“1987年黄河首漂7人不幸遇难, 这次我会活着回来”| First Solo Kayaker

Semit is the pseudonym of Chinese explorer Li Huacan. It comes from the Semites, an ancient nomadic people in central Asia, probably the first tribe that traveled across the continents of Asia, Europe and Africa. "I wish I could be as good as them in traveling over mountains and rivers," says Semit.

“闪米特”是中国探险家李华灿给自己起的笔名，也是一个古老中亚游牧民族的名字。它可能是世界上首个横跨亚欧非三个大陆的种族。 “我希望自己能和古老的闪族人一样，擅长跋山涉水。”闪米特说。

And he did it. In 2015, 41-year-old Semit set out from the headwater of the Yellow River in the Bayan Har Shan, 4,500 meters above sea level in northwest China's Qinghai Province. He kayaked downstream all the way through nine provinces and autonomous regions, successively Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan and Shandong, and eventually disembarked at the river's estuary in Dongying City, east China's Shandong Province. This journey covered 5,464 kilometers in 234 days.

他做到了。2015年，41岁的闪米特从海拔4,500米的青海省巴颜喀拉山的黄河源头出发，乘着一条橡皮艇顺流而下，经青海、甘肃、四川、宁夏、内蒙古、陕西、山西、河南、山东九省区，最终在山东省东营市的黄河入海口上岸。航程共计5464公里，耗时234天。

Photo courtesy of Semit

Semit grew up in Zhuhai, a coastal city in south China's Guangdong Province. Instead of giving him the answers, his father always urged him to look for them by himself.

闪米特从小在珠海长大。父亲面对他的各种问题，从来都不主动告诉答案，而是敦促他自己探索和寻找。

When Semit asked his father to take him to the sea at the age of nine, he received the reply, "See what you could do on your own."

因此，当9岁的闪米特提出想让父亲带他去看海的时候，父亲说：“你自己想办法去吧”。

So Semit invited his pal and kicked off towards the sea. "At that time, Zhuhai was surrounded by sugar cane fields. The weather was hot. We didn't bring any water. We were planning to go through the fields in T-shirts and shorts. We walked on and on, before a river blocked our way."

于是，闪米特约上自己的玩伴，准备一起去探索大海。 “那个年代，珠海种了很多甘蔗，周围都是甘蔗田。天气很热，我们两个人就穿着短裤短袖，水也没带就准备穿越整个甘蔗地去看大海。走啊走啊走啊，走了一段时间，然后发现前面有一条河拦住了，过不去。”

The boys made up their minds and swam across it. Unexpectedly, another river showed up down the road.

两个人决定脱了衣服游过去。没想到，游完一条河，前面还有一条。

Photo courtesy of Semit

"Had we turned back at that moment, we'd have swum across the first river for nothing. So, we took off our clothes and jumped into the second river. Then there's the third and the fourth river. We just swam across them all," says Semit.

“如果这时候回头，第一条河不是白游了？于是我俩脱了继续游。后来还有第三条河、第四条河，我们就不断地继续游。”

"Finally, we saw the sea. It was so spectacular and vast. I was thrilled. My heart thumped vigorously."

“最后我们就看见了大海。非常壮观，一望无际的大海，我整个心怦怦地跳，那太兴奋了。”

In the following years, he became an engineer at a foreign enterprise. Not feeling too much pressure, he would go mountaineering every weekend. Such experience taught him many survival skills, like how to pitch a tent, start a fire and navigate.

Photo courtesy of Semit

In 2007, he had his first encounter with kayaking in a free commercial promotion. "I was on a lake. Half of the surface was covered with dawn redwood. Kayaking through them is like wandering in a fairyland. This is how I fell deeply in love with this sport."

2007年，通过一次商家的免费体验活动，闪米特接触到了皮划艇。“当时我在一个湖里面，有半个湖都长着水杉，我就在水杉中间穿梭，感觉像是个仙境。我就深深爱上了皮划艇这个运动。”

Kayaking wasn't popular in China, not to mention going for training lessons. Semit could only download online instruction videos and look for materials in foreign languages. He managed to kayak across the Qiongzhou Strait, Bohai Strait and even the Pearl River. Then he set his eyes upon the Yellow River. 

当时，皮划艇在中国非常不普及，也没有培训。闪米特只能从网上下载视频，找国外资料学习，自己摸索着横渡了琼州海峡和渤海海峡，甚至漂完了珠江。接着，他将目光投向了黄河。

The last big event for Yellow River rafting was the "First rafting down the Yellow River" in 1987. Seven members of the team died during the journey. 30 years later, Semit intended to kayak down the river all alone. Due to the high risk of this event, no media dared to follow along. His wife, "Antelope," was the only one who drove an off-road vehicle and kept in touch with him on the walkie-talkie.   

上一次大规模的黄河漂流活动，还是1987年的“黄河首漂”。当时的团队付出了七人丧生的代价。三十年后，闪米特单人单艇的挑战，因为过于危险，甚至没有媒体敢于跟拍报道。全程只有他的妻子羚羊开着越野车，和他用对讲机保持着联系。

Semit spent 12 months mapping strategies for this rafting, studying routes and regional hydrology. He even trained himself in rock climbing, so as to survive in the canyons where kayaks could easily be capsized.

为了这次漂流，闪米特花了12个月做攻略，详细地考察路线、水文，还去训练了攀岩，就是为了在最容易翻艇的峡谷区域增加活着出来的几率。

Photo courtesy of Semit

"The most dangerous part is where the Yellow River flows from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to the Loess Plateau. The altitude abruptly drops from over 3,000 meters to only 1,000 meters. With such an altitude difference, the rapids are thundering."

