Reed Flute Cave

Known as "the Palace of Natural Arts", Reed Flute Cave (in Chinese: 芦笛岩) is located in the northwest of Guilin, 5 kilometers away from the center of the city. It is a cave on the southern shoulder of the Guangming Hill (Bright Hill) and is one of the most extraordinary scenic spots in Guilin.

According to a legend, Reed Flute Cave got its name because people believed that the reed by the cave's mouth could be made into flutes. The length of the Reed Flute Cave is 240 meters and offers a majestic fairyland of karst caves with landscape and rural scenery. It is a magic fairyland of stalactites, stalagmites, stone pillars, stone curtains, birds, plants and animals in fantastic shapes and colors, all glistening in colorful lights. Some of them were given names such as Pines in the Snow, Mushroom Hill, Dragon Pagoda, Sky-Scraping Twin, Virgin Forests, Red Curtain, etc. These remarkable scenes in the cave can evoke breathless admiration from domestic and foreign visitors. The cave is highly praised as the ' Huge Art Palace of the Nature'. Tourists began to visit here in the Tang Dynasty (618-907). There are 77 stone inscriptions covering many years of history.

One grotto, which called the Crystal Palace of the Dragon King, can hold about 1,000 people. During the war, the grotto served as an air-raid shelter. The highlight in this cave is a great slab of white rock hanging from a ledge like a cataract, with a human-shaped stalactite on the opposite side.

It is said that a visiting scholar tried to write a poem depicting the beauty of the cave. It took him so long to find the right words that he finally turned to stone.

The cave was opened to public in 1962. Famed as the Palace of Natural Art, the cave is now equipped with artificial lighting system to emphasize visual effect.

Admission fee: 60 yuan

Opening hours: 08:00-17:30

Take the bus 3 or 58 from Guilin and get off at the Reed Flute Cave Bus Stop.

guilinchina.net

Seven Star Cave

The Seven Stars Cave (in Chinese: 七星岩) is located in the Seven Stars Park of Guilin in Guangxi Province. The cave got its for the seven peaks supposed to resemble the star pattern of the Big Dipper constellation nearby - four peaks in the north are called Putuo Hill, three in the south are called Lunar Hill. The famous Seven Star cave is just located at the halfway the Putuo Hill.

About 1,000,000 years ago, the area was an ocean. As time went by, the changing crust lift the channel up, so today, we can see the beautiful cave which was once under the ocean.

The cave is a special scenic spot, which has three floors. Each floor has pillars, stalagmites, stone flowers, and stalactites.

In Sui and Tang Dynasty (581-907), this cave was a tourist destination; it also attracted great many literature giants. During the Sui Dynasty (581-618), people called it Qi Xia Cave, and its famous for its beauty.

A great Buddhist named Shang Xianqian, wrote the "Qi Xia Cave" on the cave's rock 590. The book "Guilin Scenery" of Tang Dynasty states: There were a clear green spring and a great many magic stones in the cave. If you want to know about the most marvelous views of Guilin, you should go around the Seven Star Cave

After the wars of ancient times, many magical stories about the cave had spread throughout the area. For example, in 1852, the second year of Emperor Xianfeng of Ch'ing Dynasty, the army of uprising called Taipin Tianguo ("Heavenly Kingdom of Peace"), had its command station in the Qi Xia Temple.

What are the special things of the cave that have attracted so many literature people and soldiers? The cave is about 1 kilometer long. The widest place of it is 43 meters and the highest 27 meters. The average temperature is about 20 C. The water keeps flowing from the rock cracks and the lights shining in the cave that make it look like a crystal palace.

There are eight main spots of the scenic: Six Caves Heaven, Tow Caves Mansion, Cave in Cave and so on. The stalactites in the cave look like different kind of plants and animals. You may be wonder: is this a natural place or a manmade museum of art. After your visit, you will know why scenery in Guilin is so famous throughout the world.

It is very cool in the cave, so if you want to escape from the heat in summer, this is a good choice. In the cave, your problem is no longer the heat but the possibility of catching cold, so take an overcoat with you.

