Donggou Grottoes

The Donggou Grottoes are located at the northern foot of Haituo Mountain, northwest of Dongmenying Village, Zhangshanying Town, Yanqing County. They form a narrow gravel granite valley named after the grottoes. The valley has rock walls on three sides, covered with rows of differently oriented stone chambers—some round, some square, varying in size. Some cave entrances have collapsed. Inside the caves, stone rooms were carved out, mostly in sets of three: the central room served as the living quarters, the right side as the kitchen, and the left as a storage room. The interiors are equipped with stone beds, stone pillows, stone windows, niches, lamp stands, and air vents. Water channels in front of the eaves lead directly to the living spaces, seemingly designed to collect rainwater. The kitchen area features carved stoves and flues, while the storage rooms have stone slab tables. There are also horse stable chambers with carved mangers, each capable of housing 3–4 horses. At the center is a relatively spacious room, spanning two levels connected by an opening. The entrance is flanked by carved stone pillars. The room is 1.8 meters high and 6 meters deep, with a square stone platform inside, locally referred to as the "Official Hall." Small holes are arranged in an orderly fashion between the caves. According to preliminary statistics, the Donggou Grottoes consist of 117 chambers and over 350 compartments. Additionally, within Haituo Mountain, there are other grotto clusters such as Chaoyang Cave, Jiaojia Cave, and Lotus Cave, most of which share similar structures with the Donggou Grottoes. Regarding the grottoes in the northwestern mountainous region of Yanqing, some believe they served as dwellings for the Xi people, one of the northern ethnic minorities in China during the Tang Dynasty. The Xi people originated from the Donghu-Xianbei lineage and initially lived in western Liaoning. They were originally a tribe that relied on hunting and herding. They rose to prominence during the Han Dynasty, had five tribes by the Sui Dynasty, flourished during the Tang, Liao, Jin, and Yuan Dynasties, and later disappeared from historical records.