“黄河最危险的一段就是从青藏高原过渡到黄土高原的时候，它的海拔突然从3000多米瞬间下降到只有1000多米。这么厉害的海拔落差，造成它的急流特别厉害。”

At the moment, he received an anonymous call from someone who had participated in the first Yellow River rafting 30 years ago, warning him to skip the dangerous section because "theoretically, no one could survive that."

那时，闪米特接到了30年前黄河漂流者的匿名电话，警告他跳过那一段，因为“从理论上说，没有活人能过得去。”

Although Semit believed that he could make it even if his kayak was capsized, because he had rich experience in mountaineering, a year's training of rock climbing, and advanced gear such as a water-proof dry suit.

但闪米特觉得，自己有多年的登山经验，训练了一年攀岩训练，还有比当年更先进的干式防水服，万一翻艇，自己也有能力从里面出来。

Photo courtesy of Semit

The moment he took to the water, "it felt like being thrown into the washing machine." The kayak only weighed 3.5 kilograms, and the balance can only be controlled by human force. The torrents rolled higher and higher. To avoid capsizing, Semit must adjust the direction in the fraction of a second, in order to maintain the prow in a perpendicular angle toward the rapids. The kayak was tossed like a toy.

一下水，“就像进了一个滚筒洗衣机”。小艇只有3.5公斤重，全靠闪米特用全身力气维持平衡。激流一浪高过一浪。为了防止翻艇，他在零点几秒之内不断调整橡皮艇，使艇头始终以90°的角度与激流正面迎击，再被浪花抛到空中……

The only capsizing accident happened on the day after he went through the deadly 20 kilometers. In order to paddle through the reservoir region as fast as possible, he shifted to a heavier flatwater kayak. But it gave him more trouble in maintaining balance and got him rolled over by torrents. About to be thrown against the left bank, he made a swift decision to dive and hide behind the starboard, a narrow escape indeed. Ten minutes later when he was flushed out of the canyon, he got on board again. Recalling this experience, Semit wrote in his column: "Whenever in danger, I always have the same thing in mind: to survive. Because life matters more than anything else."

唯一一次翻艇，是在越过这致命20公里的第二天。为了快速通过之后的水库区，闪米特换用了较为笨重的静水艇，结果操控不及被浪卷翻。眼看巨浪将他拍向左岸，他当机立断，迅速潜入水下，躲到小艇右侧，才免于葬身岩壁的命运。之后，用了近十分钟，等到水流将他冲出峡谷，他才重新回到小艇上。回忆起当时的感觉，闪米特在专栏中写道：“无论多少次面临险境，我当时想的东西都是一样的：就是如何活下去。因为生死之外，别无大事。”

CGTN Photo

"Mother Nature is formidable and magnificent. Humans would never truly defeat or conquer her. You can do physical training, acquire survival skills and experience, then take the time when she shows the mildest face and go rafting or mountaineering. If you are lucky enough to survive and accomplish something, then you win the challenge."

“大自然是非常恐怖的，也是非常宏大的，人不可能战胜，也不可能征服。你锻炼自己的体能，锻炼自己的技术和经验，然后选择最合适的时候、大自然最温柔的时候，跑去漂流或者登山。你运气好，成功了，活下来了，那你挑战自己成功了。”

Photo courtesy of Semit

Semit rafted down the river in the daytime, and wrote his logs in the evening about the scenery and cultural landscapes along the Yellow River. It was like conducting field research. Occasionally, when there was Internet access, he would follow his favorite anime One Piece, in order not to miss a single episode. He would also play his harmonica once in a while. 

闪米特白天漂流，晚上写探险日记，把沿途看到的风景和人文景观都记录下来，就像给黄河沿岸的风土人情做了一次田野调查。碰上有网络信号的时候，他还坚持追《海贼王》，决不落下任何一集。什么也没有的时候，就吹口琴。

According to Semit, the most enjoyable moment during the rafting happened at the junction of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and Loess Plateau, when he saw the clear water turned turbid with mud and loess. Thrilled by the spectacle, he recalled when he first saw the sea as a child. 

闪米特说，整个漂流过程中最开心的事，是在青藏高原和黄土高原交界的地方，看到黄河原本清澈的河水随着黄土的流入一下变得很浑浊。遇见这种神奇景观的心情，一如小时候第一次看到海。

In 2016, he was chosen as one of the world's top 10 adventurers by National Geographic. His wife said that Semit has "some primitive qualities, like that of a wild animal." The instinctive impulse urged him to travel around the country and the world, so as to be immersed into a greater cause and fate.

2016年，闪米特被美国国家地理评为全球十大探险人物。妻子羚羊说，闪米特身上有“某种没有进化好的，动物身上才有的东西”。正是这种原始的、本能的冲动，促使他一次又一次往外跑，在全国和世界环游，投身到更宏伟的规律和命运之中。

Photo courtesy of Semit

"Humans are insignificant in a way. We can't always control our own fate," says Semit. "A life's path resembles the route of the Yellow River. The river actually didn't make the call in the past 1.5 million years. It just turns at the mountains and flows downwards to the most erodible grounds. Life is the same, because people would often choose the easiest way. There could be anything along the way that I take. I would only meet the challenge and make it through by marching forward with expectations."

“人其实挺渺小的，命运不见得由我们自己把握。” 闪米特说，“人生的道路跟黄河一样。过去150万年，流经什么地方，不是黄河自己决定。这里有个山峰它就往外拐，那里有个山峰它就往右拐。水总是往低处、往最容易腐蚀的地方流，变成河流。人生也一样，你总是往最容易的方向、最能做到的那个方向走。所以我后面的路会怎么样，要看我遇到什么东西。我还没有遇到，我永远都不会知道。”

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