气，没有一点色彩。人在这个时候也往往情绪低落，古人称“伤秋”或“伤冬”。可是朋友，偏偏在这个时候，大自然给北方人以惊喜，这个惊喜是雪，美丽的雪景让北方人有一个美丽的冬天，而惊喜中的惊喜，那就是大自然赐予的珍品礼物——雾凇。
雾凇像雪一样，呈现着“忽如一夜春风来，千树万树梨花开”的壮丽奇观。但是在北方冬季没有雪的时候，只有在吉林这个地方，也可以呈现琼瑶满树、银花满枝的奇观——这就是有名的吉林雾凇，其壮美的景象可以和桂林山水、云南石林、长江三峡媲美，被称为中国的四大自然奇观之一，每年都吸引几万中外游人远道来此观赏呢。
为什么偏偏吉林这个地方受到老天的厚爱、有此得天独厚奇观呢？导游会告诉你：这是“严寒的大气和温暖的江水”互相作用而成的。吉林市冬季气候严寒，清晨一般都在零下20—25℃，尽管松花湖面上结了1米厚的坚冰，而从松花湖大坝底部丰满水电站水闸放出来的湖水却在零上4℃。这25—30℃的温差使得湖水刚一出闸，就如开锅般地腾起浓雾。数十里云雾长龙当它们撞击地物表面后，会迅速冻结，形成雾凇。由于雾凇中雾滴与雾滴间空隙很多，因此雾凇呈完全不透明的白色。雾凇轻盈洁白，附着在树木物体上，宛如琼树银花，清秀雅致，又称树挂(或雪挂)。吉林市松花江畔的雾凇奇景，驰誉东亚。其持续时间也长，据吉林气象站记录，吉林雾凇季节一般从每年的11月下旬开始，到次年的3月上旬结束。
我到吉林市采访，有缘见到了这一奇观。那是一天清晨，吉化工厂的宣传员硬是把我塞进一辆旅游车，说“王老师，今天不干别的，你就去赏雾凇吧，尽管东北好久不下雪了，可是我们这的雾凇可壮观了，不去看看会后悔一辈子的！”
到了江边，果然眼前出现了我从未见过的壮观景象，数十公里长的松江两岸一片银白，江畔长堤上的一排排大柳树成了“白发三千丈”的雪柳，一棵棵苍松则成了“玉菊怒放”的雪松。美丽的雾凇轻柔丰盈、婀娜多姿、美丽绝伦。这里仿佛成了如诗如画的仙境。导游背诵着江泽民同志撰写的诗句“寒江雪柳日新晴，玉树琼花满目春。历尽天华成此景，人间万事出艰辛。”其比喻形容和眼前的美景极为贴切。
而雾凇中的最动人的美景是吉林市民，特别是美丽的姑娘们穿得花枝招展，欢天喜地地在雾凇中摆各种优美的姿势拍照，让游客们大饱眼福。随着人们生活水平的提高，无论是姑娘还是小伙子，无论是老人还是孩子，每个人脸上都流露着由衷的喜悦，他们健康的肤色和美丽的衣着透露着生活殷实，他们脸上灿烂的笑容表明对现实生活的满足。“再来一张，这太漂亮了。你瞧，那棵树挂更美，在那再拍一张！”欢声笑语不绝于耳。人在画中游，笑在画中留。人们在如诗如画的雾凇中留下的不仅仅是美好的回忆，还有对美好明天的向往，对辉煌未来的期待和憧憬。
柳树结银花，松树绽银菊，在欣赏美景的同时，人们也在呼吸着最新鲜最清洁的空气。特别是清爽的新鲜空气吸入肺部，我感觉非常滋润，十分陶醉，精神气爽。这对于我这个久在干燥的大城市工作生活的人来说，这里成了天然的氧吧。据导游介绍，雾凇还是“环境卫士”、“长寿素”，它有消尘灭菌、促进新陈代谢和加速血液循环等功能，可调整神经，提高人体免疫力和体质。在出现浓密雾凇时，因不封冻的江面在低温条件下，水滴分裂蒸发大量水汽，形成了“喷电效应”，因而促进了空气离子化，也就是在有雾凇时，负氧离子增多。据测，在有雾凇时，吉林松花江畔负氧离子每立方厘米可达上千至数千个，比没有雾凇时的负氧离子可多5倍以上。
导游总是在说自己的家乡美，其中“忽悠”的成分，我估计也占一定比例。但是，吉林雾凇仪态万方、独具丰韵的奇观，的确让络绎不绝的中外游客赞不绝口。
朋友，有机会你一定要到吉林去看看雾凇，吉林雾凇的确“名不虚传，天下第一”！
Enjoying Rime in Jilin
By Wang Yongli
In the north of China, the land becomes empty in winter. Aside from the howling winds and piercingly cold currents, the earth seems to lack vigor and fresh colour. The people feel often depressed, the ancients calling it "autumn injury " or " winter injury". But friends, it is at this time that nature presents a surprise to the northern people. The surprise is the snow, and the beauty of the snow makes the winter of northern China picturesque. To make the thing more surprising, nature presents another treasure– rime.