Opening hours: 09:00-16:00

Admission fee: 60 yuan

Transportation: take bus 11, 18 or 58 to the Seven Star Park

cultural-china.com

Zhijin Cave

Zhijin Cave (in Chinese: 织é‡'æ´ž), "The King of Caves", "A Cave Museum", Zhijin Cave probably is the best cave in China.

Zhijin Cave Scenic Spot situates in Zhijin county in Guizhou Province, 156 km away from Guiyang and 145 km from Anshun. This scenic area consists of four parts, namely Zhijin Old Town, Zhijin Cave, Jiehe Gorge and Hongjia Ferry.

Zhijin cave is famous for its grand scale, marvelous spectacle and complete varieties of stalactite. It is an imposing cave even if you're not a cave fanatic. Its 300,000-square-metre floor sets the stage for numerous dazzling scenes and sights. In between clusters of poodles and by a swaying underground lake is a jungle of stalactos, clints and stalagmites akin to pagodas, pillars and hills. Small passageways open up into giant room after room, where calcium deposits have created an otherworldly landscape of spectacular shapes and spirals, often reaching from floor to ceiling. No wonder the reputation "the Museum of Karst Formation".

Admission fee: 120 yuan

yoyochina.net

Furong Cave

Discovered recently in 1993, Furong Cave (in Chinese: 芙è"‰æ´ž) is famous for its extreme diversity of speleothems formations. Here you can find the world's most complete and colorful collection of speleothems, lots of which are only available here.

Situated in the tourist scenery area of the Three Gorges, connected by river and land with Chongqing, Fuling, Fengdu, Wushan, Yichang and Pengshui along Yangtze River and its tributary, Wujiang River, Furong Cave lies in the east of Jiangkou town, Wulong county, Sichuan province, less than 3 kilometres from the town, where Wujiang River meets its tributary, Furong River.

The accumulation and breakage of stalagmites records the evolution of the limestone in the cave. Numerous and varied speleothems demonstrate the amazing force of nature. The beautiful scene is a wonder that nature created. Professor Zhu Xuewen, the chairman of the China Cave Association, sings high praise to Furong Cave. He sees it as 'a bright-colored and splendid underground arts palace'.

Admission fee: 65 yuan

Transportation:
Take shuttle bus at long distance bus-station in Chongqing to Furong Cave. The journey lasts about 2.5 hours.

scenery.cultural-china.com

Huanglong Cave

Huanglong Cave (in Chinese: 黄龙洞), a unique karst wonder, is located at the eastern end of Wulingyuan Scenic Area, a World Natural Heritage Site. The cave is conveniently located within a transportation network: it sits 40 kilometers from Zhangjiajie-Huanglong Cave Highway and 35 kilometers from Zhangjiajie Railway, Airport and Coach Station.

Huanglong Cave contains two types of caves: hangdong (those without water) and shuidong (those with water), comprising four layers in all. The mineral deposits inside the cave are multi-colored, and the water erosion, clints and potholes appear fully developed. The cave is also filled with peculiarly shaped stalactites, stalagmites, stone pillars, stone flags, stone falls, stone curtains, stone flowers and stone basins.

Huanglong Cave has several areas to choose from, including Dragon Palace, Crystal Palace, Shiqin Hill, Tianxianshui Hall, Xiangshui River and the Maze. The Maze is considered the best place in Huanglong Cave, and it occupies an area of around 1,600 square meters. It features a central dragon throne surrounded by a forest of stone pillars and stalagmites.

Opening hours: 08:00-16:00

Admission: 80 yuan

Transportation: take a plane or train to Zhangjiajie, and then transfer a tour bus to Wulingyuan Bus Station at Zhangjiajie Bus Station, and again transfer Bus 1 in the urban area of Wulingyuan to Huanglong Cave.

chinatouronline.com

Tenglong Cave (Soaring Dragon Cave)

Located 6.8km to Lichuan city in Hubei Province, the Tenglong Cave (in Chinese: 腾龙洞) is a cave cluster, with the Dry Cave and Water Cave as its main scenes. The Dry Cave is about 52 kilometers long, and its mouth is 74 meters in height and 64 meters in width, entitled as the largest dry cave in Asia. As to the water cave, it sucks in the water from Qingjiang River, which forms a waterfall like a crouching dragon swallowing all the water and makes the river become a 16.8 km-long underground stream. What is really amazing is that there is only a wall between the two caves.

