Brief introduction：

This book not only contains the records and characteristics of animal and plant activities in Mount Changbai， but also records the activities of animal communities the writer has tracked for many years. It also includes his observational experience gained after many years in Mount Changbai， mainly reflecting the changes of activities in the animal and plant communities in this area in recent years. Moreover， it includes the writer’s many thoughts on his writing direction and style， topic selection for a new book， the relationship between man and nature， and the hidden worries over ecological protection in Mount Changbai. It gives a thorough description of the writer’s thoughts during his long-term stay in the Mount Changbai forest region along the Erdaobai River， and reveals his love and cherishing of the landscape and ecology of his hometown. It is a precious book that reflects the ecological environment of animals and plants in the Baishan forest and the writer’s personal creative experience.

About the author：

Hu Donglin （1955-2017）， pen-named Hu Dundun， is Manchurian. He was a wildlife writer， served as a middle school teacher， reporter for the correspondent station of China Township Enterprise News in Changchun， and editor and deputy review editor of Fiction Monthly magazine at Jilin Federation of Literature and Art. He joined the China Writers Association in 2005 and was elected vice-chairman of the Jilin Writers Association in 2013.

2：00 a.m.， May 10， 2007

Bird songs came from all directions. I could see birds jumping and singing on the branches two or three meters away from me. I got so busy that I didn’t have time to tie my shoelaces. At one moment I took photos with my camera， and at another， I observed them with my binoculars. In the twinkling of an eye， I found five or six kinds of birds. Two male mallards and one female mallard were in the river bay on the left; two red long-beaked snipes stood like clay sculptures on the other side; in the bushes ahead， brown fantail reed warblers sang a series of songs as mellow and clear as water droplets; above my head， a long-tailed tit was chirping softly.

In the yellow marsh amongst the marigold flowers on the grassy slope at the other side， a white-faced and white-bellied white wagtail was brooding eggs in a small ground nest; on the headland about 150 meters far away， there was a green hill with a hay-colored round hat on the top. Two wild ducks with round heads came out from behind the hill in turn. At one moment their heads appeared to be black， and at another， pale brown. I guessed there was a wild duck nest at the top of the hill， and the couple had spotted me from far away， waiting and observing their enemy’s situation.

In less than two hours， I saw narrow-beaked shore snipes and red-legged snipes， several meadow buntings， a pair of ashy starlings， a sapphire-like kingfisher， a small gang of yellow-throated buntings， and two or three Asian brown flycatchers; there were also coal tits， willow warblers， tree pipits， water pipits， marsh tits， great reed warblers， small reed warblers （the songs of these two kinds of reed warblers were very loud and melodious）， great tits， and medium-sized birds suspected to be dusky thrush. As an amateur， I couldn’t recognize two or three kinds of birds， such as a beautiful yellow bird with black feathers and I didn’t find out what it was when I came back to look it up ...

At dusk， I went to see the blooming Ericaceae plants in the botanical garden behind the Zoological and Botanical Institute. When I heard grey wagtails singing like the sound of a flute in a tone from low to high， I suddenly came up with a short article entitled Singing of the Gray-backed Thrush at Dusk， describing all kinds of songs of spring birds.

Every once in a while， I heard two or three roars of forest owls as if they were made by a stout and husky man in the forest. Please notice， the “coo” and “puff” of their roaring came out together. Oh， my God， what a busy day. I was in the wild from morning till night， feeling pleased and happy.

I left at 2：00 a.m. on May 4th and arrived at the Erdaobai River Town at the foot of Mount Changbai after an eight-hour bumpy journey. On the third day， I went up to Sun Xiyan’s forest pig farm. I saw three litters of lovely young wild boars that were piglets born through crossbreeding of wild boars with second-generation hybrid pigs. They were the offspring of the hybrid sows in estrus and the wild boars on the mountain found in mid-December last year when I followed a CCTV 10 team to produce a documentary. At that time， when Sun and I went up the mountain， we found the footprints of two wild boars that were seduced to come by the sows in estrus.

When I advised him to release all six sows at night and let them meet the wild boars on the mountain， Sun Xiyan listened to my proposal. These cute little striped piglets were the fruits of that proposal. On that day， I also saw a sign that the people digging ginseng chopped. It was a language that was used in the primeval forest in the early years. It was marked with axe marks： two persons， three， three， which meant that two people dug up two ginsengs with three palmately compound leaves. I also saw a burnt bear den in which a bear weighing about 75 kg was killed in the 1970s. At the moment an insignificant tree pipit was singing softly in the bushes.

The day before yesterday， I went up the mountain to learn how to shoot flowering plants with Piao Longguo who was the curator of a museum. He photographed a group of low early spring flowering plants. The photos looked very good.

When it was late at night， a pair of grey wagtails at the back of my house fell asleep in a small warm nest. When I arrived at dusk of that day， a grey wagtail was chirping to the red sunset on the woodpile behind the house as if to welcome its new neighbor. I planned to stay in Mount Changbai for two years. I hoped we would become neighbors and get along well with each other in the future.

Notes from Mountains and Woods

Hu Donglin

Times Literature and Arts Publishing House

August 2020

298.00 （CNY）