Chen Fahu: Using grains of sand and stones to piece together the history of humankind’s “climbing” on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Recently, the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, and the Ministry of Science and Technology jointly issued the "Decision on Commendation of the Sixth National Outstanding Professional and Technical Talents and Advanced Groups of Professional and Technical Talents". Chen Fahu, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, researcher at the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and president of the Chinese Geographical Society, was selected into the list of national outstanding professional and technical talents.

Academician Chen Fahu was selected as a national outstanding professional and technical talent

Walking into Chen Fahu's office, there are various maps hanging on the wall: maps of the world, China, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, topography and topography... On the conference table are some books and materials. I casually open a well-read book "Geography and World Hegemony", which has many marks and texts on the pages. Chen Fahu said that this book is just a pastime after dinner.

Apparently, Chen Fahu is a geography geek.

We study the interaction between the environment and humans with the goal of making the natural environment better and the ultimate goal of making humans happier.

-- Chen Fahu, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, researcher at the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Studies, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and chairman of the Chinese Geographical Society

Explore the interrelationship between environment and humans

"My research focuses on climate and environmental changes, and on how humans enter and adapt to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, including physiological and cultural adaptations," Chen Fahu told Science and Technology Daily. The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is the main battlefield for biological evolution and adaptation, and is the key basic area for the evolution of apes into humans. At the same time, cross-continental cultural exchanges have played an important role in the evolution of human society. The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is located in the Eurasian continent, and its barrier function is the key to the impact.

In his more than 30 years of scientific research career, Chen Fahu has made many achievements in loess research, climate change, environmental change, environmental archaeology and prehistoric civilization evolution by using geological carriers such as lake cores and loess deposits. In particular, he has put forward innovative understandings on the "westerly mode" of climate change in mid-latitude Asia, and the process and mechanism of prehistoric humans settling permanently on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and deeply revealed the relationship between environmental change and civilization evolution.

In May 2019, the environmental archaeology team led by Chen Fahu published their research results in the journal Nature - "The Denisovan mandible fossil from the late Middle Pleistocene on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau". They found new clues from a fossil of the right mandible of an ancient human found in the Baishiya Karst Cave in Xiahe County, Gansu Province, pushing the history of human activities on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau back by 120,000 years from 40,000 years ago to 160,000 years ago.

The research team further discovered that the mysterious and extinct Denisovans continued to live in the Baishiya Cave in Xiahe County until about 40,000 years ago, and integrated their genes into the people living on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau today. The new results were published in the journal Science.

"Long before the arrival of modern Homo sapiens, the Denisovans had already lived in the high altitude areas of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in the late Middle Pleistocene and successfully adapted to the low-pressure, high-cold and hypoxic environment." Chen Fahu began to talk endlessly when talking about ancient humans. Current research shows that the Denisovans may have been widely distributed in East Asia, but the specific migration route and distribution range cannot be inferred from the two locations where Denisovan fossils have been found.

Chen Fahu said that about 200,000 years ago, the ancient humans living on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau were already quite intelligent and had complex behavioral skills. For example, the hand and foot prints of ancient humans found near the hot springs in Qiusang Village, Doilungdeqen District, Lhasa, can be understood as a form of artistic expression, just like the handprints of stars on Hollywood Boulevard.

Field research is the fun of research

Field research is the foundation of geography, and Chen Fahu spent most of his research time in the field. "When I was young, I didn't have navigation when I went out into the wild, and the road conditions, vehicle conditions, and conditions along the way were also poor. Now I think it was very dangerous." But recalling the scene back then, Chen Fahu felt it was particularly interesting. "At that time, I didn't know what fear was, or rather, I was brave because of my passion."

Academician Chen Fahu's field investigation

"In the summer of 1998, several of us drove an off-road vehicle through the Badain Jaran Desert to investigate changes in lakes and deserts," said Chen Fahu. "After entering the desert, the scenery was beautiful, with sand dunes, small lakes with small crucian carp in them, and herders' villages."

However, due to lack of experience in climbing over sand hills, the off-road vehicle got stuck in the sand when going downhill. "We started digging the sand under the wheels to get the vehicle out, but the sand was very soft and the more we dug, the deeper the vehicle got stuck." Chen Fahu said that fortunately it was a desert with people, and a kind villager passed by and taught them to lift the vehicle up from all four corners, so that the quicksand would naturally fill under the tires, and then helped to lift the vehicle out little by little.

The normal operation when going out in the field is to go with at least two cars so that they can take care of each other. But due to the limited conditions at the time, one car was full and they set off. Field investigations are time-consuming and labor-intensive. They have to race against time. Sometimes they will suddenly decide to visit more places nearby to improve efficiency and spread costs. "After all, the mountains are high and the roads are long. Since we are here, we have to visit more places." He said.

Chen Fahu still remembers that in 1995, after drilling in Bost Lake, Xinjiang, they decided to cross the Tarim Basin and the Altun Mountains to Qaidam. They planned to reach the destination within one day, but it was dark before they arrived, so they had to find a place to stay. "We drove in the direction of the lights for three hours, and it was already 3 o'clock in the morning when we settled down," he recalled.

The vast Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is such a place where "you will die if you run too fast". It is a natural laboratory for the science of earth evolution and also a research paradise for Chen Fahu.

More than 30 years of passion and continuous results

Why study geography?

"The world is so big, I want to see it", this cause and effect relationship seems simple, but for someone like Chen Fahu, turning a dream into a career and continuing to love it for decades is another matter.

"I grew up in the mountainous area of ​​Shangluo, Shaanxi. The natural barriers between the Qinling Mountains made me, a mountain kid, want to go out and see the world." This is the simple reason why Chen Fahu applied for the geography major at Lanzhou University. Moreover, Chen Fahu does not like rote memorization. In his opinion, studying geography is suitable for him because it focuses more on logical thinking.

"Good teachers play a crucial role in students' growth, and I am fortunate to have met a group of good teachers at Lanzhou University," he said.

Thanks to the guidance of a good teacher who led him to choose the scientific research direction that interested him, Chen Fahu completed his undergraduate, master's and doctoral degrees at Lanzhou University.

Chen Fahu's graduate supervisor was Li Jijun, a Chinese geomorphologist, Quaternary geologist, and glaciologist. During his doctoral studies, on the one hand, there was not enough research funding and suitable opportunities to conduct research on ancient glaciers on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau; on the other hand, China's loess deposits and the glacial-interglacial cycle changes recorded in them became an international research hotspot. Lanzhou is the area with the thickest loess deposits in the world, with unique regional advantages and convenient conditions. Chen Fahu became interested in loess record research, and his supervisor encouraged him to do this work.

"Teacher Li is very forward-looking. He encouraged me to use present processes to discuss the past, because only by understanding modern processes can we better understand the changes that have occurred in the past. He also encouraged me to understand ancient glacier changes from the perspective of climate change." Chen Fahu said that this was an important reason why he later conducted research on ancient climate and environmental changes in the Holocene and always linked ancient climate change with modern climate change mechanisms.

Maintaining his interest and passion, and continuously producing results, Chen Fahu has left his footprints in field investigations in many parts of the world for more than 30 years, and has also been thinking about it. "We study the interaction between the environment and humans, with the goal of making the natural environment better, and the ultimate goal is to make humans happier," he said.

Reprinted from Science and Technology Daily

2021-11-29 Version 5

All pictures are provided by Qinghai-Tibet Plateau