Highlight
After field investigations and demonstrations, the Tenglong Cave is confirmed by domestic and foreign experts as the biggest water-eroded cave in China and one of the special-class caves in the world. The cave is 52.8 kilometers in length with 16.8 kilometers in the Water Cave. The scenic spots are distributed on an area of 2,000,000 sq m., mainly including the White Jade Stone Forest, Thousand Buddha Palace, Dragon Palace, Pearl Blanket, Flower Spring Water and the “Crouching Dragon Swallowing the River” Waterfall.

Transportation:
Visitors can go there by mid-bus as well as take a taxi at the cost of 10 yuan in Lichuan city.

Admission fee: 30 yuan/180 yuan (including ticket of performance)

Tips
1. Recommended time for the tourist: half a day.
2. Never miss the delicious snack in the Haochi Street.
3. Take a coat with you.

en.chinahotel.com.cn

Xueyu Cave (Snow Jade Cave)

Located about eight miles from the new county of Fengdu, the Xueyu Cave (in Chinese: 雪玉洞) is rated as China's most beautiful by Chinese National Geography.

Discovered in the mid-1990s, the cave is over 1,022 miles long. At present, it is the youngest cave discovered in China. Because of its uniqueness and beauty, it has become a popular scenic spot along the Yangtze River as well as serving as a research site for the study of caves.

Three Characters

Most of the stalactites in the cave are white and pure as jade making the cave a snow world. 80 percent of the cave is white, so the cave name, Snow Jade Cave is got.

The stalactite of the Snow Jade Cave grows quickly that can grow 33 millimeters in 100 years. In contrast, in other such kind of caves, the stalactite only develops one millimeter in one hundred years.

The cave houses many spectacular karst formations like the waterfall, the stone hair, stone shield, coral and some animal shaped ones. So, the Snow Jade Cave is reputed as the white marble sculpture museum.
 
Some Unique Facts

Most of the stalactites in the cave are white and pure as jade, hence its name.

Stalactites in the cave grow quickly - thirty-three millimeters in one hundred years in fact. In contract, in other such kinds of caves, the average stalactite only grows one millimeter in a century.

The cave houses many spectacular and unusual karst formations. These include a waterfall; stone hair; shields; coral and animal shapes. Snow Jade Cave is often referred to as the 'white marble sculpture museum.'

A tourist route over 725 miles has been developed for tourists to visit the cave. The cave is divided into six zones - Celebrity Gathering; Heaven on Earth; Update your Life; Northland Scenery; Heavenly Mirage and Bright Future. You will see the so-called 'Four Wonders' here.

Four Wonders

The coral tower in the cave is the largest of its kind in the world.

The glittering and transparent King Stone Flag at 26 feet high is the world's tallest and thinnest stone flag.

The stone shield at 13 feet high is also known as the Snowy Jade Penguin. It is a source of amazement and marvel for many visitors and scholars.

Certain groups of stalactites resemble goose necks, some as much as two yards long.

The perennial temperature in the cave is 60.8-62.6F. The air in the cave contains high levels of carbon dioxide and negative ions. It's reputed to have a curative effect for nasal and pulmonary conditions.

Opening hours: 08:00 to 17:00

Admission fee: 70 yuan

travelchinaguide.com

Benxi Water Cave

Benxi Water Cave Scenic Spot (in Chinese: 本溪水洞) lies in the eastern suburb of Benxi City, Liaoning Province, is 26 kilometers from the center of the city. The Water Cave Scenic Spot is centered on the water cave, consisting of hot spring, mountain behind the temple, Guanmen Mountain, Tanggou and Tiecha Mountain, combining natural scenery and scenery of humanities into a body, such as hills, water, cave, spring, lake, forest and sites of old human beings.

The cave covers an area of 36,000 square kilometers and stretches 2,800 meters. Entering the semi lunar mouth of the cave, there is a 'guest-greeting hall' which is said to be the relic inhabited by human settlers three thousand years ago. The waters, pavilions outside complement the cave perfect.

