from the waters of the yellow sea far inland from the eastern plains lies a valley of western china cradling the valley are lofty chains of mountains to the east to the north and to the west for longer than written history has recorded the deeds of man these mountains have loomed in silence over life in the valley below when that man first settle here when did they learn to tell the sile when they first build temples in honor of their g for a number generations farmers have plowed the fertile soil after the harvest the plough and after the plough the planting this has been the cycle endlessly repeated through the ages rotors from the mountains have been fed into the fields of the valley or here irrigation is one of the ancient arts through under all the years the water has been landing from nature streams through manmade channels out to the planted fields for centuries the muscles of man have raised the water as needed for crops that have never failed on a map of enduring slight the great engineer leaping laid out the plan of the system two thousand years ago clearly cut in timeless stone every detail was guiltily traced by the ancient engineer and the plan of two thousand years ago still guides the flow of the waters to the fertile fields of the valley where song and water and man have met to provide a community's food the water serve a lone for raising the varied crops mills were grain is ground into flower beneath revolving stone these may have their source of power in water driven wheels from valley fields grain that is ground in the mills and grain that may be hoed by hand with the implements agent in the zine generation after generation the farmers of the valley have followed their age old methods but the earth yields more than food one of its richest offering this is versatile bamboo growing straight and tall in the mild climate of the valley down through the ages it has served the people well provided nourishing food long popular in the valley bamboo upon the banquet board and bamboo two bridges so vast is the range of uses devised by men of the valley for more than twenty bamboo for the frames of sedan chairs bamboo for the pipes of tobacco that season a friendly chat chairs and chop sticks baskets and bridges shoulder poles and pipes these are but a few of the us devised by the valley people for bamboo from the silo and from the earth to find slave for the plotters ard an arc that has brought to the valley one of its greatest glory  shuttles have started back and forth in the silk blooms of the valley products of the we were in his lone either fabrics displayed in valleys stores rich in glossy today even as long ago when sought by traders of far off as generations have come and gone the mountain streams have flowed on but one day two thousand years after the great leaping the engineers are land devise new uses quick lowing scre they made the waters to turn the rivers of hydroelectric plants reducing the draining new power to the valley came electricity and there were men of the valley who mastered the scale required to handle this strange new floor today electric power lines cross over ancient city well wires that bring the valley homes the signs of a changing world electricity and new methods of lighting for the people of the valley electricity had methods of communication for people of the valley electricity and new methods of education for the classrooms of the valley use of the fruits of science for instruction in science itself yes changes have come to the valley one day the farmer looked up from his work in age old fields and saw a strange new not often known yet guided by knowledge gradually gained through the years they have arrived at much of value in the treatment of the sick why a certain prescription might offer the patient relief or just in what specific way the medicines called for acted may have been unknown to the doctors of the valley but the various mixtures of valley herbs have been of help for ages though for reasons often obscure in medicine based on lower but one day there came to the valley new methods of diagnosis new practices for cure yes there had been vast change inches including machines that fly changes of comment continue to come and who shall say whether they lead to much has changed in the valley and much remains the same the farmer tales his feels today as his ancestors did in ages past the and cradling the valley now as always silent lofty mountains keep their eternal vigil