PLACE GUIDE

Longyou Caves 龙游石窟

Longyou Shiku

The Longyou Caves are large artificial sandstone chambers near Shiyan Beicun on the Qu River.

Rock pillars and carved walls inside Longyou Caves.
Rock pillars and carved walls inside Longyou Caves. Photograph date recorded by the source: 2016-12-11 16:10:51. · Zhangzhugang · CC BY-SA 4.0
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Full frame retained; proportionally resized and converted to WebP. No retouching or changes to the photographed subject. Card displays may crop the view.

Explore the region

Zhejiang · 浙江省 →Quzhou · 衢州市 →

About Longyou Caves

Their tall supporting pillars and surfaces covered in regular angled tool marks make the labour of excavation visible. Although often presented through stories of ancient mystery, their exact date and original purpose remain uncertain. Compare the wall, ceiling and pillar finishes rather than treating speculation as an established explanation. The known chambers are separate excavations, so visitors should follow the managed sequence instead of expecting a connected underground cave system.

Four farmers discovered the chambers in June 1992 after draining five village ponds. Subsequent investigations identified further excavations nearby. Seven chambers were subsequently developed, but two were flooded again by surface water; drainage and silt clearance were completed in five. The site became a national 4A tourist attraction (国家4A级景区) in 2003.

The chambers have an average floor area exceeding 1,000 square metres and ceilings reaching up to 30 metres. Some neighbouring chambers are separated by evenly thick rock walls that were left unbroken during excavation. Provincial protection followed in 2005, and the complex entered the seventh group of Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level (全国重点文物保护单位) in 2013.

What to look for

  • Regular bands of angled tool marks cover walls, ceilings and pillars.
  • Large rock-cut pillars support the high chambers without a natural-cave formation pattern.

Background & history

The Longyou Caves (Chinese: 龙游石窟), also called the Xiaonanhai Stone Chambers (Chinese: 小南海石室), are a group of 24 artificial sandstone caverns located at Fenghuang Hill, near the village of Shiyan Beicun on the Qu River in Longyou County, Quzhou City, Zhejiang Province, China. It is unknown when the caves were created; they are mentioned in a 17th-century poem by the Yu Xun, and clay from pots dated to between 206BC and 23 AD were found in silt within the caves.

Excerpt from Wikipedia: Longyou Caves · Wikipedia contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected introductory sentences; formatting simplified. Background information, not current visitor-service advice.

Location & getting there

Getting to Longyou Caves

Approach the Longyou Caves visitor area at Fenghuang Hill near Shiyan Beicun, in the Xiaonanhai area of Longyou County beside the Qu River.

General visit reminders

Choose the building, exhibition or part of the historic area you most want to see, then leave time to explore its setting. Check the venue’s current opening and reservation arrangements directly; a place appearing on the map does not mean every building or gallery is accessible on your travel date.

Combine your visit

A suggested sequence linking the specific features of this visit.

  1. First publicly accessible chamber

    Begin with the scale of the excavated space and supporting pillars.

  2. Tool-marked walls and ceiling

    Inspect the repeated bands that reveal the cutting method.

  3. A second open chamber

    Compare another separate excavation while keeping to the managed visitor route.

This order is editorial. Confirm access and any transfers between stops; it does not establish a walking route, same-day connection or common admission ticket.

Landforms & caves · 地貌／洞穴 →

Find Longyou Caves

龙游石窟 · 衢州市

Amap · 高德地图Approximate pin · 近似位置Apple Maps · 苹果地图

The pin marks the area, not the entrance.

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Approximate straight-line distances between map pins, not travel distances.

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Sources & visit information

The linked encyclopedia sources support background and place descriptions. Current opening hours, ticket prices, booking rules and transport schedules have not been independently verified for this guide. Confirm them with the venue or operator before travelling.

Visitor information adapted and edited from Wikipedia contributors, “Longyou Caves” · CC BY-SA 4.0. Source revision 1361447246.

Background paragraphs translated and condensed from Wikipedia contributors, "龍游石窟", Chinese Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0. Source revision 93146816.

Background paragraphs condensed from Wikipedia contributors, "Longyou Caves", English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0. Source revision 1361447246.

China Revealed · Editorially updated 2026-10-07