Xingwen Stone Sea Cave Scenic Area

Xingwen Stone Sea Cave Scenic Area

Xingwen Stone Sea Cave Scenic Area is a National Key Scenic Area, a National AAAA-level Tourist Attraction, a National Geopark, and a Science Education Base.

A scenic area dominated by karst landforms, it is a National Key Scenic Spot, a UNESCO Global Geopark. Located 30 kilometers south of Zhongcheng Town in Xingwen County, Sichuan. It earned its name from the forest of peculiar rocks and interconnected caves.

Area Overview

Covering a total area of 126.4 square kilometers, it consists of the Tianquan Cave Core Scenic Area, Jiusi Mountain Scenic Area, Daba Niyu Source Scenic Area, and Zhoujiagou Karst Cave Scenic Area. Both the surface and subsurface are composed of limestone, divided into three sections: stone forest, stone sea, and karst caves. The stones in the stone sea mostly protrude in triangular shapes, ranging from 1 to 2 meters in height. The stone forest features grotesque rocks, including stone gates, pillars, stalagmites, stone figures, and beasts. The entire scenic area presents a surface dotted with uniquely shaped peaks, while underground, a network of crisscrossing caves—some layered, some nested, some penetrating each other—forms an expansive underground cave system. The Tianquan Cave Scenic Area combines caves with stone forests; its 14-square-kilometer stone forest conceals 26 caves, among which Tianquan Cave, Tianliang Cave, and Tianshi Cave each exceed 100,000 square meters, ranking them among China’s top ten cave systems. Tianquan Cave boasts a grand and towering space with five levels and 12 main halls, totaling a volume of 2.7 million cubic meters, the largest of any cave in China. The main cave stretches over 1,300 meters in length and is about 50–100 meters high. The cave floor is dry, the air fresh, and the temperature remains mild year-round, warm in winter and cool in summer.

Attractions

Main Cave Levels 3 & 4

The third and fourth levels of the main cave are open to visitors, covering an area of 81,000 square meters, divided into seven grand halls including the Dome Hall, Corridor Gallery, and Cloud Walk. Each hall features unique landscapes, with a dazzling array of stalactites, flowstones, draperies, and columns creating a colorful and magnificent spectacle. The main cave includes both spacious chambers and winding corridors; there are towering "mountains" facing each other and "bridges" lying across imaginary rivers. The various stalactites and rock formations take on bizarre and exquisite shapes, resembling a resplendent underground palace. Adjacent to the main cave are more than ten large side caves and hanging caves, layered above and below, forming a wonderland of caves within caves and caves beneath caves, with underground rivers flowing through them. The waters of these rivers are clear, inhabited by fish, glowing shrimp that emit a faint phosphorescence, and rare glass fish that resemble tadpoles—small, pink, entirely transparent, with visible internal organs, sensitive hearing, and seldom seen.

Xiaoyanwan and Others

Located at the exit of the rear cave of Tianquan Cave, the Xiaoyanwan Giant Funnel and Dayanwan Giant Funnel are karst dolines, particularly spectacular. The Xiaoyanwan Giant Funnel has a diameter of 650 meters and a depth of 208 meters. Most of its cliffs feature vertical lines, in bluish-gray hues with silver sheens, resembling waterfalls suspended in midair. A natural walkway of over 2,000 meters in the middle section of the cliffs connects to the exit of the rear cave of Tianquan Cave. About 400 meters away lies the Dayanwan Doline, which is over 700 meters in east-west diameter, 450 meters in north-south diameter, and 230 meters deep at its lowest point, shaped like a gourd and connected to Tianliang Cave. Both greatly surpass the world’s largest known doline, the Arecibo Doline in the United States (330 meters in diameter, 70 meters deep).

Further Reading:

· Fourth Batch of National Key Scenic Areas