CAVES IN PANZIHUA WITH POTENTIAL OF
BECOMING HIGH-VALUE VACATION SITES
Zhang Fan
Aug 2009
In the past, hundreds of caves discovered in China were quickly turned into tourist sites. Sometimes, these caves can be used for other purposes to create higher value. CERS recently explored two such caves.
From April 22 to 26, a five-member CERS team arrived in Panzihua at the invitation of the city’s tourism bureau. The two caves we explored are called Panzihua East Spirit Cave and Panzihua Renhe District Spirit Cave. Since ancient times, Chinese have considered caves as locations for spiritual masters or celestial beings to live and meditate. It has become part of the culture of caves unique to China.
We left Kunming with a full array of caving equipment, including 300 meters of ropes and an inflatable boat for exploring underground streams. We were ready to tackle even the most complex labyrinth. By the time we arrived on site, though, we discovered that the only equipment we needed were our GPS and laser measuring devices. These two caves turned out to be among the smallest and shortest caves we have ever explored.
Panzihua East Cave is located only 6.5 kilometers to the east of town, on a hill behind Nong Nong Stream Town at a village by the same name. The GPS reading was 26˚38’03.6”N and 104˚41’12.4”E with an elevation of 1,882 meters. It has a subsurface stream and is called a water cave.
A pool inside feeds a wide stream which takes up most of the cave’s entire width. But the water is shallow and never deeper than knee-high, flowing outside the cave to become a stream. According to locals, the steam used to come out of a tiny hole and the villagers dug a wider entrance to get more water. When they did, they found the cave.
Our exploration showed the cave to be 123.4 meters in length with a maximum height of 7.7 meters and maximum width of 7.5 meters. The information is rather simple and follows the stream’s development. As it is still a water-filled cave, it does not have any stalagmites.
The second cave, Renhe Spirit Cave, is on a hill behind Renhe District’s Huben Village next to the Lianhua (Lotus) Temple. It is within the provincial protected forest of Da Hei (Big Black) Mountain. Our GPS reading of the entrance was 26˚39’16.8”N and 101˚40’05.6”E at an elevation of 2,180 meters.
This cave is split due to the shifting of two plates. The highest part is about 30 meters with a maximum width of only three meters. Where it is narrow, even a slightly bigger person would find it difficult to squeeze through. It is simple, with no side channels branching off the main cave.
Compared with many other caves in China, these two are relatively small. Without special features and scenery like the limestone formations of stalactites and stalagmites, the potential for tourism is low. But I believe we have a perfect case here to challenge China’s penchant for developing caves only for tourism.
Over the years I have visited many caves in Europe and was inspired by their cave developments. Some of their smallest caves were successfully used as hotels, cafés, restaurants or even hospitals. Europe’s diversity of cave use derives from people’s deep understanding of the uniqueness and integrity of caves.
China, on the other hand, has seen only one model of cave development – that is tourism. This single use for caves created huge competition, resulting in many caves being advertised and heavily promoted when they opened, but quickly fell into disuse. This was a waste of money and resources, causing damages to a great number of pristine caves.
To change the mindset requires a new understanding of caves and their multiple qualities and possible functions. The two Panzihua caves under study now can be served as great examples. The caves can not only be used as natural vacation place for relaxation, but can also be developed into a caving site for young people to explore. Good management would ensure safety requirements are met. Modern techniques and equipments should also be made available, like helmets, special clothing, ropes, and even basic skills training for caving and climbing. This would provide jobs for trainers. Such “development” is not capital intensive. Using caves in this way is popular in the West and I see no reason why it should not be implanted in China.