勐汞观音洞

Menggong Guanyin Dong

Useful Information

Location:	Yongde County, Lincang (23.961875, 99.231533)
Open:
Fee:
Classification:	Karst cave Cave Church
Light:	Incandescent Electric Light System Coloured Light
Dimension:
Guided tours:
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Menggong Guanyin Dong.
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History

Description

勐汞观音洞 (Menggong Guanyin Dong) is one of dozens Guanyin Caves, so the name was concatenated with the name of the village Menggong where it is located. Typical for China, this became a prefix, not a postfix as it would be normal in western culture. Guanyin Dong is unfortunately not only a popular name for caves, but also for temples, even if there is no cave at all. The term dong has obviously multiple meanings additionally to meaning cave. Guanyin Bodhisattva is an important figure in Buddhism and the caves are dedicated to him, in general they have a statue of him and other religious statues.

The cave is a fossil cave with many speleothems, but despite its location ins Southern China it is not one of those extreme caves on steroids. If you are in the area it is worth a visit. One good thing is the light. It is coloured as in all chinese caves, but in a rather moderate way, which makes the visit quite enjoyable.