Guyaju Caves 古崖居

About Guyaju Caves

The close-packed openings occupy several levels, creating an appearance more like a stone-built settlement than a single cave. Some spaces are simple rooms, while the more elaborate complex often called the Chieftain’s Palace has multiple chambers and rock-cut columns. The builders and precise date remain uncertain, so the most rewarding visit starts with what can be observed: room plans, connections, and the adaptation of living space to the cliff. Avoid turning competing origin theories into established history.

The site was discovered in 1984 during a cultural relics survey by the Yanqing County Cultural Relics Administration (延庆县文物管理所), and its excavation was tentatively dated to between 1,000 and 2,000 years ago, though the exact period is undetermined. There is no clear historical record of the builders; the most widely accepted view is that Kumo Xi (奚) people, active from the Tang dynasty to the Five Dynasties period, lived there, though this is unconfirmed. The site opened to visitors in August 1991, and was closed for rock-face reinforcement before reopening in September 2005.

The caves lie in a front and a rear gully near Dongmenying, all facing west, and cover 1.5 square kilometers with an excavated cave area of 3,931 square meters. The 117 stone chambers are divided into more than 350 rooms, most about 1.8 meters high and 4 square meters in area, with the largest reaching 2 meters high, 3 meters wide and 5.2 meters long. Interiors are carved with stone sleeping platforms, stoves and flues, and the roofs are cut with grooves to collect rainwater.

As of 2016 it was described as the largest cliff-dwelling site in China, and it was listed as a Beijing municipal cultural-relics protection unit in 1990 and as a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level (全国重点文物保护单位) in 2013.

What to look for

• Multi-level cave rooms: compare the openings and chambers cut at different heights in the same rock face.
• The so-called Chieftain’s Palace: examine the larger arrangement and columns carved from the rock.

Location & getting there

Getting to Guyaju Caves

The cave complex is in a valley near Dongmenying in Yanqing. Use Guyaju Caves as the final destination rather than central Yanqing.

• Plan a site walk suited to cliff-side paths and steps; viewing the openings does not imply that every chamber is accessible.