The sea of Stars 星宿海
The Huangshui River is a tributary of the Yellow River, and Xining is a small, narrow city through which the Huangshui River flows. When I was a child, I lived with my grandfather in a farmhouse in Baijiahewan by the riverside. When I was two or three years old, my grandfather always put me in a basket on the front of his bicycle and took me with him for walks along the Huangshui River. The people of Baijiahewan liked to walk along the riverbank and used to say that there were gods inside the stones they picked up from the Yellow River.
Before going to sleep, the children of Baijiahewan have heard all sorts of stories about the Yellow River.
"What does the Yellow River look like when it is asleep?"
"When the Yellow River is asleep, golden water flows in it, and only the lucky can witness it."
"And what does the Yellow River look like when it wakes up?"
"The Yellow River becomes a muddy river with waves and mud. ...... The Yellow River suddenly wakes up and becomes angry."
"What do you do when the Yellow River gets angry?"
"Just sing a 'The Yellow River array' ......"
The little me would often keep on asking, "So you say the Yellow River flows out of the Sea of Stars, does it bring out the stars?" In my dreams, I had imagined countless times the journey past the Sea of Stars, passing through Qumalai and the Tuotuo River and over Kunlun to reach the Sea of Stars.
I imagined a journey to the Xingxuhai in the Kunlun Mountains, the source of the Yellow River, from my geocentric feelings. From ancient times to the present, the folk myths of the Yellow River's ethnic minorities, or the daily lives of the people along its banks, as well as the imagination of this river community given by various subjects ...... I try to explore the psychology of people's worship of the Yellow River and trace the cultural memory and imagination of its source.
湟水河是黄河的支流，西宁是湟水穿过的狭长的小城。
我小时候住在姥爷家，湟水河边的白家河湾的一个农家院。两三岁时，姥爷总把我放在自行车前的篮子里，载我去湟水河边散步。白家河湾的人们喜欢在河滩漫步，还常说捡来的黄河石头里面有神仙。
在入睡前，白家河湾的孩子们都听过各种各样关于黄河的故事：
“黄河睡着了什么样？”
“黄河睡着的时候,流的都是金水,有福的人才能遇上。”
“那黄河醒了什么样？”
“黄河变成波浪滔天,泥沙滚滚的浑水河了......黄河突然醒了，就开始发怒了。”
“黄河生气了怎么办？”
“唱个《黄河阵》就好了......”
童年的我往往还会追问：“那你说黄河是从星宿海流出来的，会不会把星星带出来？”在梦中，我曾无数次想象过去星宿海的旅途，路过曲麻莱与沱沱河，翻越昆仑到达星宿海。我从自身的恋地情结出发，想象着一次前往黄河源头昆仑山星宿海的旅行。从古至今，关于黄河的少数民族民间神话，还是沿岸人们的日常生活，以及各种主体所赋予的这个河流共同的想象……我试图探讨人们对黄河崇拜的心理，追寻对于黄河源头的文化记忆与想象。