"Magu Cave" on Fanyang Mountain, Sanhe

"Magu Cave" on Fanyang Mountain, Sanhe

Ancient texts such as the *Record of Strange Phenomena* and the *Original Ultimate Scripture* both document this cave, which is said to be the place where the Supreme Old Lord preached. Zhang Daoling, the founder of Taoism, once visited here. The Ming Dynasty scholar Cao Xuequan recorded more specific details in his *Famous Sights of Shu*, stating that someone from the county once brought lamps into the cave for exploration and found its structure extremely complex. The cave has two gates at the front and back, wide enough for people to crawl through. Inside there are many large grottoes, each over ten feet long, five to ten feet wide, and four to five feet high. The grottoes have doors, side chambers, and stone stoves, and passages connect the different caves, adorned with stone brackets and curved tiles. The cave is usually sealed off, but legend says it was once opened during the time of Wei Gao in the Tang Dynasty when he was posted to Shu, and has since opened and closed intermittently. It is said among locals: “When the cave opens, the year will be bountiful and goods cheap.”