Shennong Palace

Shennong Palace

The Wannian Shennong Palace Scenic Area is situated at the foot of Huangtian Peak in the junction of Wannian County, Yiyang County, and Leping City in Shangrao, Jiangxi Province, adjacent to the Yiyang-Wannian Highway. It is 20 kilometers from Wannian County, 50 kilometers from Yiyang County, 130 kilometers from Nanchang, and 110 kilometers from Shangrao. The whole scenic area is embraced by mountains, boasts beautiful scenery, fresh air, and a pleasant climate.

The Wannian Shennong Palace Scenic Area consists of three parts: the origin of world rice cultivation culture (including the Shennong Cave and Diaotonghuan Cave national key cultural relic protection sites, as well as the Shennong Cave and Diaotonghuan Cave Exhibition Hall), China’s most beautiful underground river – Shennong Palace, and China’s first pristine cave exploration site.

The scenic area showcases the morphological beauty, dynamic beauty, color beauty, sound beauty, and misty beauty of nature, characterized by being novel, unique, mystical, elegant, serene, and thrilling. The entire scenic area has now applied for National AAAA-level Tourist Attraction and National Geopark status.

The Wannian Shennong Cave is one of the earlier discovered Neolithic sites in China. As early as the early 1960s, two scientific excavations were carried out, uncovering numerous traces of human activity and a wealth of cultural relics.

This attracted great attention from scholars both in China and abroad. However, due to significant differences in understanding the absolute age of the site and its original economic form, the value of the site was overlooked for nearly thirty years.

To explore the origin of artificially domesticated rice, in 1993 and 1995, a Sino-American agricultural archaeology team conducted archaeological sampling and excavation at this cave and the nearby Diaotonghuan Cave, about 800 meters away, achieving significant results.

First, it conclusively confirmed that Shennong Cave and Diaotonghuan Cave possess a complete and clear stratigraphic sequence from the late Paleolithic period to the early Neolithic period. According to a large number of Carbon-14 dating data, the upper layer dates back approximately 9,000–14,000 years, and the lower layer approximately 15,000–20,000 years. Such an intact stratigraphic sequence is rare among the many cave sites discovered in South China, providing scientific data for studying how humans transitioned from the Paleolithic to the Neolithic and under what environmental and situational conditions the Neolithic Revolution occurred. This holds great academic significance.

.

Second, the unearthed artifacts from the two excavations are quite abundant, making them the most numerous in many caves in South China. Preliminary statistics show 474 stone tools (fragments), 248 bone tools, 19 perforated clamshell tools, 297 pieces of primitive pottery shards, and more than 20

human bone specimens along with tens of thousands of animal bone fragments. Some bone tools or bone tubes feature carved scratch marks, which are among the earliest known tally or numerical markings in China. The primitive pottery shards are coarse-grained, thick-bodied, low-fired, and mostly made by attaching泥片 patches or using the coil method near the base. The vessel shapes are mainly straight-necked, cylindrical, round-bottomed jars, often adorned with overlapping or jumbled thick cord or stripe patterns, some showing grass-woven textures. Some inner walls also have horizontal decorative patterns. These pottery pieces could date back to around 12,000

years, making them among the oldest pottery fragments found in China, which undoubtedly holds significant importance for the study of pottery origins.

Third, the analysis of spores, pollen, and phytoliths from samples collected in both caves indicates traces of both wild and cultivated rice. Especially in the lower layer of Diaotonghuan Cave, there is a large presence of wild rice, while the upper layer is dominated by wild rice but also contains fan-shaped cultivated rice remains. This provides crucial clues for exploring the origins of rice agriculture and highlights the indispensable role and status of the Gan-Po region in the research on the origin of rice cultivation in China and even the world.

The ancestors in the Wannian Dayuan Basin, at Shennong Cave and Diaotonghuan, began planting rice and making pottery ten thousand years ago through their wisdom, truly earning the title of ancestors of world civilization.

Five thousand years ago, the ancestor of the Chinese nation, Emperor Yan (Shennong), having heard that rice cultivation civilization originated in the Wannian Dayuan Basin thousands of years prior, traveled from afar with his capable assistants, Leishen and Chuishen, to seek their roots. Upon arriving at Wannian Shennong Cave via the Shennong River, he built the Shennong Altar to worship ancestors. This act not only praises the creation of human civilization by the ancients and their fundamental shift from food gathering to production, but also expresses hope for humanity’s progression from relying on nature to transforming it.

∩衽┕The scenic area consists of karst caves and underground rivers. The cave is one of Asia’s younger grottoes, with pure-textured stalactites in jade-like colors and diverse forms, presenting a spectacular sight. It has been ranked first in China’s Cave Landscape Evaluation by the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences. The Shennong River, stretching 460 meters, is winding, serene, and colorful, hailed as “China’s Most Beautiful Underground River.”

The youthfulness of the rock formations, the purity of the water, and the abundance of the water source all contribute to creating the “hotbed” of “China’s Most Beautiful Underground River.” Here, not only do various stalactites display unique shapes and a full range of varieties, but it is also particularly remarkable that the underground river follows the cave’s contours, flowing continuously and relentlessly, creating a romantic scene where walking along the bank feels like floating on water. The scientifically arranged lighting further casts a mysterious glow along the Shennong River, making you feel as if you’ve stepped into a “heavenly street.” Especially when you take a boat ride down the Shennong River, passing attractions such as “Fairy Bathing,” “Shennong Sailing,” and “Arhat Welcoming the Deity,” you’ll feel as though you’re boating along the “Milky Way in Heaven.”

∩衽┕The underground cave stretches 7,000 meters in total, with only 1,600 meters currently developed. Another 800 meters of pristine cave area is reserved for adventurous exploration. This is China’s first pristine cave “exploration journey” and currently the most exciting underground cave “adventure base” in the country. Please put on your shoes, grab a flashlight, and follow me along the path of Shennong’s ancestral worship to uncover the mysteries of the Shennong River.

Along the “exploration journey,” you can admire rare stalactite wonders such as “Three Lions Climbing the Mountain” (viewed from the side, it depicts maternal love) → “Yak Returning Home”

→ “Emperor Yan’s Tomb” (tomb, tombstone, candle stand, offerings) → “Penglai Fairyland” → “Heavenly Spring and Earthly Eye” → “Yellow Dragon’s Jade Pool” → “Niagara-like Grand Waterfall” → “Underground Great Wall” → “Assumption of the Virgin” → “Underground Zoo” (polar bears, penguins, silver snakes, civets, ostriches, raccoons carrying a prince, etc.) → “General’s Formation” → “Buddha’s Radiance” → “Milky Way Terraces” → “Silver Lion Spirit” (the treasure that guards the Shennong River), and other exquisite stalactite masterpieces.