Goulou Cave 勾漏洞

About Goulou Cave

The autonomous region describes the site as a characteristic karst landform. Inside, stone columns and stalagmites are numerous and unusual in form, and the layout alternates between broad open floors and passages narrow enough to admit only one person at a time; an underground river runs through the system. The cave also carries a long written record: more than 120 cliff-face inscriptions survive on it, and the regional account names Wang Fu, Li Gang and Xu Xiake among the figures who came here to visit and to examine the cave from the Wei and Jin periods onward, leaving traces and writings behind.

Yulin city records the system as made up of four caves: Baogui, Yuque, Baisha and Taoyuan. Writers and soldiers of successive periods left verse and prose here, and the city likewise counts more than 120 calligraphic stone inscriptions preserved at the site. The Ming geographer Xu Xiake explored the cave, stayed overnight in it and wrote a travel account of more than six thousand characters; in the modern period Guo Moruo and his wife Yu Liqun inscribed the cave name and left verses. The site is administered as the Gouloudong scenic area in Beiliu, and in the autonomous region register of A-grade tourist scenic areas compiled to the end of 2021 the entry appears under the name of the Beiliu Gouloudong scenic area management committee, at grade 3A.

What to look for

• The four caves that make up the system: Baogui, Yuque, Baisha and Taoyuan
• The calligraphic stone inscriptions, of which Yulin city counts more than 120
• The stone columns and stalagmites the autonomous region records as numerous and unusual in shape
• The underground river running through the cave system
• The cave name inscribed by Guo Moruo and Yu Liqun

Location & getting there

Getting to Goulou Cave

Use an authorised visitor route. Cave sections, geological sites and access roads can close independently, so confirm the area that your ticket covers.

• Search for 勾漏洞 with 玉林市 and 北流市.