Opening hours: 08:00-17:00

Admission fee: 70 yuan

Transportation: Take tourist special bus at Benxi railway station.

chinatravelguide.com

Zhoukoudian

Zhoukoudian or Choukoutien (in Chinese: å'¨å£åº—) is a cave system in Beijing, China. It has yielded many archaeological discoveries, including one of the first specimens of Homo erectus, dubbed Peking Man, and a fine assemblage of bones of the gigantic hyena Pachycrocuta brevirostris. The Peking Man lived in this cave approximately 200,000 to 750,000 years ago.

The Peking Man Site was discovered by Johan Gunnar Andersson in 1921 and was first excavated by Otto Zdansky in 1921 and 1923 unearthing two human teeth. These were later identified by Davidson Black as belonging to a previously unknown species and extensive excavations followed.

Fissures in the limestone containing middle Pleistocene deposits have yielded the remains of about 45 individuals as well as animal remains and stone flake and chopping tools. The oldest are some 750,000 years old.

During the Upper Paleolithic, the site was re-occupied and remains of Homo sapiens and its stone and bone tools have also been recovered from the Upper Cave.

The crater Choukoutien on asteroid 243 Ida was named after the place.

Admission fee: 30 yuan

Opening hours: 08:30 - 17:00

Transportation: Take the bus in Beijing Town Centre, Tianqiao bus No. 917, be careful there are a lot of bus No. 917 make sure you take the one which is via. Zhoukoudian Village.

Where you arrive in Zhoukoudian (around 1 1/4 hours), then take a local minibus no. 2 (0.5 yuan) heading to the direction of foot of the hill, once you pass the small bridge, alight and walk across the railway track and you will see the entrance.

en.wikipedia.org, virtualtourist.com

Mogao Caves

The traveler finds the Mogao Caves (in Chinese: 莫高窟), a shrine of Buddhist art treasures, 25 km (15.5miles) from downtown Dunhuang on the eastern slope of Mingsha Shan (Mount Echoing Sand). A network of plank reinforced roads plying north to south 1600 meters (5, 249 feet) long lead to the cave openings, which are stacked five stories high some reaching up to 50 meters (164 feet). By the way, Mogao means high up in the desert.

According to Tang Dynasty records, a monk had witnessed onsite a vision of thousand Buddhas under showers of golden rays. Thus inspired, he started the caves construction work that spanned ten dynasties. Mogao Caves are commonly known as the Caves of a Thousand Buddhas.

Buddhist art has its origins in India. Mogao sculptors improvised where the rock surface did not work well under their chisels. They placed clay statues in front of the cave walls, carved relief murals as backdrops, and painted the sidewalls and ceilings with art decors. The largest statue is 34.5 meters (113 feet) high and the smallest a mere 2 centimeters (0.79inches) high.

The traveler will note traces of Indian Buddhist art in the earlier works. More recent works depict all walks of life and activities in a local setting. You will relive the daily routines and special events as captured by the artists while you are exploring the 750 caves. There are also ups and downs in the artistic quality over the centuries, depending on the fortunes of Buddhism with available art patronage. Artists in each dynasty painted with their distinctive palette. The visitor can tell the works in the Tang Dynasty from those in the Song Dynasty.

People believe it possible to fill 25 kilometers (15.5miles) of gallery space with the works of art from Mogao. There are 50,000 manuscripts written in many languages apart from artifacts. The Mogao Caves are a depository of historical and cultural exchanges over more than a thousand years between China and other nations.

Opening hours: 08:10-18:00

Admission fee: 160 yuan (May 1 to Oct. 31); 80 yuan (Nov.1 to Apr. 30)

Recommended time for a visit: half a day

Transportation: take a taxi or minibus to Mogao Caves from Dunhuang.

travelchinaguide.com

Longmen Grottoes

The Longmen Grottoes (in Chinese: 龙门石窟), located near Luoyang, Henan Province, are a treasure house of ancient Buddhist cave art. The grottos were hewed and carved during the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534), when the rulers relocated their capital at Luoyang near the end of the 5th century. At that time Buddhism was spreading east into China and was venerated by the imperial court. The Buddhists adopted the practice of carving rock temples, dedicated to the Buddha.

