Zhijin Cave

Interesting facts

Some of the cave's chambers reach about 150 metres in height and 175 metres in width.

One stalagmite inside is estimated to stand about 70 metres tall, surrounded by dozens of palm-trunk-like stalagmites around 40 metres high.

The Silver Rain Tree, the cave's signature formation, is estimated to have taken around 150,000 years to grow.

A 14-metre stalagmite known as the Overlord's Helmet is named for its resemblance to the helmet of an ancient warlord.

Before it was renamed after the county, the cave was known locally as Daji Dong; the name Zhijin means 'weaving gold'.

The cave's three levels span a vertical range of about 150 metres, and the temperature inside stays at roughly 10 to 16 degrees Celsius all year.

Although listed as a scenic area in 1988, the cave only opened to the public in 1993 and joined the International Show Caves Association in 1994.

The cave and its surroundings form a UNESCO Global Geopark and were rated in 2008 as one of China's top-tier AAAAA tourist attractions.

Why it is worth it

Zhijin Cave is one of the great underground landscapes of China: a limestone labyrinth in the karst country of Guizhou where chambers open one after another, some with ceilings reaching about 100 metres overhead. The cave runs for some 13.5 km and covers an area of around 7 square kilometres, arranged in three levels stacked one above the other. It is believed to have one of the widest unsupported roof spans of any cave in the world, and the scale of its halls, lit to bring out the shapes of the rock, is what stays with visitors long after they climb back into daylight.

The cave holds more than 120 kinds of mineral formations. Forests of stalactites hang from the ceilings, stalagmites rise from the floors, and calcite has built columns, curtains and shields in shapes that local guides have given poetic names. The best known is the Silver Rain Tree, a delicate, almost translucent crystal formation about 17 metres tall that branches like a flowering plant. Formations like these grow over vast spans of time as water seeping through the limestone deposits thin layers of calcite, and in Zhijin the process has filled a whole underground world.

The cave lies near the village of Minzhai in Zhijin County, in western Guizhou, a province shaped by karst: sinkholes, conical hills, gorges and underground rivers carved out of limestone. A local survey team exploring the county's tourist resources found the cave in 1980, and in 1988 China's State Council listed it as a national-level scenic site. Today it forms the centre of the Guizhou Zhijin Cave Scenic Area, which spreads over about 307 square kilometres and also includes the old town of Zhijin and the scenery of the Luojie River.

Getting there

Zhijin Cave is in Zhijin County, Guizhou Province, in southwestern China. The nearest city is Anshun, about 56 km away in a straight line. The nearest airport is Anshun Huangguoshu Airport (AVA), about 55 km away.

Zhijin Cave

Interesting facts

Why it is worth it

Getting there

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