北海：海灣明珠

許你一座城，如北海，若何？

這是一座“年輕”的古城，也可以說是一座古老的“新城”。它每天都在變化出新的樣子，但也始終努力堅守原貌中最寶貴的部分——清新的空氣、潔凈的海洋，以及一片悠然自得的心境。

BEIHAI
A PEARL AT THE SEASIDE OF THE GULF

It is a young “ancient” city, and also an ancient “young” city.

People who were born here, and who grew up here are very content with what they have. They find their inner peace easily.

Text by Ge Rufeng&Yan Junling Translations by Tao Wenjia采訪支持：中共北海市委宣傳部、北海市政府新聞辦

1. Morning in Qiao Town (Photo by Mattew)

僑港清晨 （攝 /Mattew）

2.Red Woods of Golden Bay (Photo by Wang Chengyao)

金海灣紅樹林（攝 /王成瑤）

3. Northern Bay(Photo by Wei Ke)

北部灣畔（攝/韋可）

7000 years ago, there were already human activities in Beihai. At the time, it was called the Baiyue.

Three sides of the city are surrounded by the sea. It is said that every road in Beihai leads to the ocean. In the Han Dynasty, the city's geographical advantages were noticed∶ it faces Southeast Asia and has Southwest China at its back. So it became the most convenient outlet to the sea in Southwest China. Hepu Port was one of the starting ports of the "Maritime Silk Road". Fleets departed from Hepu and Xuwen to sail along the Indian Ocean coastline. From then on, Chinese people actively went out all over the world. Archaeological finds confirm the prosperity of Beihai's Maritime civilisation. In the past 40 years, the number of archaeological finds in Beihai numbers more than 10,000. Many are glasses, and pieces of jewellery which were imported from other countries, so they could be products of foreign trade in ancient times. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Beihai became an open port for trade, and the Chinese and western cultures integrated once again in this ancient city.

Beihai now has many different titles∶ Chinese historical and cultural city, China's first coastal city, famous tourist city of China, China's top ten liveable cities.

Beihai has a subtropical maritime monsoon climate, with warm winters and cool summers. From the east to the west, there is the 24 km long Silver Bay with a flat sandy bay and white sands. Weizhou Island, the youngest volcanic island in China, has beautiful coral under the water. The coastal wetland park also has large tracts of mangrove forest ...

The great ecological environment has been a fortune that people in Beihai are very proud of. They feel they have a duty to guard this pure land. Before liberation, there were only few factories in Behai. Even after the reform and opening up policy, the city continues to focus on the development of pollutionfree industries such as electronic information.

In 2000, the government began to develop the Silver Beach tourism economy belt. 3,500 citizens reviewed the plan and they decided on the principle of not destroying the nature and ecology of the silver beach. Such is what the Beihai people will insist, and also why this city is so confident and happy.

At the seaside of the Beibu Gulf, even after thousands of years of history, the city is still full of the spirit of leisure and contentment.

北海的空氣中，負離子含量數(shù)是內地城市的50 至 l00 倍。這意味著，每吸一口北海的空氣，就像是給肺部做了一次天然的 SPA。

作為一個從漢代就開始呈現(xiàn)貿易的繁榮，并經歷數(shù)次開放、開發(fā)的都市，這樣的環(huán)境狀態(tài)是不多見的。

大約7000年前，北海已有人類活動，稱百越。至漢朝，北海背靠大西南、面向東南亞的地緣優(yōu)勢開始顯現(xiàn)，成為西南地區(qū)最便捷的出?？凇：掀指凼呛Ｉ辖z綢之路的始發(fā)港之一，船隊從合浦、徐聞等地出發(fā)，沿印度洋海岸線航行，各種考古發(fā)現(xiàn)印證了當時北海海洋文明的繁華。40多年來，北海出土文物逾萬件，其中不少玻璃制品、飾品屬于舶來品，當為古時對外商貿輸入的貨物。清末，北海開埠通商，中西文化再次在這座古城交匯融合。改革開放后，北海作為第一批沿海開放城市，再一次得到了歷史賦予的機會。

如今，這座有著千年歷史的城市有了諸多頭銜：中國歷史文化名城、中國首批沿海開放城市、中國著名旅游城市、中國十大宜居城市……宜居，大約是北海人最為自傲，也最為欣然的一種評價——無論是土生土長的本地人，還是大開發(fā)時期帶著“海洋夢”穿越了大半個中國，來此奮斗和定居了的內陸人。

北海人可以把家常的日子過得猶如度假一樣，這座城市是為生存奮斗的競技場，也同時是充滿“野趣”、可以放松享受生活的后花園。冬無嚴寒，夏無酷暑，東西綿延24公里的銀灘灘平沙白，中國最年輕的火山島潿洲島水下有漂亮的珊瑚，濱海濕地公園還有大片大片的紅樹林……可以隨時拔腳出發(fā)，去登高望遠，去沙灘漫步，去挖番薯，去釣魚?？諝夂完柟庾屵@座城市，像這里的生猛海鮮一樣新鮮甜美。即便是長年游人密布的銀灘，海水透明度也超過我國沿海海水平均標準的一倍以上。

生態(tài)環(huán)境一直是北海人引以為豪的財富，他們有一種自我意識：那就是要守衛(wèi)這一方凈土。解放前，這里幾乎沒有重工業(yè)，即便在產業(yè)有了跨越發(fā)展的今天，這座城市的工業(yè)布局仍然堅守環(huán)保的高門檻，整個90平方公里的城區(qū)劃為禁燃區(qū)，看不到一條煙囪，重點發(fā)展電子信息、旅游服務業(yè)等無污染產業(yè)。2000 年，銀灘規(guī)劃旅游經濟帶，3500 名市民評議方案，原則是不破壞銀灘的自然與生態(tài)。這便是北海人的堅持，也是北海這座城自信與幸福的根源。

在北部灣畔，歷經千年風雨滌蕩，這座城市依舊一副閑庭信步、寵辱不驚的樣子。生于斯、長于斯的人們小富即安、恬淡悠然。

1. Christianity Church of Weizhou (Photo by Zeng Jian)

潿洲天主教堂 （攝/曾建）

2. Villagers in Xieyang Island (Photo by Mao Wei)

斜陽島人家（攝/毛衛(wèi)）

3. Old Street of Beihai (Ju Yunhua)

北海老街(琚運華)

4. Weizhou Island (Zeng Jian)

潿洲島（曾建）