Daxiaojing Underground River

Daxiaojing Underground River

Daxiaojing Underground River

The Daxiaojing Scenic Area is not only renowned for its picturesque mountains, clear waters, charming scenery, and simple local customs, but also celebrated both domestically and internationally for its unique cluster of karst caves, which hold exceptional value for exploration and scientific research.

1986

In the autumn of [year], twenty-one speleologists and karst hydrogeologists from China and Germany jointly organized a cave science expedition, conducting detailed studies on caves within the Dajing Cave System such as Xiangshui Cave, Danxia Cave, and Hei Cave. Measurements revealed that the total length of these dozens of caves has reached 8,739 meters.

From an external perspective, the area features overlapping mountain ridges, solitary peaks, towering cliffs, shimmering waters, glistening underground river outlets, and massive, rare karst collapses — all of which are truly breathtaking. Fourteen French and German expedition members unanimously agreed that this place surpasses the world-famous scenic wonder — the Vaucluse Spring in southern France. The stunning landscape moved scholars from both China and France to exclaim, “I wish I could live in these mountains.” Entering the underground world here, one can find typical siphon-shaped caves, gushing springs, serene and deep underground lakes, and dazzlingly colorful karst cave chambers.

Measurement data for Hei Cave confirmed that the cave area is

140x

190

meters

square meters in size. In terms of scale, it is second only to Spain’s Torca del Carlista Cave, Italy’s Grotta Gigante, Germany’s Hermannshöhle (Werner Hall) and Schevenhöhle (Scheva Hall), as well as Mexico’s Sótano de las Golondrinas Cave, making it one of the world’s sixty largest

caves

and chambers. Domestically, it is over ten thousand square meters larger than the Dragon Palace Chamber of Huanglong Cave in Cili, Hunan, 6,800

square meters larger than the ‘Jade Pouring Radiance Chamber’ of Tianquan Cave in Xingwen, southern Sichuan, and [number missing]

1.6

square meters larger than the ‘Vast Dome Chamber,’ making it the largest discovered cave chamber in China to date.

Scholars from the China–France

1986

Cave Science Expedition Team believe that the Daxiaojing Underground River shares many similarities with the famous French tourist site — the Vaucluse Spring

(

(a term now used academically to refer specifically to karst region pressure siphon-type springs)

)

in that the Vaucluse Spring receives an average of over

million visitors and cave explorers per month... Therefore, the scholars suggest that the Daxiaojing basin could be developed into a scenic area suitable for cave exploration and tourism, as well as a site for parallel studies in karst hydrogeology observation, cave systems, karst hydrogeological engineering, and geological science.

100

million...

caves, karst hydrogeological engineering, and geological science research.