The construction of the Longmen Grottoes began in 493 during the reign of Emperor Xiaowen and continued through the successive six dynasties, including Tang and Song, for a span of over 400 years. Altogether there are 1,352 caves, 785 niches, more than 97,000 statues of the Buddha, Bodhisattvas, and Arhats, and 3,680 inscribed stone tablets along the 1-km-long cliff of Mt. Longmen on the west and Mt. Xiangshan on the east of the Yihe River south of Luoyang.

One third of these cave sculptures belong to the Northern Wei Dynasty and two thirds to the Tang Dynasty. The style of sculpture, the design of clothing and the facial expression on statues, as well as carving methods show little foreign influence, rather they exhibit the pinnacle of development of Chinese grotto art. The 11 Buddha statues in the Binyang Cave, typical Northern Wei carvings, represent a style in transition from the simple and compact depictions in the Yungang Grottoes of Datong, Shanxi Province, to the vigorous and realistic Tang Dynasty sculptures.

While the cave sculptures of the Tang Dynasty are of a vigorous, elegant and realistic style, the stone statues in Fengxian Cave, carved under the edict of Empress Wuzetian (reigned 690-705), can be considered as the most typical of the period. These are composed of a 17.14-meter-high statue of Vairocana Buddha, and a series of pairs of Bodhisattvas, heavenly kings, protectors and worshippers. The huge statue of Vairocana Buddha is today praised as being the quintessence of Buddhist sculpture in China.

On November 30, 2000, the Longmen Grottoes were approved by the 24th UN Heritage Commission to be put on the List of World Cultural Heritage.

Admission fee: 120 yuan
Opening Hours: 07:00 to 19:50 (March 1st to October 31st )
07:30 to 18:50 (November 1st to February 28th )
Transportation: Take bus no.53, 67 or 81 from Luoyang to Longmen Grottoes.

china.org.cn

Maijishan Grottoes

The Maijishan Grottoes (in Chinese: 麦积山石窟) are a series of 194 caves cut in the side of the hill of Maijishan in Tianshui, Gansu Province, northwest China. This example of rock cut architecture contains over 7,200 Buddhist sculptures and over 1,000 square meters of murals. Construction began in the Later Qin era (384-417).

They were first properly explored in 1952-53 by a team of Chinese archeologists from Beijing, who devised the numbering system still in use today. Caves No.1-50 are on the western cliff face; caves No.51-191 on the eastern cliff face. They were later photographed by Michael Sullivan and Dominique Darbois, who subsequently published the primary English-language work on the caves noted in the footnotes below.

The name Maijishan consists of three Chinese words (麦积山) that literally translate as "Wheat Stack Mountain", but because the term "Mai" (麦) is the generic term in Chinese used for most grains, one also sees such translations as "Corn Rick mountain". Mai means "grain". "Ji (积)" means "stack" or "mound". "Shan (山)" means "mountain". The mountain is formed of purplish red sandstone.

They are just one of the strings of Buddhist grottoes that can be found in this area of NW China, lying more or less on the main routes connecting China and Central Asia.

Admission fee: 70 yuan

Opening hours: 08:00-17:00

Transportation: Take the tourist bus 34 from Maijiqu Railway Station. The bus journey takes about one hour and the bus leaves at every half an hour.

en.wikipedia.org

The Kizil Caves

The Kizil Caves (in Chinese å…‹å­œå°"千佛洞, "Kizil Cave of a Thousand Buddhas") are a set of 236 Buddhist rock-cut caves located near Kizil township in Baicheng county, Xinjiang. The site is located on the northern bank of the Muzat River, 75 kilometres (by road) northwest of Kucha. This area was a commercial hub of the the Silk Road.

The caves are said to be the earliest major Buddhist cave complex in East Turkestan, with development occurring between the 3rd and 8th centuries. Although the site has been both damaged and looted, at least 1000 square metres of wall paintings—mostly Jataka stories—remain.

Admission fee: 35 yuan

Transportation: no public transport to the caves is available yet, but you can rent a car in Kuche to go there.

en.wikipedia.org, english.cri.cn