Three Visitors Cave and Park 三游洞

About Three Visitors Cave and Park

Its name recalls the visit associated with Bai Juyi, Bai Xingjian and Yuan Zhen, whose poetry helped turn this Xiling Gorge setting into a cultural landmark. Carved inscriptions give the cave its main interest; above it, Zhixi Pavilion opens the view towards the Yangtze. The combination works best as a cave-and-hillside visit, with time for the stepped paths rather than expecting a large underground cavern tour.

Before the Tang dynasty the cave was an unnamed karst hollow, taking its present name after two visits: in 819 the poets Bai Juyi (白居易), Bai Xingjian (白行简) and Yuan Zhen (元稹) toured it together at Yiling and jointly composed a twenty-rhyme poem, written on the rock face, and Bai Juyi wrote a preface naming it 'Sanyou Dong' (三游洞). In 1056 the father and sons Su Xun (苏洵), Su Shi (苏轼) and Su Zhe (苏辙) likewise visited and each carved a poem on its wall, an episode later called the 'Later Three Visitors'.

The cave is small and roughly rectangular, about 30 metres long, 9 to 10 metres wide and about 10 metres high, formed in Cambrian-era limestone some 600 million years old. Three stalactites divide its main chamber into front and back sections. Its walls carry more than fifty inscriptions, including a Song-dynasty inscription by Ouyang Xiu (欧阳修) and Bai Juyi's 'Sanyou Dong Xu' preface, re-carved in the Ming dynasty. Stone statues of Bai Xingjian, Bai Juyi and Yuan Zhen stand at its centre.

The site was first protected in 1956 as 'Sanyou Cave and its inscriptions' (三游洞其及碑刻), a first-batch Hubei provincial cultural relics protection unit, and was listed nationally in 2006 as 'Sanyou Dong Moya' (三游洞摩崖), a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level (全国重点文物保护单位).

What to look for

• The cave’s literary inscriptions and three-poet association.
• Zhixi Pavilion’s view towards the Xiling Gorge river landscape.

The surrounding area

A base for the Three Gorges landscape and Three-Gorges Tribe; confirm the actual boat boarding point and transfer.

Location & getting there

Getting to Three Visitors Cave and Park

Use No 8 Nanjinguan Road in Yichang. Follow the designated Sanyou Cave entrance and allow for the stepped route between the chamber and the higher pavilion; the site is distinct from other Nanjinguan canyon attractions.