Yaolin Cave

Yaolin Cave

Yaolin Cave is located in Yaolin Town, Tonglu County, also known as Xianling Cave. It is a limestone karst cave. The cave formed around 100,000 years ago and is a massive karst cavern, covering an area of 28,000 square meters with a main passage about one kilometer long. Entirely hidden underground, the cave features a variety of spectacular formations, renowned for its winding, deep geological structures and magnificent, colorful stalactite and stalagmite landscapes, and is hailed as the best karst cave in China. With its grand and majestic cave scenery, it is praised as the "Yaolin Fairyland."

Yaolin Cave has seven chambers in total. The interior is spacious, cool, and covered with stalactites. The formations display unique shapes and breathtaking beauty. At the lintel of the old cave entrance, located 20 meters from the current entrance, are inscribed the words "Yaolin Fairyland." Hu Juewen wrote: “The winding beauty of Yaolin Cave surpasses all other caves in the country. Its name as a fairyland is indeed well-deserved.” The largest chamber covers an area of 9,000 square meters. The first four chambers are masterpieces of nature over hundreds of millions of years, featuring a dazzling array of stone stalagmites, waterfalls, draperies, and curtains, resembling a heavenly scene. The last three chambers use modern staging, lighting, sound effects, and technology to recreate 18 touching legends of China through 21 scenes and over 300 characters, providing both aesthetic pleasure and intellectual inspiration.

The original passages of the cave had collapsed but were reopened in 1979. Inside the cave, fossils of Chinese rhinoceros teeth, charcoal remnants from the Western Zhou Dynasty, Eastern Han Dynasty pottery shards with impressed patterns, charcoal inscriptions from the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and ancient coins from the Five Dynasties to the Northern Song Dynasty were discovered. Outside the cave, visitors can also explore the Thirty-Six Wax Figure Museum and the landscape bonsai garden at Miaofeng Garden.

Yaolin Town: A town under the jurisdiction of Tonglu County. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, it was established as Zhinan Township, which merged with Zhixi Township in 1956, then became part of Bipo Commune in 1958. In 1961, Zhinan Commune was formed, and in 1984 it was re-designated as a township, before being renamed Yaolin Town in 1988. Located in the central part of the county, it is 25 kilometers from the county seat. Covering an area of 64.3 square kilometers, it has a population of 13,000. The provincial highway Hangzhou–Chun’an runs through the town. It governs 13 village committees: Cuiping, Panlian, Shen Village, Yao Village, Huangfu, Dongqian, Dafang, Jiangjia, Taoyuan, Lengwu, Donghua, Wu Family, and Heping. The local agriculture mainly focuses on rice and sericulture. Industries include color printing... More details about Yaolin Town++