石花水洞

Danzhou Stone Flower Water Cave

Useful Information

Location:	Bayi General Farm, Danzhou, Hainan 571729. (19.4443837, 109.2977886)
Open:	All year daily 8-17:30, last entry 17. [2026]
Fee:	Adults CNY 63, Children (>1.2 m) CNY 35, Children (<1.2 m) free, Seniors (60-69= CNY 35, Seniors (70+) free. [2026]
Classification:	Karst Cave
Light:	Electric Light Coloured Light Son et Lumière
Dimension:	L=5 km.
Guided tours:	D=2-2,5 h, Lfoot=550 m, Lboat=350 m.
Photography:
Accessibility:
Bibliography:
Address:	Danzhou Stone Flower Water Cave, Bayi General Farm, Danzhou, Hainan 571729, Tel: +86-898-23760306.
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1950s	beginn of limestone quarrying.
1985	cave accidentally discovered during mining, government seals the cave.
2000	Quarry taken over by Hainan Xiangnan Mining Co., Ltd., Hainan Baoqiang Industrial Co., Ltd., and Hainan Bayi General Farm.
2000	Guilin Institute of Karst Geology and Chinese Academy of Sciences invited to conduct a development feasibility study for a show cave.
01-JAN-2005	show cave opened to the public.
2006	rated an AAA Tourist Attraction.

Description

The name of this cave is 石花水洞 (Shíhuā shuǐ dòng, Stone Flower Water Cave) and is one of those names which exist numerous times in China and are thus frequently mixed up. It is a river cave and as it has lakes full of calcite crystals. The fakt that they added "water" to the name "stone flower" makes it slightly different, but the basic way to make a name unique in China is always to concatenate the name of the next village or city. In this case its nearby 儋州 (Danzhou) city, and so the full name is 儋州石花水洞 (Danzhou Stone Flower Water Cave). Other names of the cave are Qianzhen Cave, Ten Buddha Cave and Stone Buddha Cave. The name is sometimes mistranslated as Floral Rock Cave or Stone Water Tunnel.

The site is the large Bayi General Farm which is owned by the government and was transformed into a scenic area, a geopark, and a show cave. The geopark is named 石花水洞地质公园 (Shihua Water Cave Geopark). There is a parking lot, a visitor center, numerous former farm buildings, a lake and a stone forest. And there is the show cave which has a dry walking tour which ends with a boat ride to leave the cave. The stone forest makes clear, this is tropical tower karst with spacious caves and lots of speleothems. Located on Hainan Island this is also the southernmost show cave of China. This might change soon, if one of the other caves on the island is developed as a show cave, several are planned but not yet developed.

The cave formed in Devonian limestones which are about 400 Ma old. They were quarried for decades, and during this quarrying the cave was discovered. The lake in the center of the scenic area is actually the open cast of the quarry which filled with groundwater after the pumps were turned off. The cave has numerous speleothems, but most spectacular are a wealth of three different minerals: calcite crystals or dogtooth spars, cave popcorn, aragonite in various forms, and helictites. The calcite crystals are called shihua or stone flowers in China, hence the name of the cave. The dry upper level is developed to a length of 550 m, the boat ride in the lower water filled level is 350 m long.

The cave has, as common in China, coloured light, but here it is called "themed intelligent light and shadow areas". We can only guess that the light changes after a certain program similar to a Light Son et Lumière. There are four areas with such an installation in the cave. The site is actually, like other 4A scenic areas in China, a sort of theme park with numerous rides for adults and children, but also with Danzhou tune performance and other Danzhou traditional folk activities. There is also a Tropical Orchard Sightseeing Area.