The rime is as beautiful as the snow. Tang Dynasty poet Cen Can wrote a poem: "The north wind rolls over the white grass and breaks it; the snow across the tartar sky of the eighth month is like a spring gale, coming up in the night, blowing open the petals of ten thousand pear trees.” The rime is a similarly magnificent wonder. But where in the north has such beautiful scenery? I would say that only in Jilin province can you see such magnificent wonders. White jade covered trees and white flower filled branches—this is the famous Jilin rime! It is comparable to the magnificent Guilin scenery, the Yunnan Stone Forest, and the Yangtze River’s Three Gorges, China's four natural wonders, and every year attracts tens of thousands of Chinese and foreign tourists.
Why does God love Jilin so much and endow such a natural wonder upon it? A tour guide will tell you it is formed by the interaction of cold air and warm water. In Jilin province the winter climate is chilly in the morning, generally - 20-25℃. Despite Songhua Lake having one metre thick ice, you will see a flowing current from the sluice dam of the Fengman Hydropower Station with a temperature of 4℃. The 25-30℃. temperature difference makes the water from the gate rise like fog. Once the dozen kilometres of fog touch the land it quickly freezes, forming the rime. Because there are many gaps between the droplets, the rime is completely opaque white. When the soft white rime attaches to objects like trees, it looks like the branches have white flowers in full bloom, comely, refined, miraculous. The Jilin Songhua River rime is well known in East Asia. It lasts for a long time according to the Jilin meteorological station records, the rime season begins from late November and remains until next year’s early March.
Fortunately I saw the miracle once when I went to Jilin to visit some friends. It was early morning and an auspicious promoter persuaded me onto a tourist bus and said: "Teacher Wang, today please do nothing but enjoy the rime. Although the northeast does not snow for a long time, the rime can be spectacular. If you don’t go have a look, you will regret it all your life!"
The river appeared in front of me; I had never seen such a spectacle. The Songjiang River was dozens of kilometres long, with a swift current, both banks covered with white snow and ice. The rows of willow looked like "three thousand feet of snowy white hair", and the pine trees looked like "jade chrysanthemums in full bloom". The rime was very pretty and charming, beautiful and gentle. It seemed to be a picturesque wonderland. The poem of Comrade Jiang Zemin goes as follows: "the cold river and snowy willows make the day fresh and fine, the white flowers and jade trees seem as spring. Through the days nature created this scene and all things in the world out of hardship." It is a very appropriate metaphor to describe the beautiful scenery.
While the most touching beauty in the rime were the people of Jilin, especially the beautiful girls all dolled up, making various graceful poses for the camera and the tourists. The standard of everybody’s lives are enhanced, girl and boy, old and young, every face reveals heartfelt joy, their healthy skin and beautiful clothes revealing a rich life, their shining smiles showing real life satisfaction. "One more picture! It's so beautiful. With the trees will be even more beautiful. Please one more shot!" Endless laughter could be heard. People walked through the painting leaving a trail of smiles. In the picturesque rime what they left good memories, and took an expectation for a better tomorrow and a longing for a brilliant future.
Willows bloom silver flowers and pine trees bloom jade chrysanthemums. While appreciating beauty, at the same time people breathe the freshest clean air. When I inhaled the air into my lungs it felt very moist and the vigor of my spirit seemed to enhance. There is a bar on natural oxygen for people like me who have lived and worked in a big dry city for a long time. According to the introduction rime is an "environmental guardian”, "longevity factor", and has the functions of dust elimination, sterilization, promotion of the new over the old, and acceleration of blood circulation. It also can adjust one’s nervous system, improving immunity and overall health. In the thick of rime, under low temperatures the thawed river evaporates water vapor, forming an "electric spray effect" and promoting air ionization. According to the survey, on the banks of Jilin’s Songhua River, negative oxygen ions per cubic centimetre number from one thousand and can be than more than five times this when there is no rime.
Some tour guides might say their hometown is the best, and there is some exaggeration, I estimate, for a certain proportion. However, Chinese and foreign tourists do praise Jilin rime for its distinguished air of elegance, coquetry and uniquely charming wonder.
Friends, if you have the opportunity to visit Jilin you had better have a look for the rime, for the Jilin rime has a well-deserved reputation as “the best in all the land!"
