Wushan Twelve Labyrinths Scenic Area

　　With the ongoing development of tourism at the Wushan Twelve Labyrinths Cave Scenic Area, a new rising star hidden deep in the Wuxia Gorge is about to emerge. It is expected to open to visitors on October 1st next year.

　　The Twelve Caves echo the distant Goddess of Wushan.

　　The Wushan Twelve Labyrinths Cave is located in Maping Village, Baolong Town, adjacent to the Yangtze River Three Gorges to the east and bordering western Hubei to the west. It is just 8 km from the Goddess Peak and features a comprehensive natural karst landscape integrating valleys, cliffs, caves, water, forests, and rocks, as well as a blend of grandeur, wonder, mystery, danger, beauty, and serenity. The Twelve Labyrinths Cave Scenic Area boasts elegant peaks, grotesque rocks, lush pines and trees that remain green all year round. In spring, the mountains are covered with blooming flowers and fragrant blooms; in summer, the verdant scenery is a feast for the eyes and refreshing; in autumn, the red leaves are fiery and passionate; in winter, the silver-coated landscape is extraordinarily enchanting. Along the Baolong River downstream from the Twelve Labyrinths Cave, stretching tens of kilometers upstream, the cliffs on both sides rise perpendicularly, featuring twelve distinct beaches. Starting from the Wuqiu drifting leisure beach and heading upstream to the most pristine Liangfeng Beach on the Chongqing-Hubei border, every beach along the way is a scenic wonder, with the scenery blending seamlessly into each beach. In the calmer sections, the water flows gently, while in the rapid sections, it surges like crashing waves.

　　The labyrinth cave was formed approximately 2.6 million years ago. The Twelve Labyrinths Cave consists of a main bag-shaped cave and highly irregular multi-layered tubular side caves. The cave chambers are diverse and intricate, with the main chamber being tall and vertically distributed, while the side chambers are smaller and multi-layered. Inside the cave, there are numerous and uniquely shaped stalactites, as well as mysterious features such as the Sensing Spring, the Shouting Water Cave, the Music Cave, the West Ox Stone, and a forest of stone pillars. A hundred meters away from the Twelve Labyrinths Cave, on a steep cliff face, there are also twelve artificially carved caves. These caves are regularly square-shaped, varying in size and arranged in a row from bottom to top. Legend has it that they were carved by Lu Ban while building a bridge over the Baolong River. No one knows the truth behind them. The cliffs are hundreds of meters high, as if cut by a knife, and from the top of the cliff, the surrounding views are all visible.

　　This scenic area will become a beautiful highlight of the outer ecological tourism loop of Wushan, connecting with the Little Three Gorges of Wushan and the Goddess Peak to form a golden S-shaped tourism route.

　　The Spirit of Humanity and Nature

　　The Twelve Labyrinths Cave also has many magical folk legends, adding a layer of mystery to it. Legend has it that the Sensing Spring, which produces water when stones are touched, attracted many immortals to cultivate here, sharing its mystique with Guanyin, Lu Ban, and the Twelve Goddess Peaks. Lu You’s “Record of a Journey to Shu” mentions the Third Spring, the Shouting Water Spring, the Money-Touching Cave, the Turning Horse Platform where the Eight Great Kings massacred Sichuan, the Horse Return Camp, the Tomb of Li Yin-Yang, and the legend of Luo Shichun forming an alliance with Peng Jiaolü—further enriching the historical and cultural significance of the scenic area. Especially noteworthy is the archaeological discovery that the Twelve Labyrinths Cave is the site of the Heliang people, adding a mysterious cultural hue to scientific archaeology both in China and abroad.

　　In the spring of 1999, after archaeological identification by Researcher Huang Wanbo from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, ancient riverbed sediments and human parietal bone fossils were discovered in the cave. More than 40 stone artifacts were found in the upper and lower caves, along with traces of human use of fire—ashes. Richer and better-preserved cultural relics from the Paleolithic Age were uncovered. The cultural relics unearthed from the Labyrinths Cave include human fossils, stone artifacts, and vertebrate fossils, with mammalian materials being the most abundant, totaling over 300 pieces. According to identification, their geological age is the Late Pleistocene, culturally classified as the Late Paleolithic Age, with an absolute age of 15,000 years. Further research revealed that the “Heliang People” lived 15,000 years ago. The discovery of the “Heliang People” and their culture indicates that human footprints had already been left in the Three Gorges region 15,000 years ago. The “Heliang People” were the masters of Bashan Mountain, hunting with stone tools, using natural fire for warmth, and continuously thriving and reproducing. The archaeological materials found in the Wushan Labyrinths Cave are the only late Pleistocene ancient human site discovered so far in the Yangtze River Three Gorges region that includes both human fossils and stone artifacts, as well as a large number of accompanying mammalian fossils. This discovery pushes the Three Gorges culture back nearly ten thousand years.

　　Diverse Tourism Formats

　　Earlier this year, the Sichuan University Engineering Design and Research Institute undertook the planning and design of the project, aiming to build the Twelve Labyrinths Cave Scenic Area into a national-level scenic tourist area that harmonizes and complements the Twelve Peaks of Wushan. The project is designed to receive 100,000 visitors annually, creating a comprehensive scenic tourist area that includes canyon sightseeing, water rafting, cave exploration, rock climbing, and ethnic cultural experiences.

　　This project is one of the investment-attracting projects signed during the Chongqing Cooperation Fair on April 18th this year. Xiongtu Company from Shennongjia Forest District, together with the County Electric Power Construction Company and the Little Three Gorges Hotel, jointly invested to establish the Wuxia Twelve Labyrinths Scenic Area Tourism Development Co., Ltd. The total investment in the project is 35 million yuan, including 29.95 million yuan for the first phase, 1.2 million yuan for the second phase, and 3.85 million yuan for the third phase. Once completed, the project will provide employment for hundreds of people and will play a leading role in the development of the tertiary industry around Baolong Town. It will also have an immeasurable impact on the promotion of Wushan County’s tourism economy and overall county economic development.